Car wont start, unknown problems.

[Shadowofoblivio]

Note: For all of those who read and dont have any ideas whats wrong this thread will be updated with new information as i find it out.



Last night while driving home the car started acting as though it had no power, wouldnt go past 4,000rpm, and would bog down. when i left it started and drove jsut fine the whole night. Once it started doing this i pulled off an offramp close to home and it died on me at the stop and wouldnt turn back on. Got a ride home got some tools and headed back out.

Pulled the spark plughs and they didnt smell of gas or anything. all 4 pistons have spark, the timing belt is still there and in time, the pistons are dry, it wasnt smoking, and it appeared to be getting gas.

Towed it home and today i started looking more in depth to it. i ended up only finding one thing wrong, when a noid light was put into the injector plugs and guess what.... nothing. checked with a volt meter....... nothing. i played around a bit and the only way to get any voltage to show was ground the negative to the batt and on both terminals it shows + power, one battery voltage and one a little less. i pulled the ECU and cracked it open and found........... nothing. still fresh as it was off the factory.



my guess since that all 4 are doing the same thing that something inline where all 4 injectors are connected to/ and or controlled by went bad. what are the components in line with the injector circut and what all could be the cause of this?

Thanks for reading, and all help is appreciated.

 

[oldman]

I briefly read through the thread and I did not see if you have done a compression test yet. It's either fuel, spark or compression. Since you're sure it's getting spark and fuel, see if compression test will reveal anything. If a compression was already done, just pretend I never posted.

 

[Shadowofoblivio]

im gonna go back down the list to check off fuel spark and compression,

i checked the coils per haynes repair manual and both before and after the "gateway of dsm death" no change in the numbers at all. plus i pulled the plugs and they are all getting spark after the engine wont start so spark can be checked off.

tomorrow im gonna go borrow a compression tester and fuel pressure tester from autozone and check both before and after it dies.

 

[Shadowofoblivio]

ok just checked if im getting fuel and the fuel pump is pumping and seems like its doing a good job but im not sure on actual numbers.

the fuel injectors are working or at least cycleing and all of them are.

and i dont know of any way to check compression til i get a compression tester so that just has to wait.

 

[Shadowofoblivio]

just got done with the compression test. i could only do a cold test because i couldnt get the car to start. even so i dont think this looks very good.

cyl 4=60psi cyl 3=52psi cyl 2=45psi cyl 1=60psi

 

[Bostedquest]

just got done with the compression test. i could only do a cold test because i couldnt get the car to start. even so i dont think this looks very good.

cyl 4=60psi cyl 3=52psi cyl 2=45psi cyl 1=60psi

how many times did you crank?
5-7 is the norm...

but yes those numbers are dire...
they need a 1 in front of them...

 

[Shadowofoblivio]

ya i did it around 5-7. that was the highest numbers they would go.

 

[oldman]

cyl 4=60psi cyl 3=52psi cyl 2=45psi cyl 1=60psi

Are you sure you read the gauge right? There should be a 1 in front like said above. Describe how you did the compression test.

 

[Shadowofoblivio]

for the compression test i screwed in the compression tester and cranked it over about 4-6 times or so. the guage went to 30 the first stroke, then to 60 and wouldnt go any higher. let the air off, and redid it again on the same cyl getting the same results. i did this for all cyl but the numbers differed.

 

[oldman]

1. Try another tester to verify the one you have is correct, make sure the throttle plate is open all the way this time. Perform a wet test immediately after the dry test.

2. Make sure the battery is fully charged for the compression test.

3. Check the timing marks again.

 

[Shadowofoblivio]

ok i will do that as soon as i can. and for the wet test i just put a little bit of oil in the cyl then test correct?

 

[oldman]

ok i will do that as soon as i can. and for the wet test i just put a little bit of oil in the cyl then test correct?

Follow the directions here.

 

[Shadowofoblivio]

it appears the head is prob gone or needs machine work. what do you think?

dry 1=60 2=45 3=60 4=60

wet 1=65 2=60 3=60 4=60

 

[oldman]

I suggest doing a leakdown before you pull the head to pin point the problem. Best of luck to you, post back and let us know how it turned out.

 

[Shadowofoblivio]

well just got the head back from the machine shop today. valve seats were horrible, head was warped and needed to be milled 25 thousanths of an inch, lots of carbon on the valves, plus found out the headbolts are tourque to yeild so only one time use.

with all that im suprised the thing even ran at all. waiting fore dodge to get the head bolts on wedensday and then i can put it all back together.

 

[Shadowofoblivio]

(/rant) ive had to wait 1 week on dodge to get the stupid bolts and when i finally get them i still cant put it together! now i have to get a nice fat shim made from a machine shop because nobody carries it at the auto parts places! and it wont seat without it because the stupid little dowel pins are now too long and are preventing the head from sitting flat! stupid dsm, i try and do everything right and it just spits in my face! (/end)!