Car won't start
 

Long story short:
lost oil filter - lost all the oil- continued driving until engine stopped (~1.5 km) - towed car home- fill in with oil - won't start: it turned but didn't fire. Thought the engine was dead so went on and bought one of JDMs. Replaced the engine. It still doesn't start, in very similar way - sounds like one cilinder fires from time to time. Replacement engine came with fuel rails and ingectors installed. Sparks on all 6 plugs, fuel pump works, fuel lines are in correct direction (with pressure regulator on the returning one) but spark plugs don't have gasoline smell.

What else to check? Is there any self- preserving feature which would shut the engine off if it runs with low oil pressure for a while?

Car is 93 SE automatic with VE30DE - both original and replacement.

Any help is greately appreciated.

did you install the new motor, or have a shop do it?
i would assume that you did, so you need to go through and make sure that all the harnesses are hooked up to the proper connectors. there was a case recently reported (and not-so-recently in a few threads) of people hooking up a transmission wire to the injectors.
after that, ohm-test the injectors (should be between 10-14 ohms).

Thanks, I'll do it. I finally managed to start the engine by opening the throttle but it dies if I close it. The whole assembly of IACV, throttle body & TPS came with the replacement motor, so there might be a problem with idle air. I also found that all 3 rear cylinders are not working, so +1 to the idea to check connectors.

if you got a JDM motor, you need to swap some of the sensors off your old one on to the JDM one.

I did - coolant temperature sensor. ECU was turning engine fans on with JDM sensor. The rest of them are either not vital or din't come with the engine at all :).

you connected the rear injector harness to the transmission harness rather than the engine harness. Common mistake lately.

That's what I thought after reading the first comment but for VE30DE harness it is impossible, I think. The rear injectors connector is on the passenger side of the engine while transmission - is on the driver side. I just don't see how this can be possible at all. I'll check the injectors connector and their resistance anyway. It looks suspicious that all 3 of them are off.

What do you know - 3 rear injectors on the replacement engine were dead: they had normal resistance but wouldn't click when supposed to. Replaced with the original ones together with the rail and it started to work normally.