Hey guys. Been a while since I've posted here, but I need some help. I'm having weird startup issues. I can get the car started after a number of tries, and it runs smooth with the occasional blip (once every couple minutes, a small engine blip, drop in rpm, and quick recovery). When I crank it, the engine sounds like its trying to start, but it only sounds like combustion is happening on 1 or 2 cylinders. If the others pickup, the engine starts and runs fine.

I've always had startup issues in the past, but this is way worse. The series of events leading up to this problem are:

* Car started cutting out under load on a trip to California. Halfway there, I decide to pull over, and get it towed. I get towed to shitty Barstow, where I have no tools and have to let some random shop look at it. They determine bad ignition coil, replace it, and its running again fine. Startups seem a little rough, but fine at that point. I drive it back to Las Vegas, garage it, and the following day the startup problems are there. There is also a bad belt squeak when given throttle that was not there before.


Things I've Tried:

* I've checked that there's a spark during crank on all 4 wires using a timing light. (There is)
* I've scraped the leads on the distributor rotor, and on the distributor cap.
* The distributor IS rotating during crank
* The plugs are pretty carbon fouled, but I've cleaned them with starter fluid and they seem to have no more soot on them, though they're still black. The engine is running rich right now (bad tune).
* I've lowered crank injector pulse in attempt to lean it out during crank.


Things I Know:

* It seems to start easier when the engine has been warmed up. If it's cold out (about 30-40F), it's more or less impossible to start.
* Runs rich under load. good AFR ratio at idle, and warm-up enrichment seems fine.
* If the car starts, it runs smoothly, but rich.

My setup:

* Turbonetics t03/04
* CTR Cams
* FMIC
* 255lph Walbro
* AEM FPR
* RC 440s
* AEM EMS for engine management


I have new plugs on there way, and im going to try further cleaning of them, but it seems odds to me that if the plugs are bad, it would run fine once started. Wouldn't you expect it to not run at all if the plugs are bad?

I'm at a total loss here. Any thoughts?

*EDIT*
There also seems to be some problem with the starter when its cranking. Occasionally, the engine will just come to a dead stop, there will be a loud click followed by a whirrrrr.

 

Bump.

 

Replaced plugs. Noticed that I'm not getting a consistent spark during crank. Still at a loss. Help please!~

Bump~

 

Bump~~ Car is still dead. I'm going to run diagnostics on everything I can tonight (ignition parts mostly).

Can anyone provide any input about ignition producing unreliable sparks during crank, but runs mostly fine after it finally starts? I'd say perhaps a power supply issue (like a bad battery), except that the coil was replaced like 3 weeks ago, so this seems like a bit of a coincidence.

Any thoughts at all from anyone? :\

 

^
|
|
/\

UPUPUP

 

Replaced the Coil, ICM, Rotor, Cap, spark wires, spark plugs.

New symptom on my way to work today: Boost gauge stopped reading. I can't look at it now (because I'm at work), but does anyone know if a vacuum leak could be the cause of very strange startup problems?