MigsD16

Good to know about the electrical. I just got off work and will pick up the fuel pressure regulator waiting for me at a local parts store. That will be atleast one more thing ruled out if it still doesn't start. I am seriously hoping it fires up.

Tony, not sure what you meant when you added "and record the car dying". I personally don't believe the fuel is the problem. Also, I only run 91 octane since I'm just used to running it in my high compression Bimmer.

As far as injector cleaner, I run Lucas. If you know of something better, please let me know.

TomCat39

I believe what he is saying is, drain the gas (save it in a jerry can if you like) and get fresh gas in just in case the gas is bad (I've had bad gas just straight from the gas station. Car sputtered until the tank was gone, add octane booster just in case). Then with fresh gas and injection cleaner (rule out bad gas insta gumming injectors, clogging filter, trashing regulator etc) and record a video of it running till it dies on you.

I think he is hedging his bet that if you drain the gas and start fresh, it ain't gonna die on you like it has been.

I believe the cleaning of the injectors and then it dying 3-5 minutes after running great for them minutes is a sign of old foul gas insta gumming the injectors and who knows what else of the fuel system. Like you said, your fuel filter appeared to be clogged.... Why is that if it was fairly new?

MigsD16

You are entirely right. I replaced the regulator to no avail, I also checked the fuel lines and they aren't clogged. The only thing left it seems is the bad gas. I might not get to it until this weekend, but I'll be back with more info as soon as I have it. I won't put this to rest until it's resolved.

civicservice

How did you do that?

mk378

There can't be 60 psi fuel pressure unless the return line is clogged or the regulator is bad. It has to be one or the other. The regulator works by opening as the pressure in the rail reaches the design pressure, it sends the excess fuel back to the tank.

MigsD16

I pulled the fuel lines that were easier to reach and blew through them, they seemed fine, but I guess I need to do them all. What a pain... I will try to get to it this weekend, but it may not get done until next weekend since my brother needs help with his daily driver this weekend.

tony_2018

yeah, this is still on my mind still but baby steps for now.

tony_2018

Just a lil hutch but it doesn't hurt to try. 1 Gallon is more than enough.

OP,
Also, how's your primary o2 sensor looking? Did you damage during removal/installation?

MigsD16

Ok, so I finally decided to drain the gas today and it was very dark and orange. Gas CAN and did go bad sitting for just one year (12.5 months to be exact) in a southern california garage. I will add some pics. The first pic is the bad gas, the second and third pic are pics of what was coming out at the fuel filter after I added a couple gallons of 91 and cleared my lines a bit with a few cycles of the key. It's actually starting finally, but running like garbage and stalling. So I'm going to clean the injectors again and hopefully it will run after that. Bad gas seems to have been the root problem. If I can't get it running right after the injector cleaning, I will replace the fuel filter again. All advice on how I should proceed is greatly appreciated.

Thank you again to everyone who has been helping me with this, I appreciate it very much.

MigsD16

I'm curious why you mentioned the primary O2 sensor?

The reason I ask is because I recently swapped my exhaust manifold with one I bought on craigslist and when I swapped over the O2 sensors I may have gotten to primary and secondary mixed. The reason for believing this is because of the wire color. Also, where on the harness to the primary and secondary o2 sensors connect? I just connected them to the upper and lower connectors in relation to where they are to the sensors.

I feel like I'm getting close to getting this car back on the road. With work and other things I have going on I'm exhausted, but the hope of finishing this project soon because of your help is keeping me going.

Thank you again!

MigsD16

I don't know if this is related, coincidence, or what to think, but I got a new code (p1509) and the car is back to its old tricks. It ran super rough for about 2 minutes and then died, ran again for 10 second, died, now it's back to the 2 second sputter out. The code is for the Idle air control valve. Perhaps the bad gas messed it up? I'm incredibly frustrated at this point. I'm not going to give up, but this is driving me nuts.

MigsD16

I think the code was just because I unlugged it when I removed the fuel rail. I dont believe that's the problem. Could this still be from the bad gas? If so, what else could it have fouled up? One thing I noticed is that my oil light is on. When I checked my oil it looks fine, but I did overfill it. Not sure how I did that, but I don't think that would cause this. Especially since it still runs when I spray starter fluid into the intake. This is probably still a fuel issue, but I'm not sure what else to do at this point.

Please help

TomCat39

How did you install your oil pressure sending unit?

If you put rtv over all the threads you may have prevented it from grounding out.

I just had to do my pressure sending unit on my 2007 Si today as it was spitting a fair amount of oil out of it. My tech told me if I was going to put honda bond on the threads only put just a tiny bit on the top half of the threads (nut side). And another buddy of mine who noticed me working on the beast said the same thing and said he prefers using liquid teflon but also keeps it at the top portion of the threads.

If you did up all the threads, it won't complete the circuit as the bolt portion of the unit is actually the ground.

