my motor still no worky!!

[phastalon]

Okay, so I get my car back Thursday after being without it for 3 months and when I go to pick it up the mechanic tells me it's smoking really bad. He said he thinks it's the piston rings b/c there is no compression before the car is started. He lets it idle for about 3 hours or so to hopefully seat the rings, well I go to leave in the car and I can't get it to start after it had just been idleing. We come to the conclusion that it is flooded after smelling fuel. We unplug the injectors, start the car, let it run out of fuel and die. We plug the injectors back in, I get in the car, start it again and it runs fine (still smoking very badly though). I get about a block down the road and the thing dies. I try to start it again, and bam, flooded again. I do the same procedure as above with the injectors and now it won't start that way either. I have the car towed home, as the shop was closing when I was picking the car up.
Friday morning I go out to the car and try to start it to see what it will do and it starts right up (smoking all to hell). It idles at a steady 1700rpms and doesn't surge at all. Whenever I hit the gas, smoke pours out of the exhaust and my friend said it was shooting either thick,dark, water or oil into a puddle behind me. So I let it idle for about 10 minutes and then shut it down to see if it will start again, and it won't start.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what could be causing this? Does this sound like fried piston rings? What about timing? Anything with the head itself? I used a shortblock that I bought from a reputable member of dsmtuners and I purchased a head that the person said was rebuilt 500 miles ago (the cams in the head were seized up when I got it, I guess the person forgot to mention it had sat for a while). Any suggestions would be of great help, as I'm broke and I need my car to run properly.

**Edit**
I'll get compression test numbers up tonight or tomarrow (both b4 and after the old oil in the spark plug well test).

 

[98TsiAWD]

What condition is your turbo in? It could be causing the smoke.

I see from your wishlist you have no fuel mods, but is that up to date?

 

[phastalon]

the turbo was freshly rebuilt from forced performance in october, it has 0 miles on it since the rebuild b/c the car has been down

originally I thought the turbo had went out, but I actually melted the pistons b/c I was running too much boost and not enough fuel (i know, i was an idiot!). so, that's the reason I bought the short block. the reason I bought the head was b/c my lifters were ticking and I got a pretty good deal on it for supposedly being built 500 miles ago.

No, unfortunately I haven't been able to upgrade my fuel system b/c the car has been at the shop. That is definately my next mod after I get my engine running again.

Since it is idleing so high and flooding when I turn it over, I'm thinking maybe a fpr would help. Should I check the fuel pressure to see what psi it's at, or do you think that would matter?

 

[BUCK]

Dead ECU caps is my guess - this is what mine did - do you have gas in your oil yet? BEWARE if you do - you can bend rods trying to compress a cylinder flooded w/raw gasoline.

 

[phastalon]

I shouldn't, but I'll check it and see. I checked the caps a few months ago and they looked perfect. I'll check them again to be on the safe side.
Thanks for the tip!

 

[phastalon]

okay here's an update!!
as soon as I got home (about 5:30pm est) I got in my car to see if it would start. I turn the key, and bam, it starts right up....no problem at all. I let it idle for a few minutes until it gets warm and then I turn it off. I let it sit for a few minutes, start it up, and it starts again. I go thru this process of starting, stopping the car just to make sure I wasn't dreaming and it worked like a charm every time.
It's still smoking quite badly but, I'm praying that will go away and all will be good!

If anybody still has suggestions as to what could cause this, I would appreciate it. When it was cold, it was idleing at about 1700 rpms, when it warmed up it was at about 750rpms (right where it's supposed to be).

 

[DAskren]

Is the smoke black, white, or blue? Have you noticed the coolant going down any?
Dave
92 Laser AWD

 

[cucumber]

Brad, I HOPE this works out for the best.

 

[phastalon]

The smoke is blue, and I haven't checked the coolant yet. I'll go ahead and check that today as well as the ecu.

This morning the car wouldn't start at all. It would try to, but never kick on. I didn't smell fuel, so I didn't unplug the harnesses into the injectors. I'll try again this afternoon and keep everyone updated.

Thanks again,
Brad

 

[phastalon]

okay the coolant level and color is fine. the ecu is still in good condition (especially for my year of car).
i tried a compression test and i did one try on one cylinder then my gauge crapped out on me. on cylinder #1, i got 125 and that was as far as my gauge would go. i'll get a new one today or tomarrow and let you know how that goes.
also, i checked my plugs and when i pulled them out they had oil residue and smelled of gas. i had them put bpr7es plugs in when they put my motor in, and i'm not going to be running any high boost any time soon. so my question is should i go to the warmer plug and try that?
my car ran fine all day, yesterday afternoon and evening. i went to start it this morning (it's about 6:30am est) and it wouldn't fire. i know for sure it didn't flood b/c i unplug the fuel injectors and still couldn't get it to fire, it just turned over but never fired.
anyone have any other suggestions?
let me know what to check and i'll do it and let you know.

 

[jason90tsi]

i had similar problems with my 90 (flooding not starting on cold days and did not matter if the car was warm or cold) it ended up being the wire on the temp switch came loose (on the waterneck) it took me a week to find this problem but i plugged it back in and never had a problem with it not starting since.

 

[phastalon]

Originally posted by jason90tsi
i had similar problems with my 90 (flooding not starting on cold days and did not matter if the car was warm or cold) it ended up being the wire on the temp switch came loose (on the waterneck) it took me a week to find this problem but i plugged it back in and never had a problem with it not starting since.

can you tell me approximately where the waterneck is? i'll definately check that and see where it gets me

Thanks,
Brad

 

[phastalon]

okay, here's a bit of an update....
Over the past couple of days, I have tried to start the car early in the morning (when it's freezing a$$ cold outside) and it will not start. If I try in the afternoon (when it's a little bit warmer) it will start. Now I have also noticed that my alternator belt squeaks horribly and produces smoke when the car is first started, what could this mean? I check the pressure of the belt and it is fairly tight, could the belt be too tight?
I'm going to take the battery to have it tested, it is supposedly a new one, but I've learned to be careful when dealing with some shops.

Anyone have any other ideas as to why my car will not start when it is cold? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Brad