96’ 850R - Crank, no start, flashing up arrow?

[NotaV70]

Greetings ladies and gentlemen of the forums. As the title says, my car isn’t starting. The car has some modifications on it such as the 2.4 cams s60 green injectors and a VAST ECU.

I took the car out of service to repair a leaking cam cover which involved removing the cams. Once everything was repaired and in time I spun the engine over to ensure that no interference with valves and pistons. I started the car and it started right up and promptly began to stall. I figured it was timing related but after retiming again and ensuring perfect time, it did the same thing. It starts strong and begins to idle normally then the RPMs slowly fall and the car stalls. I unplugged the MAF sensor and the car can hold an idle, though a bit rough. After 3 different MAF sensors and a junkyard TPS + Injector relay (the one on the fan shroud) it was doing the same thing. The car with the MAF unplugged had a significant lack of power below 2000RPM, to the point that I had to give 50-75% throttle to go up a driveway. I also tried jumping the pump relay (red one in fuse box) and this didn’t change anything. I tested the injectors and they have no leaks.

I tried unplugging the coolant temp sensor under the thermostat to see if it would perform better with that unplugged and it flatly would not start. After plugging it back in the car still would not start. Tried using a spare (OEM) ECU and tried to treat it for the lawnmower syndrome (smelled gassy) and neither of these worked.

The most recent time I attempted to start it, the transmission arrow on the dash started to flash. The car doesn’t begin to catch, the engine just spins. Any ideas as to diagnosing this issue would be appreciated. I have spent a lot of time under the hood of this car but this issue has me stumped, thank you for your help!

Notes: 1 code for the O2 sensor, although it has been on and off for almost 2 years. The car is in time and valves are not bent. I have a brand new TPS and injection relay coming in the mail, but I’m doubtful this will help.

[misha]

Did the car ran properly before cam cover removal?