MigsD16

Could this cause this problem I'm having? This is some very interesting info since I used RTV, I greatly appreciate it. I only used a little and tried to keep it on the upper portion of the threads. But may have put some on the base of the nut portion that touches the block. I will try to get around to redoing it today. Unfortunately it's in a location that makes it a real pain to replace. I either have to pull the intake manifold off or go up from the bottom and remove the oil filter since it's directly above it. Not looking forward to this.

The fuel was definitely bad and needed to be replaced, so I don't feel bad about the time spent on that, but it's just one thing after another. This is feeling like a never ending project.

Thank you again!

TomCat39

You miss understand. the rtv if any is used at all needs to only be by the the nut side of the thread. The threads towards the hole that goes into the block needs to be rtv free and clean. I have circled in red where if any rtv is used it should be:



And no, I don't believe this would have anything to do with your running issue.

This only prevents the oil light from turning off even though it has oil pressure. You lose that idiot light as it is always on.

tony_2018

Even if it were at the beginning of the thread it would be pushed back to the base if you think about it. But if any got at the tip of the sensor than yeah, you're gonna have to take it back out from underneath the car and remove any and all rtv. On the sensor as well as in the block.

TomCat39

Technically as per the FSM yer not even supposed to use RTV as it's supposedly a pipe fitting style and self sealing but even factory uses a tiny little bit of sealant up where I circled in red said my tech friend.

From what I've seen, the nut doesn't even get to the block so the grounding happens at the tip of the bolt portion inside the block.

Fortunately for me, on the 2007 I could do the job top side after removing the wiper cowl and the tin cowl under that. Same thing you have to do to do a valve job. Not as doable with the 5th and 6th gen's as the IM doesn't give any suitable access to it from the top.

MigsD16

I'm pretty sure I didn't use too much RTV, and I tried to keep it on the upper threads, but I will try to find the time to redo it. Maybe when I change my oil after the initial 100 or so mile break-in period. I can't tell you how bad I want to get this car running. I tested the pressure again and will post up the video and add a link to it later today. It's still looking high, but it has a new fuel regulator and I'm not sure where there might be a clog because fuel seems to be moving freely through the lines.

Any ideas on how to proceed from here?

MigsD16

I personally think the oil pressure light was a detour from the engine not running problem. I have a feeling the light will go off once the engine stays running. I'm starting to think the problem here could have something to do with the throttle body, or maybe a sensor or maybe the pcm itself?

Perhaps the main relay? Any more ideas, I hope...?

civicservice

What fuel pressure do you see at idle and when you apply throttle?

Have you connected a scan tool that can give realtime data feed?

TomCat39

It is a detour but I do not know if it will go off as you said it was running but running rough. It should go off within 2 seconds of the car idling even rough.

The other concern is, the oil light IS working properly and not going off.

You don't have an oil pressure gauge so you don't know which it is.

I've been waiting for the experienced folk to get back to you regarding the fuel issue. I was just throwing forward some info regarding the oil light as I literally just had to deal with mine that day.

MigsD16

You're starting to concern me now. I do appreciate the words of wisdom though and admit that this whole thing has me not thinking clearly at this point. I feel like everything I do will be more time spent for nothing in return. However, I'm getting very efficient at taking this car apart and putting it back together. The fuel issue seems to be my primary problem. Perhaps the oil pressure is related, but I don't know if it has ran long enough for the gauge to shut off. I wasn't paying attention to it before the other day when I started to try and look around for other possible issues.

I feel like there has to be something I'm overlooking or maybe it's something ridiculously simple. I didn't replace the PCV valve, but when I blew through it, it was working properly. I don't think that could cause this problem anyway. It still runs when I spray starter fluid into the intake. The fuel pressure at around 58 psi is too high, but the lines seem clear and I just replaced the regulator. I am out of ideas at this point, but I'm also an amateur at this... I'll paypal $10 as a thank you to the person to can provide an accurate diagnosis.

TomCat39

Like someone mentioned, 58 PSI is too high and it would be the return line that has issues.

I honestly do not remember how many lines run under the car or whatnot but I would be looking at the FSM regarding the return part of the system as there doesn't seem to be a problem getting the fuel to the front as per the 61 PSI. Just seems to be having troubles going back to the tank to drop/maintain the pressure closer to 41 PSI. Isn't the evap system part of the fuel return? This is the area I am the least knowledgeable with as I haven't had to deal with anything of the sort.

Normally, I would be digging into the FSM for you and share my findings but currently I am in the crunch time of our move in less than 3 days.

MigsD16

I will look over the FSM this evening and start educating myself on all of the paths of the fuel lines, starting with the return system. I know next to nothing about this as well and have never dealt with fuel issues aside from a broken return line I once had on my BMW. Hopefully someone who really knows this stuff will speak up, until then I will do my best to figure it out.

Thank you again TC!

tony_2018

this is called diagnosing the issue. There is no "hey my problem is this" and "well you do this". You need to figure out why your fuel pressure is high, Fresh gas allowed it to run for a bit but you still have the issue with high fuel pressure. Check the lines again.

If this car wasn't running before the rebuild than that just adds on to why diagnosing any car issue is a must.