When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
After the car being apart for 2.5 years in my own (1-man) shop, and a full rebuild, with my friend's help we put the engine/transmission back in on Sunday.
I have COVID, so I cannot taste, smell, no energy, no patience, and my brain is not working 100%. I can type!
Issue: When I crank the engine, it spins beautifully but it does not catch.
9Qt. engine oil is in and primed. Get 3.5+ bar of oil pressure cranking.
Fuel pump relay was jumped, and I have built pressure in the system. I think that fuel is primed.
Battery is a brand-new HD Interstate AGM fully charged and on a 2A jumper. Starter spins perfect.
I can sense "compression".
No leaks of any sorts.
* The intercooler is NOT on, and the associated wires are loose; does it make a difference for now?
Q1: At key on, I do not hear the fuel pump(s) (two different fuel pump relay tested in R61) Is it supposed to?
Q2: Connectors? -- See picture; I am not sure where they attached to...does it make a difference for the no-start?
I am thinking my first test would be to see if I have spark? This will be a few days as my wife is also sick and she is not going to come to the shop to bump the starter...
Any other ideas?
It maybe a few days before I can get back in the shop!
Without the intercooler fully installed the engine is not able to run, partly because there is no connection between the air flow meter and the throttle valve. Electrically, at least the white cable and the ground cable must be connected to the intercooler.
Fritz
Q1: As long as the white cable isnt connected to the intercooler the fuel pumps dont get ground. The fuel pumps also dont get power with only ignition on, a rev signal ist required too.
I've never had a need to run my engine without the intercooler installed.
I've jumped the fuel pumps to get the system primed and check for leaks and went forward with the intercooler installation. It's easier to do this than to play whack-a-mole with why my car won't start.
If the switch wire for the overboost switch and the ground for the red pressure transducer, which are both mounted to the intercooler, aren't connected to ground, you can't trigger the fuel pumps.
Make sure of the following:
1. Flywheel motion sensor is connected to the EZ69
2. Engine wiring harness is plugged in correctly (I've done this being in a hurry so it can happen)
3. Pressure/vacuum line is hooked to the EZ69
4. Coil is hooked up to the EZ69
5. Transducer ground is hooked up to intercooler
6. Overboost switch line is hooked up to switch on intercooler.
If you have an old fashioned inductive timing light you could use it to verify that you have spark.
Fritz and metal guru, thank you for the technical help.
I was always under the impression that I can start the engine (albeit roughly) without the intercooler installed. I just ran out of energy and patience due to Covid...
Now I understand that I need to at least "wire" it up correctly. Here is what is left loose under the intercooler:
The brown plug belongs on the intake air temp sensor that is under the intercooler in the outlet tube that is plugged on the throttle body. The brown cable is ground and is screwed to the left rear of the intercooler housing.
The white cable belongs to the smaller of the two sensors on the back, but was obviously connected to ground with the extension and the ring lug. This means that the protective function of the overpressure switch was bypassed.
Fritz, good catch. I bypassed it ~7 years ago, as I was testing the boost function.
For my education: If the intercooler/associated wires are NOT connected, but R61 is bypassed and fuel pumps "ON", shouldn't the engine start if everything else was wired correctly?
(Anyhow, I need to collect myself and go back in the shop today)
I've ran them without an intercooler. You have to press down the airflow meter with the airbox off. Easy to jump the fuel pumps at R61. Make sure your Yellows on the starter are correctly installed. Did you install the 3 tooth flywheel? The RS flywheel won't work. Make sure the Ignition relay is working or jump that too. Grey relay next to the Green A/c relay in the eng. comp.
Last edited by Scott Dunavant; 02-14-2023 at 01:43 PM.
Yes, you can probably get the engine to run for a short time without intercooler if you use all the tricks. But in my opinion it doesnt make sense because the amount of air and fuel is "determined" wrong by manually pressing down the air flow meter while the engine pulls unmeasured air through the open throttle.
What is the point? You can also test any necessary function by other means.
Shops start engines without air boxes and intercooler to look for fuel leaks and problem solve. Typically after a complete rebuild. Yes not to tune the engine.
Fritz, I sincerely hope that you are right! I will do one more round of checking of everything before I put that intercooler back on. It will be in a few days now as I am pretty sick and my wife got the same.
By the way, I am impressed that you noticed my overboost rework!
Fritz, I sincerely hope that you are right! I will do one more round of checking of everything before I put that intercooler back on. It will be in a few days now as I am pretty sick and my wife got the same.
I'm afraid I can't contribute anything to the fault diagnosis, but wanted to say take care with your health. I got sick at the start of this thing back in early 2020 when not much was known and spent nearly three weeks in intensive care with breathing assistance as well as suffering lung, kidney and liver function problems before eventually being discharged.
I then lost all of my hair (I was only 41 at the time) and all of my sense of smell. Fortunately my hair grew back, but nearly three years on my sense of smell is still virtually absent. Except for random petrochemical or burning smells which are not really there!
Stamina has not returned to anything near what it was previously, so working on my cars is something I find very tiring now. Take it easy and don't overdo it.
02-13-2023, 07:29 PM
No start
