Timing belt replacement = no start
 

Requesting support from those smarter than I.

A friend of mine tackled a timing belt + water pump job on an 02 Miata over the past weekend. I did it on my car before the VVT swap, and it was no big deal - replaced all the leaky seals, water pump, lined up the timing marks and off to the races. He did all the same work on this car, with the added step of removing the VVT cam gear to replace the front cam seal on that side, and now it won't fire. He double checked that the cam, crank and MAF sensors are all plugged back in; COPs are plugged back in the correct order. Smells like fuel, have spark. I loaned him my scantool and it showed a cam sensor error (still waiting to hear back exactly what number). They replaced the cam sensor though, and no change. They tore it back down last night and double checked that the timing marks are aligned. Kind of at a loss now - it should run (even if poorly) at 1 or 2 teeth off, which it definitely isn't.

Any other suggestions?

If you removed the exhaust cam gear to replace the seal, make sure your put it back on correctly. There are 3 locations in the gear for the locating pin. TO verify proper cam timing, with cylinder #1 at TDC the cam lobes on the intake cam should point to about 9 o'clock and the lobes on the exhaust cam should point at about 3 o'clock.

This is the pic he sent over last night - judging by the #4 pistons, it should be right?
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6a68c21c25.jpg

Behind the harmonic balancer is a timing wheel with 4 teeth. Did he accidentally install it backwards?

How could you tell? Also, camshaft error is p0340

Threw a new crank sensor in on a hunch and started right up. Go figure.

Sometimes throwing parts at a problem actually works. I'm glad you got it resolved.