ALH swap won’t start

Good morning, I would like humbly ask for the advice of some experts here. I swapped an 03 ALH engine into an 89 Toyota pick up. I can not get this bugger to start. I have a jug of fuel on the roof siphoned into the injection pump, I have vacuumed probably a gallon of file through the injunction pump. When I crank it it takes a few revaluations to get a good squirt at any of my he injectors. If I stop to give the starter a brake it seems like I have to start over bleeding the injectors. It takes a lot of cranking to get anything out of #3. I had it start smoking out the exhaust a little last night so I cycled the glow plugs on and it really tried to start but then it just quit smoking while still cranking. This engine hasn’t got any ran in about 2 years but I know it ran good before that. I am thinking the ip is sucking air somewhere. When I pull vacuum on the return the bubbles never stop but when I crank it there isn’t any bubbles in the return. I’m going to get some more fuel and another starter to give it another go. Sorry for the long book but thank you if you’re still with me. I would appreciate any ideas. Thank you

Would it help to try to pressurize the fuel going to the pump?

Ok, maybe more info is needed. The ecu was sent to Malone to delete the antitheft, maf , egr, asv, and maybe something else,I can’t remember. I have power to the ecu, it is grounded. I assume it’s getting crank signal because it powers up the shut off solinoid when cranking. I removed the plunger from the shut off valve. Still has to crank for about 10 seconds before I get a good squirt of fuel from any of the injector lines and if I stop cranking it has to “pump up” again. I ordered a pump head seal from diesel geek. Is there anything else I should be checking?

Ramdiesel78 said:

Would it help to try to pressurize the fuel going to the pump?

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Air in the pump can be pretty persistent, 5-10 PSI of fuel pressure going into the injection pump really gets any air out of the pump.

Fuel can with on top of a taller ladder would help a bunch, .4 PSI per foot the fuel can is above the injection pump, much cheaper to buy a long piece of vinyl hose than a fuel pump, just to get it running.

Thanks for the response, I have been pushing fuel through it with a pump sprayer I had set up to bleed brakes. I originally was trying to start it on off-road fuel and I pushed enough through to get solid green fuel, I figured that would be enough. Keep any ideas coming. I’m all ears. Thanks again

If you have timing belt tools, check the static timing. From your first post I got that eventually you saw some smoke from the exhaust, but not quite starting. This is usually a sign of late injection timing.


Try unplugging the CTS. If it starts with the sensor disconnected, I would suspect timing is retarded. The long glow time will help a poorly timed engine start, but proper timing is critical. Once running, the ECU will try to compensate for the static timing error.

Make sure the "grounds" are really good, especially to the ECU....

If the engine was running fine when it was shut-down two years ago, the timing should be okay now.

Thanks, I am rechecking the grounds now. I thought about the timing but this was my bothers car that he wrecked. I drove it into the barn and pulled the engine out. I did get a little closer today, I think. I was manually cycling the glow plugs with about 10psi fuel going into the ip it all clear lines so I can see there is no bubbles; I’ve probably pushed 2 gallons of fuel thru it that way. When I crank it #1 and 2 pump up quickly and 4 takes a bit longer. If I stop 4 takes a while to pump up again. I did notice though when I start cranking it I get some bubbles and foam out of the return. Would you agree it has to be a pump seal? I’m hoping the head seal because I ordered that one.

0.0 ohms from the ecu plug to the - on the battery

Ok, we hooked up the obd port and got some codes. I don’t have vcds but I have a decent Mac scan tool. I got 17762, 17655, 16491, 17969, and 17970.
When I cleared them the only one I had come back immediately was the 17970. Searching around on this forum I found something that said to check resistance back to pins , I think 55,59, and 66. I don’t currently have anything hooked up to any of those pins. I am a little lost as to where to go from here. I have a list of pins 1 through 81 and what I have them hooked up to I could post if that would help. Pin 82 and up I didn’t really mess with, I just plugged it in. The t/14 plug only has 2 power wires and 2 grounds hooked up as per vdubspeed’s diagram. Let me know if you have any ideas what I should check now. Thanks

Anyone have any ideas? My plan is to pop the top off the IP and have a look at the QA but probably won’t get a chance until the weekend

Try restricting a bit the return line. Is the IP shut valve working? Is the timing correct?

Do you have any faulty injector dripping?

