Hey! Got an update (9/10/13)

My engine is now running, firing on all 4 cylinders! Yes!

Onto the bad. My knock sensor is either wired incorrectly or something is up. Does the OBD0 knock sensor use 2 wires? I have a plug connected to the knock sensor on my B16A that has an orange and black wire. But in reality this may have been a plug that just 'fit' and was suppose to be deleted from the DPFI D15B1 I had in there before.

Secondly, shouldn't my car throw a CEL if I unplug both my O2 sensors? I unplugged them while I was trouble shooting my car, it was only running on 3 cylinders, and never connected them. But it doesn't show a CEL. Explanations?

Third thing, do solid mounts (Hapsort in my case) case the car to vibrate more than say a stock D15 would? My car doesn't shake, it's a quick vibration. I heard that solid mounts transfer the energy to the car more than the rubber ones. And since it's a B series in an EF it only has 3 mounts instead of 4. I am also looking into an ESP traction bar since it has a frount mount for this application. And it gives room for a bigger header, or turbo application.

Last, and this may be a bad connection, any cause for my Tach to jump instead of flow smoothly? I think the connection I used wasn't the best. It's an aftermarket tach. I am going to try and rewire it, but is there something else that might cause it to jump? The car runs smooth, the RPMs aren't actually jumping.

Thanks, it's been good driving around my car again. Someone also said my car smelt like burning oil and gas when I got to work. I'm thinking that's just because I swapped the motor, it's running a bit rich (timing) and everything was touched with greasy and oil covered hands. Should I worry, or is my thought process pretty sound?

 

Swap a fuel injector around and see if the problem follows to that cylinder. You can isolate or eliminate the fuel injector as being the culprit. Maybe want to do the same with a spark plug. Easy tests that won't cost you anything and involves minimal effort.

You mention that the engine is holding compression fine, does that mean you actually did a compression test on all cylinders? Also prior to installing that new head gasket did you have the mating surfaces inspected for flatness?

 

I did a compression test prior to the head gasket swap. And I had the head checked, not the block. But the head is usually what warps from my understanding. I'll try the plug swap and stuff again. I've tried a lot of stuff, but I may have fudged it up.

 

Sucks to see you're still having trouble with this. Swap around the spark plugs and injectors and let us know what happens.

 

I may have fixed it. Don't ask me how. I replaced the plugs and wires with the plugs and wires from my old D series motor. Undid all the wiring (injecotrs, mpfi, anything included in the swap) and redid it. Unhooked the O2 sensors (I had a thought about these being bad). Started it. All 4 cylinders fired. The pulsing fluid out the gas pipe, gone. Now though, after about 5 minutes of running it throws a code 23 which is the Knock sensor. I have a sensor plugged in that I believe to be the knock sensor, or so I use to believe it was. I'll get a picture later. I'm going to do the timing now that the idle is at 800 RPM and all the cylinders are running. But my timing light is weak (the light at least) and it needs to be darker.

 

So. I lied. It was firing but it's back to not firing. And it's gas coming out the tail pipe. So I'm trying to figure out what could cause cylinder 1 to run so rich and flood out the spark plug. Or something like that. Because it's only cylinder 1 and no matter what plug I put in there, it doesn't fire.

 

Posted a video of the problem. 4 minutes long. Last minute is me burning what is coming out of the tail pipe.

 

Not a clue how to fix. Maybe the ECU is poop somehow?

 

Dead cylinder, You sure you have a good motor?

 

Elaborate.

So you've verified that cylinder #1 has spark, correct? So then the next thing to check is why the fuel is not combusting. Either weak spark or too much fuel? Did you actually try swapping around injectors yet?

 

I swapped cylinder 1 and 2 injectors. What causes weak spark? I am going to try a different dizzy. Despite mine 'good'

 

I had a problem with a loose connection at one of the injector plugs. Those wires get pulled by the harness depending on how it's routed. The knock sensor may be swapped with the IACV, or not pinned correctly at the ecu.

 

I'll look over the injector wiring again today. The IACV is definitely not swapped haha. Or maybe it is. Shoot, I'll check. Do you know the wire colors for the IAVC off hand? I will check my knock sensor wiring too.

I am OBD0, so I thought I had a 1 wire knock sensor. But the plug has 2 wires coming out of it. The plug was also already on my OBD0 D15 harness. Maybe I plugged that in and it's not suppose to be there. I believe the IACV is right though, because without it plugged in the car won't idle on the 3 cylinders and dies. But the knock sensor could be incorrect. I will check my wire routing again.

Is there any way my injector resister box could be bad and causing this? I'll have to get the volt meter out and do some testing for that, right?

 

Is this diagram of the engine harness side or the plug on the distributor. Because if you match the wires one way it's upside down of the other.

 

It should not be upside down, it should be a mirror image. If it's upside down it's not going to match up. Is that what you meant?

 

That doesn't help if the measurement was taken prior to the head gasket change. Need to verify to eliminate it as a possible source of trouble. I would agree that maybe it's not the problem but it's always going to be a possibility until you verify.

