91 laser HELP PLEASE!!!!

[rottnlove]

hello, i'm new here and i hope i don't sound too much like a stupid girl on here but... we'll see how that goes.
i have a 91 plymouth laser. the engine (1.8 non turbo) was replaced and rebuilt and a new head put on. the original problem was a bad ecu. that was replaced with a brand new one with a lifetime warranty.
i have replaced with new all of the sensors that we could find except the map sensor.
the map sensor we had bought from a salvage yard and put it on the car and it had no difference in the behavior of the car.
the salvage map sensor was taken off of a car that the salvage guy was currently driving back and forth so we knew it had to be better than the one that was originaly on the car.
i took the car to a shop for them to replace the ecu and do a tune up to get the car running smoother. what they did was charge me 750$ to replace the ecu and steal my radio and amp out of my car and unplug sensors and change the tire rod ends and ball joints!!! i was pissed needles to say!!!
now i have a different problem with all of this done to my car it will not run smoothly (it is very very rough, like a hard "lopeing"(sp?) "vroom, choke, choke, vroom, choke, choke, ") sorry about the sound effects but i don't know how to discribe it any other way.
it is smoking very bad and it uses TONS of gasoline! it will use 1/4 of a tank of gas just trying to work on it. its almost like its gassing its self to death. you can smell the aroma of the gasoline in the exaust.
i don't know if we have vac lines off somewhere. or any sensors are unplugged. the shop unplugged one to make it run better in town but it ran shitty on the highway. i took it back and bitched them out about it.
all of the sensors that we could find we replaced. i even put a new manifold on it because we couldnt get the old o2 sensor out of the old manifold!
Please if you have any info or other sites that might be able to help i need help.
i'm going to have to sell my cavalier to help pay for a shop to fix the laser if i cant figure it out! thats dedication!!!
i have pictures of it here myspace.com/rottnlove feel free to check them out!!!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!!!

 

[Talesin]

Everyone has to learn, girl or guy, and no question is stupid.
What color is the smoke? Black, blue, white, grayish blue?

Step 1. Compression test. If it's smoking, something is getting in that shouldn't be. You might have a bad valve, or a dead piston ring, or a dead piston period. If one or more come back low, proceed to a leakdown test to figure out where the air is getting out.
Step 2. If compression is good, listen to your injectors. Use a mechanic's stethoscope (or a screwdriver with your ear to the handle) and listen to each of them, make sure they're clicking. If one failed open, it'd be washing the cylinder with too much gas to fire.
Step 3. Check for a vacuum leak. This one is less likely, given that it sounds like you're getting too much fuel.

Step 4. Sue the crap out of that shady-ass shop, sounds like they really tore you a new one. Sorry to hear about that.

You may want to buy a logger cable (they still work on the 1.8L) and look at what the ECU sees as airflow... you might have a dodgy MAS that's reading WAY too much air, or your harness wiring might be flaky, so even with a new O2 sensor it might be giving bad readings to the ECU. Only way to find out is with a datalogger cable.

 

[rottnlove]

thanks for the quick reply. i'm getting desperate! my dad is threatening me to get it out of his garage!
it is white smoke.
we have done a compression test, all pistons and valves are ok.
i had the injectors tested and all were good. (i personally do not know how they were tested my dad had them tested)
i forgot to say that it was fowling plugs every time we'd try to work on it too. i just don't understand. we even changed the idle speed control because it lopes like it does.
this car is an electric nightmare.
how would i repair a wiring harness problem? i have looked for a complete wiring harness to replace the old one but i have had no luck finding one anywhere.

 

[Jst4Cyl]

Sounds like a head gasket to me.....Are the plugs brownish or have a brown tint to them?

 

[rottnlove]

The plugs are black and wet with gasoline. all of the plugs not just one or two of them. compression is awesome. oil press is awesome too. new head and head gasket.

 

[Talesin]

Yeah, why I'd asked about the compression test.. if the headgasket was weak, a cylinder would come back weak.

Hmm. I'd check the fuel pressure next, actually. If your fuel pressure regulator (FPR) went bad, it could have failed closed, providing WAY too much pressure and making the injectors run stupidly rich. Also, if the fuel pump was replaced (recently?) might want to make sure it's an OEM unit, and not an upgrade. Walbro 255s are good for turbo DSMs... not so much on NAs, especially the 1.8L.

I really don't know much about the 1.8, but one way to diagnose a MAS failure on the 2.0 is to unplug it, sending the car into 'limp mode'. If the MAS is bad, the problem should get dramatically better without the false signal (though not as good as a proper MAS). Similar with the O2 sensor... unplugging it will also put the car into 'limp mode', but if the O2 is having a problem of some sort, the running of the engine should improve.
Obviously, unplug these with the car turned off.

IIRC, the 1.8 uses a distributor, rather than a coilpack/waste-spark system. Was the cap and rotor replaced with the rebuild? Was the distributor installed properly (aka: not 'one tooth off') and the timing set? Don't think that would cause the stupidly rich condition you're describing, but it's always good to make certain, with distributor-based ignition vehicles.

 

[rottnlove]

yes the distributor and the cap were replaced and on the proper tooth, it was timed and also got a new timing belt.

where exactly is the fuel pressure regulator? is that a little gold canister looking thing mounted to the fire wall? we actually thought back and we thought that might have been leaking fuel at one point in time.

 

[Talesin]

The FPR is usually located on the right (driver's side) end of the fuel rail. Again, I don't really know much about the 1.8s, as they aren't all that common, especially around the enthusiast set (no offense intended). Just trace your fuel line. Comes in from the left (passenger side). There's a (black?) cannister mounted on the firewall (your fuel filter) behind the battery area, and a line coming off the top that goes to your fuel rail. On the other end is the FPR and fuel return line.
Generally if you go to a mechanic they can take the banjo bolt off the top of the fuel filter and screw in a fuel pressure gauge, run the car and take a reading. Don't know the stock pressure for a 1.8L, a Haynes/Chiltons manual would have that info though.

Don't really want to ask this one, but have you considered selling off the Laser instead? It sounds like it's being more hassle than it's worth, and with the 1.8L engine I'd personally just look for a lighter commuter car to take its place, like a Mirage or other small hatch type vehicle, with better gas mileage. Could go with a FWD turbo DSM for not that expensive if you like the body style and want to have the power available, they do get pretty decent gas mileage thanks to the longer gearing than the AWD.. my old GS-T would get ~35mpg average, without being too light on the throttle.

 

[rottnlove]

selling is not an option. im going to have it taken to a buddys shop but im going to have to trailer it there. i dont have a trailer and that is why i havent taken it before. but the guy that is delivering my caddilac will let me use that trailer. maybe he can tell me something too.

 

[Talesin]

Just had a chance to peek at a 1.8 last night. Yes, the FPR is on the driver's side end of the fuel rail (not the firewall). It's a gold cannister with a vacuum line and a thicker (fuel return) line hooked up to it. Held onto the fuel rail with two bolts. Shouldn't be hard to locate.

 

[rottnlove]

i checked the fpr today. i pulled the vacuum line on the fpr. no extra fuel in it. then i started the car and let it run for a little bit. then i shut the car off. i then pulled the vacuum line again still no fuel in it. i was told if the diaphram in the fpr was bad there would be fuel in the vac line tube. i did not see any such symptoms. *sigh*
i almost cried when i loaded it on the trailer today.