Thread: Pulled fuel injectors for cleanup, car won't start?

So I had an oil leak, and I pulled the fuel rail and injectors to get it cleaned up. I put it all back together, reconnected all the wires and everything, bled the fuel rail, and went to start it up... and nothing. It cranks for a while, tries to fire, dies, and makes this weird squeak sound. Any ideas on what may have went wrong?

double check all the plugs. im thinking the icm harness in the front of the engine is unhooked maybe.

Finally got it to start and run for a bit, but there was smoke everywhere, mostly from the exhaust, thick and white. Car was bouncing like crazy and it ran like ****. Any chance it could just be really, really flooded?

if you hosed the engine down with the injector holes open, yeah it was flooded alright. lol

No, but I forgot to bleed the rail before I pulled it, so it poured quite a bit of gas straight into the intake, lol. Any easy fix, or do I just let it run out? Or am I in for a big job?

Originally Posted by PaintChips97

So I had an oil leak, and I pulled the fuel rail and injectors to get it cleaned up. I put it all back together, reconnected all the wires and everything, bled the fuel rail, and went to start it up... and nothing. It cranks for a while, tries to fire, dies, and makes this weird squeak sound. Any ideas on what may have went wrong?

Where was the oil leaking from? What did you use to clean it up with? What did you do to fix the leak?

Valve cover gaskets weren't torqued down enough, leaked onto the manifold, I figured I'd clean it up right. I just used water and degreaser, and torqued the cover down right

let it run till it runs with out smoking and clears up.

if it dont clear up try new plugs. they may be fouled.


how did gas get in the intake? where did it leak from?

Originally Posted by PaintChips97

Valve cover gaskets weren't torqued down enough, leaked onto the manifold, I figured I'd clean it up right. I just used water and degreaser, and torqued the cover down right

with open injector holes? those holes go right ti the cylinder. so you filled them with some water and crap. spark plugs wet with water dont fire at all lol

Okay, I'll give it a go in the morning. It leaked from the rail when I pulled it

You didn't get any water or degreaser into the injector holes did you?
And what Scott said^

Well, I covered them somewhat, but not enough, lol. I'm just gonna get new plugs to be safe, and run it til it clears up. That should do it, right?

if its running, let it run. it should clear up.

when you first started to crank it, did it ever stop cranking over? if it got hydro locked thats not good at all for the rod bearings.

You might want to do an oil change btw.

rod bearings are really fun to replace NOT

No, it'd crank over fine, but once it'd start, it'd die out almost immediately. Probably starting on 2 or 3 plugs firing. It finally stayed running, but like I said, it ran like crap

thats good. all the same the plugs got wet with water likely.


you can pull the plugs and see if they are wet. with gas now too. crank the engine plugs out a bit to dry it out. then put the plugs back in.

Pull the plugs. Crank it over a few times. Reinstall plugs.

The mosquitoes are out and the sun isn't, so I'll get at it in the morning. Thank you guys! Really scared me

ok you blew you motor you will have to replace it.......kidding