another no start thread, need fixed TODAY!!!

[shoteen95]

I kind of need this car running by the end of the day...eep

i finished my little tune up...new plugs, wires (i even connected them in the right order), valve cover gaskets and plug well seals...as well as tearing my whole intake apart, replacing all it's gaskets..and giving it a nice coat of paint.

So i go to fire it up, fuel pump primes...but it wont catch...just keeeeeeeps on cranking. Naturally I was stumped..cause i made sure the ground strap was connected to the intake nice and snug. Since the intake is painted, would that mess with the ground? Keep in mind i painted all of it, brackets and all...

Is there anywhere else i can bolt that ground strap on to so i can see that it is to blame for the no-start

 

[SASHO91]

yes... the grounds on the intake need to be cleaned, and bare metal.
the rear ground that goes to the fire wall is very impoortant. It should be on the rear intake bracket, and should be metal to metal.
the main grounds are the bolts for the balance tube, were the DIS sits.
can you take pics of what you painted....

my sugestion is to take sand paper, to all the ground spots, clean them up, and go from there...

did you reconnect the DIS?? just asking...

 

[shoteen95]

yea, the DIS is nice and secure, i never even took it off...just cause the thing scares me (no i didnt paint over it, just carefully taped and masked off the whole thing before i threw the paint down)

I guess i'm going to try and sand down the points you suggested.

Now, if the ground strap isnt properly grounded...does that mean the ECU isn't getting power? I tried running the codes, it worked, just threw out a 335 (EGR related) and a 512 (memory power was interrupted)

EDIT, err, the ground strap on the intake runs to the firewall..d'oh...so it's purely a ground for the DIS module? I can see where all that paint i put on there could be a problem..

 

[SASHO91]

im not sure, but i think the eec is getting power....

its just that the grounds are very important.

clean off the two bolts, and plates were the balance tube mounts to. then the rear intake bracket. you wont see that one, so dont worry about tearing it up...

if that dosent solve it, then it is something else... maybe intake related.

 

[shoteen95]

some pics..

 

[40BelowSummer]

Where did your crossover tube to surge tank brackets go? I can see your missing at least one.

 

[shoteen95]

thanks josh for the advice, i sanded down one of the brackets you mentioned...threw it back on, and she fired almost instantly...

unfortunately, now theres a huge vaccum leak somewhere...it makes an ungodly whine if revved just off idle, then wants to stall...

EDIT, yea, in that pic above, i had removed it before taking the pic to start sanding on it...it seems it was the culprit..since now that the parts it attaches to are bare metal...the car started up

 

[SASHO91]

What i normally do is put a thin layer of rtv on the intake gaskets(intake to head) just to be sure... some dont approve of this, but i have yet had any problems what-so-ever....
allthough you did take the intake apart, so it is a good chance that something is not torqued down, or the gasket did not seal.
another thing, check you vacum lines......

 

[shoteen95]

I put a thin layer of rtv on the head where it mates to the gasket anyways...i just cannot tell where this noise is coming from..it's so loud under the hood it sounds like it's just coming from everywhere..

And now i'm thinking the back valve cover is leaking a small bit of oil..

....great.

 

[SASHO91]

got you other thread about that.....


another way, is get a cigerette, or some type of smoke, and run it around the intake.... that might help you find were there is a leak.... i have yet to try this, but i think it would work....

 

[shoteen95]

alright, got the car running this morning. Noticed a nice big ploom of smoke coming from my tailpipes (at least it looked like smoke, could have been water vapor), it smelled like rotten eggs at first, but then lost it's scent. I still occasionally get a loud whine which sounds like a vac leak, and the idle is still weird, it will randomly rev up, and slowly go down.

Also, if i wind it out, and suddenly let off the gas, i can hear a woosh, which sounds like a BOV of all things.

Theres still a nice amount of smoke coming from my hood, but i think it's just oil that leaked out before i reset the gasket on the rear manifold. I can see it just burning off the cat, but so far, i havent seen any dripping onto the floor (like it did the first time i started the car and it spilt all over my garage).

Any insight would be appreciated.

EDIT: Also, there were a few drips of water dripping from my exhaust when the rotten egg smoke was coming out...I take it my car's running too rich for some reason (probably a vac leak?)...or i'm an idiot and dont know how to install spark plugs or wires

 

[shoteen95]

update, the exhaust is no longer smoking...little to no smoke peeking up in the engine bay, no more BOV like woosh if i let off the gas after opening up the secondaries...

I can still here a small vac/air leak..and the idle still seems to climb randomly...Also, i was pulling up to a red light, threw it into neutral, and the little bastid stalled on me.

From the 20 or so miles i've put on it since earlier this morning, she runs pretty good 90% of the time..

Hopefully she wont let me down, i have to drive 4-5 hours up north to *******

This has been the most successful tune up ever..haha, rolled the back VC gasket first, messed up the ground to the DIS, created a huge air leak...and i still dont know where all the white smoke and rotten-egg cat smell came from when i first fired it up..

 

[dstig1]

Have you cleaned the IAC (Idle Air Control) Valve? That could be related to the idle problems also, and cleaning it every few years helps keep the idle smooth anyways, so it wouldn't hurt in any case.

 

[shoteen95]

i cleaned it as best i could earlier this year, it drives pretty good now, but i'm sure there is still a small air leak somewhere, oh well, i'm going on vacation today (wont be back for a week)...i'll take care of it up there since everyone i know theres pretty handy with tools and engines.