Need some help with 5S, Not a Celica, but still a 5S Options

[d3ath2009]

Recently did some work on my mother-in-law's car. Not a Celica, but a '99 Camry with a 5S so it should be close enough that diagnosis on here may be helpful. I replaced the head gasket, put on new timing belt and water pump, got everything back together and now the car just won't start. At first it would start to hit on ether, but then it eventually quit with that so at this point it may be flooded out, but not entirely sure. I am wonder if its possibly not getting fuel. Timing is good, did it by the book and i checked everything half a dozen times to be sure. It has compression and is also getting spark. Any ideas as to what would cause it not to start and/or how to remedy a possibility of air in the fuel lines? I can hear the fuel pump running after trying to turn the engine a few times, so it should at least be sending fuel up front, but I don't know if its getting to the injectors yet or not. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated and helpful.

[slavie]

Have you bled all the air out of the cooling system? It can take a few heat/cool cycles. Do you get heat in the passenger compartment? Put the heater on max, and you'll feel the air getting hotter with the coolant, if that's really the case.

I believe you should have two temp sensors - one that feeds the ECU, another that feeds the instrument cluster. I guess this is a safety conscious design where if one fails you can still read the other. Hook up some kind of OBD2 reader and read your Engine Coolant temp as read by the ECU, and check it against what you see on the dash.

Also, when was the last time the thermostat was changed? Those go bad, too.

[d3ath2009]

Have you bled all the air out of the cooling system? It can take a few heat/cool cycles. Do you get heat in the passenger compartment? Put the heater on max, and you'll feel the air getting hotter with the coolant, if that's really the case.

I believe you should have two temp sensors - one that feeds the ECU, another that feeds the instrument cluster. I guess this is a safety conscious design where if one fails you can still read the other. Hook up some kind of OBD2 reader and read your Engine Coolant temp as read by the ECU, and check it against what you see on the dash.

Also, when was the last time the thermostat was changed? Those go bad, too.

It definitely has heat in the cabin, it'll roast me out with no problem at all. Didn't bleed the system, as there is no bleeder that I can see. I guess i was under the assumption that air would work its way out and through the overflow tank in time. The one I believe to be faulty is the single wire coming in to the instrument cluster, but both could be failing with the miles that are on it anyway.

Great idea on hooking up the scanner, never crossed my mind to check it that way. I've got a wifi unit from amazon that works with my phone; if you don't have one, they are well worth the $15-$25 that they run.

Thermostat was replaced when I did head gasket, timing belt, and water pump (i.e. this job that was causing me headaches).