Starting problems, keeps cranking but no start up Options

[Tumult5sfe]

I had to do a head gasket some time back. put everything back together and went to start it but the battery was dead...so i slapped the charger on the thing and poof, my one ground wire that leads from driver side inner fender to engine went up in smoke. now the damn thing just sits and cranks all day long, i get plenty of fuel, not a strong spark but there is spark, and pretty much thats it.
so does anyone know what i may have to do? i grabbed another ecu thinking i cooked it, replaced the ground wire, and a few other odds and ends. also, when i turn the key off my fans kick on and the temp gauge pins hot, and they shut off when i flick the headlights on and off. Any help would be amazing.

[Spider77]

Im not a wiring genius or anything, but I know a bit. You sure you didnt smoke check anything else? Im sure your fan/lights/coolant sensor stuff are all on separate circuits, i'll look at my wiring diagrams and see if there isnt another common point (other than the ecu)

[Tumult5sfe]

nor am i a wiring guru. but when i was looking at all data's diagrams it looked like they shared a common ground. but yeah please take a look yourself and let me know what you see.

[Spider77]

Well, so far into looking, they all share the same wiring setup "Engine Room Wire"...pretty much runs along both sides of the fender into the junction boxes at the kick panels. Its hard to really tell as I only have the wiring diagram and not a schematic. To me, sounds like a short somewhere. But im not too sure. Exactly what did you do. I know you had a dead battery, and recharged it. Did you start it up while recharging, what do you mean by "odds and ends", etc...? We had a problem no too long ago at work where someone hooked up a starter the wrong way and it smoked everything.

[Tumult5sfe]

well my bright brother decided to throw it on jump start on the charger right away and i think it just overloaded the system. odds and ends being, distributer, wires and plugs. i also replaced the ignition switch and the ecu start-up relay because i wasnt getting any kind of check engine light in the gauge cluster(thinking it may not be getting signal one way or another). so what do you think? wiring harness swap?

[Spider77]

Well, so you got fuel, and some spark? How bout air, does it sound like the starter is putting out enough (slow crank, fast crank), battery voltage/amperage? I dont really know what to tell you, there are ppl on here who are better versed with wiring issues than I am. But it does seem like alot of stuff leads to the ecu. The one you put in, was it good, new, used (as in off a salvaged vehicle)

[Tumult5sfe]

its cranking pretty normal, maybe a little bit of a lope. the ecu is out of a salvage, same year, engine and trans.

[Spider77]

Yeah, Im at a total loss here. I have a friend who had a similar issue (save the smoke check). Thought battery was on the way out as it would just crank and crank, then eventually turnover with a jump. Turns out he had a bad crank sensor. Im not saying thats what it is, but could also be a timing issue as well. What confuses me is the fans turning on and the gauge hitting hot, then flick lights then it all goes off.....

[Tumult5sfe]

my friend said it should still run even if the temp sensor and such is going crazy, just might miss fire because it will mess with the fuel curve. timing has to be along the right path i think...im just not so sure. ill throw a crank sensor at it just for giggles and see what happens. thanks for your guidance.

[Spider77]

Like I said, I dont know for sure, just going off someone elses problems that I know of.

[Bitter]

sure sounds like something was dead shorted, you might have blown a fuse, fuse link, or even fried the PCM.

[Spider77]

PCM?

[longgone]

I had to do a head gasket some time back. put everything back together and went to start it but the battery was dead...so i slapped the charger on the thing and poof, my one ground wire that leads from driver side inner fender to engine went up in smoke. now the damn thing just sits and cranks all day long, i get plenty of fuel, not a strong spark but there is spark, and pretty much thats it.
so does anyone know what i may have to do? i grabbed another ecu thinking i cooked it, replaced the ground wire, and a few other odds and ends. also, when i turn the key off my fans kick on and the temp gauge pins hot, and they shut off when i flick the headlights on and off. Any help would be amazing.

Hi there
You say that you changed the head gasket
First thing i would do here is check that my timing marks were all ok
it's amazing how easy it is to put it all back together one notch out on the timing