Ok guys I’m still here messing with this thing. I pulled the QA top and the lever was hard to turn, like it was gummy from sitting. I moved it back and forth a few times and it freed up to where it would snap back with spring pressure. When I cycled the key it would go about quarter of the way and hang there for about 15 seconds and go back to zero. I pulled the QA apart and cleaned it, there wasn’t really anything in there now the lever makes a full sweep when I cycle the key. Still won’t start it will pump up to the injectors but if I stop cranking it’s like I have to start over again, it takes about 10 seconds of cranking to get fuel to the injectors again. I’m on my way out to the shop to start trying to bleed it some more but at this point I’m not too hopeful. Any ideas? Thank you

Also, I’m going to have to break down and get some way to really scan this thing. I was thinking VCDS lite but I don’t have a computer to use it on. I have recently come across this obdeleven, my kids have all kinds of android phones and tablets I could put it on. Would this be a god way to go or should I be shopping for a laptop?

I bought a cheapy dell (windows 10)
off the bay for $90 and that's all it is used for.
...and it sure sounds like it is sucking air .

Ok, now I’m getting a 17762 code, the 3 pins on the g149 test back to pins 99, 106, and 108 on the ecu. When I turn the key on I get 2.5vdc at each of the 3 pins on the g149, no matter if I sweep the needle. also the resistance between the 3 terminals on the g149 does not change when I sweep the needle and I feel like they should. Could anyone verify?

You really need Vagcom. You'll have to get it to time the engine properly anyways, not to mention other things along the way.

I had a similar issue with my swap. If that QA arm doesn't do a full sweep on key cycle you're going to have a hard time getting it started. I sprayed WD40 in there as best I could and wiggled the arm around a lot. Eventually got it free and the car runs great since with no QA codes.

I know I need to get vag-com I haven’t decided which way to go. The one I can run on the android is appealing but less proven. I’ll have one by next weekend. I qa arm seems to be making a full sweep now that I cleaned it but now I’m getting the modulation piston displacement sensor code. I would like to try to figure what’s going on witj that. Thank you everyone for your replies and suggestions, please keep them coming

I also did this process, at least all I could without that vw break out box. Everything checks out, it says replace the ecu. I’m not there yet, mainly because I have a good bit of cash in the tuning and I am not convinced it’s bad

It started!!!!!!

Ok, so after spending a couple hours checking voltage and resistance and what not I decided to see the QA lever did while cranking. It did nothing. I decided to hold it a little from the bottom of the sweep and BOOM fired right up. It didn’t run good and it smokes a lot and obviously pours fuel everywhere. I also finally got a code 17978, ecu disabled. I then tried to start cranking with my remote button and turn the key on while cranking, it will start and run for about 2 seconds and quit. I think I need to talk to the guy that sent my ecu out to get the deletes done. Also am going to order scan tool stuff, I’m trying to decide between vcds lite or obdeleven. Any input either way on that? Thanks again for the help and ideas so far

It started!!!!!!

Ok, so after spending a couple hours checking voltage and resistance and what not I decided to see the QA lever did while cranking. It did nothing. I decided to hold it a little from the bottom of the sweep and BOOM fired right up. It didn’t run good and it smokes a lot and obviously pours fuel everywhere. I also finally got a code 17978, ecu disabled. I then tried to start cranking with my remote button and turn the key on while cranking, it will start and run for about 2 seconds and quit. I think I need to talk to the guy that sent my ecu out to get the deletes done. Also am going to order scan tool stuff, I’m trying to decide between vcds lite or obdeleven. Any input either way on that? Thanks again for the help and ideas so far

You need the immobilizer turned off.

For what it’s worth I put an alh in my gas vw but couldn’t get it to start.
It would smoke a little but no kick
I checked the power to ecm and also had power to the pump shut off
I had to finish wireing the pedal in and there was a power (I think)going to the large plug
On the fuel pump.
After that fired up
There’s a post on hear that shows what you need

I think I got it. The guy that helped me with getting the delete done, the owner of a local European car mechanic shop, came to my house and plugged in his vcds and I. About 2 minutes he said the Immobilizer is in fact not deleted. He sent the ecu back to Canada and supposedly it is done now and sitting at customs on its way back to us. I’ll post what happens when I get it back

Got the ecu back from Canada for the second time. Thing started right up and seems to run fine. Still need to do the “hammer mod” and a few other things but it is running well. Thanks again for all the suggestions.

On edc15 ecu , even a ELM 327 android scanner can do the job.