[Flyin' Hawaiian]

I guess you could do it by hand, but that's a LOT of work! Just pull the wiring harness off the afm, that will keep the fuel pump from running while you crank. You only need to crank for 5-8 seconds to clear the cylinders if there's really that much fuel in them. Alternative is to just use compressed air and blow the cylinders dry, but be careful, you WILL get sprayed with fuel if there's a lot in there.

I really doubt there's a lot of fuel in the cylinders anyway, mostly just damp but not much raw fuel in each cylinder.

 

[RedP85]

Doubt turning by hand will help expluse / vaporize the fuel out (not enough velocity) of cylinders.
Also, un-plugging the AFM will not prevent the fuel pump from running if he crank with starter.
He needs to remove the 15A EFI fuse by the battery to prevent the pump from running.

 

[Flyin' Hawaiian]

There ya go! Remove that fuse and crank, should clear cylinders quickly.

Don't have a 5m any more and couldn't remember if the key bypasses fuel shut off at the afm or not. Thanks for the clarification, Jocelyn.

 

[BrawnE]

So the ground wires Hawaiian mentioned did not pass my inspection. Although they appeared secured at first I was able to slide the grounds around with my fingernail. No bueno. Got them attached properly. But now I am concerned because power was going through something without it being properly grounded. What can I do to check for possible damage caused by my failure to ground these properly the first time?

Cleared the cylinders of fuel using Jocelyn's method above, while moving the intake piping to get to the plugs I found a hose clamp starting to strip so I will replace that before it becomes a vacuum leak. Picking up an extra set of plugs today along with a loaner battery charger to juice it up before trying to start it again. I hope I didn't fry something :/

 

[Flyin' Hawaiian]

I can't speak for your car's electrical, but I can say this. That set of brown ground wires got me back around '02 or so when I rebuilt my engine. I was able to drive it out of the garage and down the road before it became a problem. About 4 or so miles away, it was sputtering and acting like I was playing with the ignition switch!
Happy to say, it did not hurt anything on the car, and tightening up the grounds properly, the vehicle was back to its normal self and drove fine for quite a few years. Hopefully, you experience the same when you get it back up and running again.

 

[BrawnE]

There ya go! Remove that fuse and crank, should clear cylinders quickly.

I did not physically see any fuel come out of the cylinders when I cranked but I smelled a little bit afterwards. Removing the EFI fuse seems to eliminate spark. Is that supposed to happen? After reinstalling the fuse I was able to test for spark. I put new NGK plugs in just in case, they test good.
Removed the timing belt cover and verified that skipping hasn't occurred.
Re-stabbed the distributor (with new o-ring), made sure camshaft hole was visible through the oil fill hole at TDC. I made sure the drill marks were aligned. After stabbing I found the only way to get the signal rotor to align with the pickup coil was to rotate the distributor all the way counterclockwise, till it bottoms out against the set screw for it. Does that sound right?
Carefully installed the wires and double checked all the little stuff. Still no start.. Here is a video of the sound of failure while cranking.
1984 Toyota Celica Supra 5MGE Automatic no start after rebuilding EFI manifold

 

[RedP85]

EFI fuse also powers the ECU, so it could not trigger spark.
When checking rotor position, turn crank to 10 deg BTDC, as this is where it is designed to be when triggered.

 

[Flyin' Hawaiian]

Also, leaving the bolt out of the distributor will allow you to rotate it much further than its supposed to just to see if you can get it to fire up in a different position. 10ºbtdc is quite a distance for the distributor to compensate, and rotating it forward (or backwards, depending on where you have it installed, as we really don't know at this point) will give you an idea on which way you need to turn the rotor before re-stabbing it back in.

Have someone turn the ignition, and quickly rotate the distributor one way until you hear it backfire and/or start. If it doesn't do either, rotate the other way. Make note of where that's at, set to 0º on crank, and without turning the distributor, slide it out and see where the rotor is pointing (obviously, pulling the cap off to see before you pull it out!). While holding the rotor so it doesn't move its position, rotate the housing so the slot aligns with the hole, re-stab and then try it again. Re-start engine, test plug shorted, and check timing with timing light.

And speaking of, if you have an adjustable timing light, have someone crank it over and see where your timing is at before you do any of this! That will tell you where your timing is at. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you probably have the engine 180º out and distributor is also far off so no cylinders are firing at all.

 

[BrawnE]

Also, leaving the bolt out of the distributor will allow you to rotate it much further than its supposed to just to see if you can get it to fire up in a different position.

First suggestion here worked! It fired up with the flange and bolt hole pretty far off. Much past where I could test with the set bolt in place.

This makes sense that it was timing. It's like I just need one more click on the rotor clockwise to line it up. I gave that a shot and used 10 btdc to test. Still can't get the tip of the signal rotor to align with the pickup coil while also getting the flange in a spot with bolt hole access.
Below is the closest I could get it at the 10btdc position. When stabbed with the markings aligned at 0 TDC. The fact I cant get this align must be the issue.

 

[Flyin' Hawaiian]

Well that's good news! So, pop it back out, rotate it one tooth at a time, then re-stab it until you have it sitting about midway in the slot with the bolt. That way you can rotate the timing forward or backwards without having to go past the bolt hole.

You're almost there, just a little bit of fine tuning now!

 

[BrawnE]

Well that's good news! So, pop it back out, rotate it one tooth at a time, then re-stab it until you have it sitting about midway in the slot with the bolt. That way you can rotate the timing forward or backwards without having to go past the bolt hole.

You're almost there, just a little bit of fine tuning now!

ITS ALIVE!!!! Thank you Hawaiian and Jocelyn for sticking with me! Turns out I did just need one more tooth clockwise before the distributor stab! Went for a drive last night and tested to see if I had problems starting again if I turn it off for 15 minutes and nope! Fired right up! With the limited testing I have done so far the car starts up every time!!! I am stoked!

 

[Flyin' Hawaiian]

Glad you got her running again! This community really does come together to get folks back up and running, I try to add wherever I can, although there's a lot more competent folks here who really know the 5mge engines. Just happy I was able to help!

 

[BrawnE]

Update: After over 25 tests the car started every time I turned the key, even after drives that would normally not start! It is idling weird now though. RPMs seem to bounce at a tempo between 600-800 RPM. I am thinking I may have adjusted the ISCV on accident or something. That'll be the next thing to troubleshoot.

 

[RedP85]

Despite what some says, I am sure the ECU have to re-learn it's proper Idle after batt disconnected.
Happend to me more than once. Couple days after came back OK.