1998 KA won't start in 1995 S14

[Danio]

Someone bought my 1998 S14 KA motor and put it in his 1995 S14. He says the engine would not turn over. There would be a "click click click" sound which he says is the starter trying to move the flywheel. Push-starting it in gear didn't work and made a "clank clank" sound coming from within the motor.

According to him, something internal is broken, but don't know if it's the crank, piston rod, or something else.

My 1998 S14 was in a front end collision which damaged everything from the bumper to the radiator, but nothing behind the radiator was damaged. The frame wasn't damaged either. The engine was still working right after the crash. It also worked when it was at the shop, except they had to use another battery, so I'm a bit surprised to hear that something is broken.

He said he already replaced the starter but that didn't help. I don't know if he's using the 1995 harness, but does that matter?

What else could be causing the problem?

[240zenki]

there could be some differences in the ECU/harness/other electronics...

it sounds like the alternator is bad tho...

[brage]

hm, Did he use the intake manifold from his '95 motor on it ? I don't think the extra sensors and shit on the '96+ are compatible w/ the ('94) '95 setup...

-jeff

[mrmephistopheles]

unless he's using all the '98 electronics, or all the '95 electronics and the '95 lower intake manifold and such, it won't work.

[holisticbeatz]

Just adding to what mrmephistopheles said. Unless he's using all the 98 electronics, the OBD2 sensors on the 98 KA wouldn't be recognized by the OBD1 stuff on the 95.

[Danio]

He says he changed everything to 95 specs.

He says his reason for believing that something is wrong with the engine itself is that the car will not budge while being pushed while it's in gear. Not push-starting. He and another person tried pushing the car while it was in gear to see if everything moves freely (anyone else heard of doing this before?). He says that it is supposed to move if two people are pushing. I've never heard of this so I hope someone can confirm. Does this make sense to anyone? If so, does this offer any clue to what the problem might be? :\