Thread: Firing Up Motor After 7 Months on Jack-Stands

Just don't paint it bright yellow and black. It'll look like a bumble bee and you will never hear the end of it.

Just ask Scott...hahahahahaha

No one stirred up that nest...I mean thread in a while. Bzzzzzzzzz

Welp... Bad news. She didn't wanna turn over. No video. She stuttered, caught for a half second, and went back sounding like it did when priming it. Eh-eh-eh-eh-EH. God damn it. Tried turning the key a few more times but soon gave up. Same thing every time. No engine work was done so what could it be? My Bluedriver
code reader picked up 1 code: P0107, MAP Circuit Low.

First and only thought = fuel pump. Maybe I did the RaceTronix rewire wrong? I couldn't hear the pump priming when turning the key. Before the rewire, with the stock setup, I could definitely hear it booting up. However, I've got pressure at the schrader valve. Comes out like a volcano. So clearly there's pressure. The fuel lines were new and filled with air, so something pushed that out. I should probably rent the fuel pressure gauge from Autozone and see if I can rule that out.

All in all, pretty ****ty. Time to start troubleshooting.

I did not pull the relay. Didn't know I had to... When I did my LIMs, I primed it just like today without any trouble. Fired right up then. Thought to do the same thing this time.

Flooding an engine doesn't really harm it from what I understand. Is that correct? Do you think it will be good to go tomorrow, after it dries out all night?

It's not that easy to flood one of these while priming. Pull a plug, if it's wet then pull them all. Dry them off. Crank it over for a few seconds. Drop plugs back in and you should fire up.

Ok. Thanks BillBoost. Gonna try that. I hope thats all it is. I will be out working on it this afternoon. Will report back.

Shyt. I couldn't wait. Wasn't dressed for car work. Was out signing up my son for Saturday Polish school. He wasn't too happy about school on Sat.

She didn't start tho. First thing I did was check the schrader for pressure seeing if anything changed overnight. Again, it was bursting. Checked unions on the fuel lines for leaks, no leaks. Turned the key almost ON, this time I could definitely hear the pump priming.

The code for the MAP sensor was because I left it unplugged after fixing the vacuum line connection. DOH!! Plugged in now, but didn't help in getting it started

Anyway, pulled plug 5 and 3. Both dry. Plugs are copper, Mastercraft, with 1000 miles on them. Known to be good.

To prime the engine yesterday, I pulled the wires off the ICM. I could see the coils sparking. Coils are pretty new, known good. The way it just cranks and cranks makes me think of an igntion issue. In the "My Ride" thread about this car, I posted (back in April I think) pictures of cracks in the insulation on the wires from the ICM harness. Despite the cracks, and green copper showing, I left it on. It was Known Good despite the cracks. Since then, I purchased a gently used ICM harness from a member on here, HighOctaneRacing. Looks to be in great condition. Maybe that's the problem, bad wires leading to ICM?

Is it worth checking the pressure at the schrader valve despite it bursting? Or can we call fuel pressure as being good? Thanks guys.

Driving back over to work on the car now. Gonna replace the ICM harness. Rule that out.

So I'm sitting here now, pondering and staring at the car. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that the problem is fuel related. Stangely, I'm not getting any fuel at the schrader valve anymore. Despite trying to crank it again. I can't consistently hear the pump priming. Thought I heard it earlier but can't really repeat it. Was probably just convincing myself I did. Like I said, the stock setup was unmistakable. Sounded kinda cool, like a system booting up. No sound like that now though. ****ty... ****ty.

I'm not touching the ICM for now. Luckily I kept the Racetronix instructions. Going to check my work, and if it's correct and still not starting then I will undo the rewire, go back to stock setup, and see if it starts. If still nothing, then I will remove the fuel pump and bench test it.
That's the plan. If all that proves fruitless, ICM harness will be next.

I mounted the hookup for the rewire under the rear subframe which means I need to drop it again. Terrible. Dropped it like 10 times now. Not looking forward to it.

Scotty. The rewire kit came with its own fuse connection. 20amp. Checked it, it was fine. The stock fuses are obsolete at this point right, because of the rewire? I didn't check stock fuses. That kit comes with its own relay as well. But I was thinking, do I need to pull that stock stuff out? Like the fuse, resistor, etc.? Does that pin need to be bent or something? Here's a link to the kit:

http://www.racetronix.biz/itemdesc.asp?ic=FPWH-025&Tp=

Swiggles. At my first post, after priming it, and trying to start it for the first time, and failing, then checking the schrader, it squirted out good. This morning it was still squirting but maybe less so. Tried starting it, nothing. Just cranks, but doesn't catch. Checked schrader again maybe 2 minutes after that and there was noticeably less pressure. Maybe something is obstructing flow? Crap from the tank? Brand new fuel filter clogged already? Bad fuel? I poured 3 gallons of fresh 93 octane into what was in the tank already. There wasn't much in there. But lets say that gas was a year old. Last used to run the car in March/April of this year.

I'm pretty confident I did the Rewire correctly. We'll see....Got the rear subframe almost dropped. Will be back on Tuesday to work on it some more.

Ok.. let's back up and start with the basics. Before... you had plenty of fuel a schrader, your plugs are dry and you know your coils throw spark.

Make sure all your connections have been reconnected. Grab your can of brake clean, carb clean, tb cleaner.. all these are flameable. If this is a SC motor, spray some from the can into the vacuum fitting below the SC snout on the LIM. put that line back on and go fire it up. When I say spray some.. give it one mississippi. That's all you should need to check for fuel. If it fires and dies, the issue is fuel (I'm fairly sure it is).

Now that you know it's fuel.. let's trace it down. Turn key on and off twice. This should give schrader plenty of pressure again. If you have pressure there, then we can move on.
Since there would be fuel in the rail, next up is injectors. Mainly is the pcm telling them to fire. The only time injectors should not prime the cylinders that I am aware of is if the throttle is held at 100%. Because putting the pedal to the floor is how you clear a flood situation in an FI engine. So let's not do that.

This shouldn't be too bad. If you have fuel pressure at rail, it's not the pump.

Yep. Had pressure at schrader, and pressure seemed to decline each time checking it thereafter.

I have some carb cleaner to try that starting trick. It is a SC 3800. That vacuum connection comes to a T. Do I yank the entire T off, and spray in there?

Found this link:
http://www.grandprixforums.net/threa...pressure/page2