So you swapped the injectors and still cylinder #1 isn't firing? You need to clarify the results so people can help analyze the problem.

Ok to be clear, you have swapped injectors and the problem still occurs on cylinder #1 only right? Now you are saying that you have swapped spark plugs on cylinder #1 and it still isn't firing? Did you pull the plug out and crank the engine to visually confirm that it is in fact sparking? If not, do that. If it is sparking, think about it logically. Spark, fuel, compression. You will have verified spark, you say you have fuel, still questionable on compression. Two scenarios I see, either the injector is stuck open/faulty to that point that it's flooding the combustion chamber OR you have a low/no compression condition on that cylinder.

 

Not entirely. I'll try and make this understandable without pictures. But it might be hard.

Here's the plug on the distibutor side:

...OO
.OOO
...OO

It has the 7 holes. When you unplug the engine harness from the distributor it is in fact mirrored:

OO
OOO
OO

But my point was, looking at that diagram, the colors don't match up going through the plug on mine.

The distributor:.........The engine Harness:

...1 2...............................6 7
3 4 5...............................5 4 3
...6 7...............................1 2

So, basically, the blue/yellow and blue/green wires that are on top on the distributor plug, go through to the engine harness and connect to the white/blue and orange/blue wires on that plug. The colors don't match as the wire goes through the plug.

So my question is still there, is that diagram the plug on the distributor, or is it the plug on the engine harness side. Because it changes a lot.

Prior to the head gasket change, there was compression through each cylinder. This problem was happening prior to the installation of the head gasket. After installation of the new gasket, there is still the same issue and there is still compression. I only mentioned the new head gasket to hopefully rule out people telling me it's a blown head gasket and the fluid coming out the tail pipe is radiator coolant.

I swapped the injector on cylinder 1 with cylinder 2. The no fire situation was still happening on cylinder 1. I read the ohm resistance of all 4 injectors. 2.2 ohms across the board. I swapped the spark plugs on cylinder 1 and 2. I swapped the spark plugs with known good plugs and have even replaced them with brand new plugs. The wires are NGK blues and are good. They have been swapped with known good wires off of another motor to rule that out.

The problem only happens on cylinder 1. I have swapped spark plugs and it still does not fire. I have pulled the plug out and turned over the motor and it sparks. A very distinct blue/purple spark and you can hear it tick.

As far as an injector stuck open, would that change it's resistance? And the low/no compression should be incorrect because I've checked the compression on all cylinders several times. With 2 different tools in fact. Mine read 180~190 across all 4. The one I borrowed read 210 after cranking the motor.



Is there some way my distributor could be messed up and causing this? I have it set up correctly.

Dizzy 4 3 2 1 Timing Belt

Dizzy
3 4
1 2

Which makes the firing order from TDC 1 - 3 - 4 -2. Which I believe to be correct.

 

Another day. Still don't know.

 

Big update. Fixed the problem, for now.

 

How did you fix it?

 

I took the spark plugs out and walked away from it for about a week. It must have been something in the cylinder causing a no fire scenario that ended up evaporating. I also fiddled with all the wiring, but found nothing wrong. I changed nothing. Tested everything I could imagine. Spent a day with my volt meter checking resistence in the plugs, injectors, wires. Checked the TPS, FITCV, IACV, O2 sensors, ect ect. Shucks, I replaced the head gasket in there too. Anyways. I guess whatever was causing the cylinder to not ignite fixed itself more or less. If the symptoms come back again, I'll continue to trouble shoot it. But the car is running now and I don't want to mess with a good thing.

TL;DR Car fixed itself. Imagine that.

 

Any ideas what size bolt holds the shift linkage stabilizer to the block?

And also. Did some driving today. The exhaust header is really smoking. I painted it with generic high temp paint but it was kind of rusty. Maybe it's burning off. Any other ideas? I'll check my oil and fluids just in case but it was running pretty cool on the gauges.

 

Not sure about the size of the bolt for the shift linkage (to the transmission you mean right?). Smoke after spraying high temp paint is normal, goes away after a while. I think that's just part of it's curing process. If you watch it you'll notice the smoke is coming off the surface of the part that is painted. The label should say something about baking the part that was painted or something similar to cure the paint, that's what is happening when you let the engine get hot because you're baking it so to speak. I've used similar paint. I just let it run for a few minutes, shut it off and let cool. Repeat a few times then take for a 10 minute drive on freeway. Most of the smoking is gone by then (but the smell might still linger).

 

I never read that. But it makes sense to a point. I'll read the can. I usually just use it for moving pieces, not actual high temp applications.

And for the bolt, I'm talking about the stabilizer to the transmission. There is a pretty good sized rubber bushing and then there is a piece that it goes around on the transmission. Then there is a washer and bolt that to the transmission and sandwich the bushing in place. I don't know the specs on the bolt. Hard to find it too. And mine came off because the bolts wasn't quite right.