Car sat over winter, now cranks as if it has no compression. Ran fine when put away!

[JusMX141]

Just a quick diagnosis from anyone who's run into this before.

A close friend of mine has a rather stock 1G that sat for the majority of the winter. I believe the last time it was started was early November when it was moved to it's current resting place. I was there the day he parked it, so I know for a fact that the car ran fine when it was put away.

We tried to start the car yesterday because the weather here in western PA was gorgeous, and no dice. After a day's worth of charging the battery, the engine still rolls over very slow, and sounds dull....like when you install new cams and the lifters haven't pumped up enough to open the valves.

Is it possible that the oil drained out of the lifters over winter? If so, what's the solution....just cranking on it until they get oil? I'd really hate to pull the cams out and prime 16 lifters on a car that ran just fine 4 months ago, but if that's what it takes I'll do it.

 

[absolute_DSM]

Sure its not a simple grounding problem with the battery/starter?

 

[Dave532]

Check timing belt. Might feel like no compression because the valves are not opening

 

[JusMX141]

Everything's turning; the cams are definitely moving. The timing marks all align up top- and I'm confident that they're aligned down below too. There's no way it would've jumped time while sitting!

So there could be an issue where the starter is poorly grounded and not spinning the engine quick enough? That makes sense. I'll have to check into that later as it's pouring rain here now.

The weird thing is that you can crank all you want to, and when you let of it's not like the engine stops spinning right away when it catches a compression stroke.....it just slows down and stops as if it has no compression at all. It's the same sound that my buddy's 2G had when we installed the BC0101 cams and the lifters lost their prime. We simply kept cranking until the car eventually tried firing a few times, and within minutes it was running.

Haven't gotten as far as pulling the plugs and physically checking the compression yet as I didn't have any tools with me when I was there.

Starting fluid does nothing.

 

[Teflon]

I let my gsx sit out all winter too. When I turned it back on I had the same problem, but I let it run itself out. After about 3 days it was working fine again.

 

[alice]

My '96 7-bolt did the same thing last winter when it sat for 4 months. It cranked like there was nothing there and eventually, it started and ran fine. Took a few days for everything to get back in-sync. My battery as also completely dead so I bought a new one.

 

[knochgoon24]

Just to check, but did you clean the battery terminals?

 

[JusMX141]

The battery was out of the car all winter and was stored in his basement out of the cold where it was charged occasionally to keep it fresh. It was replaced last June....well at least that's when the date was punched.

There's nothing wrong with the battery....we even hooked a jumper box to it and it still acts the same way.

Thanks for all the input thus far- I'm leaning toward the lifters losing prime. Does anyone think it would be best to just pull all (4) plugs out and crank the engine for a while to get oil back into the head without putting too much strain on the starter and the rest of the starting system?

 

[outkastracing]

hate to say it but have you checked for spark at all??? i had the same thing and after sitting and my 1g sitting got moisture in there and ruined my ecu!!! check for spark !

 

[JusMX141]

We haven't checked spark yet. The ECU was just rebuilt last year by ECMTuning, and again this really doesn't sound like a "no spark" start. If you could hear it, you'd see what I'm talking about.

 

[AlaskanDsm]

Do you have any way of recording the car trying to start? digital camera? video camera? voice recorder? then we might be able to help out with that the noise was? try the compression test and see how that goes for you. Also could the plugs not be in all the way and causing a loss of compression?

 

[JusMX141]

No video yet- I didn't have the digicam on me when I went over last night. It's raining buckets here today, so I'm gonna pass on going over there again tonight. Maybe I'll have a vid posted as early as tomorrow.

 

[Defiant]

Everything's turning; the cams are definitely moving. The timing marks all align up top- and I'm confident that they're aligned down below too.

Open it up and look. It's jumped.

There's no way it would've jumped time while sitting!

No, but there's every way the belt would have jumped when you tried to start it, particularly after several months of sitting there and taking a set around the crank.

 

[gsx rated98]

Thanks for all the input thus far- I'm leaning toward the lifters losing prime. Does anyone think it would be best to just pull all (4) plugs out and crank the engine for a while to get oil back into the head without putting too much strain on the starter and the rest of the starting system?

I dont think your lifters are the issue. I let my car sit for just about a year up untill this past september, with the motor drained of all fluids. I filled the car up with oil and water, put a cap full of oil down each plug hole, and it cranked a few times and started right up.

The cap full down each plug hole, was to help getting the cyl walls and rings a bit of oil since it was bone dry.

 

[JusMX141]

Following up:

I took some tools over, including a compression gauge. The car had "0" psi on 3 of the 4 cylinders....removed the valve cover to find loose rockers on at least one intake valve on each of the 3 cylinders with no compression.

Head's coming off .

 

[absolute_DSM]

Ouch. Ill have to remember this for when I deploy again and have to leave my car sitting.

 

[JusMX141]

Following up in case anyone surfs across this thread in the future and wonders what caused the failure- apparently the timing belt tensioner failed while the car was stored and the first time I attempted to crank the engine the belt was loose enough for the car to jump time. I rebuilt the head, replaced all of the intake valves as well as the timing components and this car drove away like it was a new one.

 

[crash89]

Jus, thats pretty crazy. Ive never heard of that happening. Im glad you guys could figure out the problem before you threw a new head on and tried to start to start it up.

 

[DSMGary]

Open it up and look. It's jumped.No, but there's every way the belt would have jumped when you tried to start it, particularly after several months of sitting there and taking a set around the crank.

You was right, good call!

 

[beihl304]

That's interesting. I just had the happen to me but it was only sitting a few days in the body shop? Looks like time for new valves and all that good stuff.

 

[JusMX141]

That's interesting. I just had the happen to me but it was only sitting a few days in the body shop?

At the end of last season, dacowgod drove his car on the trailer prior to heading to the dragstrip. Two hours later, he tries to start the car to back it off the trailer and nothing. Car jumped time due to a failing TopLine oil pump and bent all of the intake valves while it was sitting on the trailer.

The timing belt gremlins lurk around each and every corner.

 

[Dsmkauai]

Something similar happen to me a few years back. I drove my car all day one Saturday then I drove home from church and parked my car and all was fine. Next morning I wake up to go to church and bam nothing car just cranks and no start. So I push it out of the way to take my other car and after church I find the timing off 1 tooth. So it either jumped just as I shut it down or when I tried to start it. My car must really like me because nothing bad happen, not one bent valve or any damage. Did a complete timing job with ever replaceable part possible, and has been good ever since. I did however notice it looked like the water pump had failed and was dripping coolant out the weep hole. It also looked to be dripping right on top of the tensioner and I believe it ceased it up.