Not running on all cylinders, litterally

[Jerryl]

Should have left well enough alone!
Fresh motor (1200 miles) and the car was running GREAT with the stock set-up and 87 ECM and MAF.

Got the bugs worked out and changed over last weekend to TA33, red stripes with TT Alky. Found out after 3 miles that the TA33 blew LOTS of oil.
So, I pulled it out and re-installed the stock turbo, left the TT, red stripes and fresh oil.

Now it won’t run on all 6 (#6 is wet, others are sooted)
New plugs (tight 0.035).
Changed plug wire on #6
Changed coil pack and module with a spare.
Compression is at 120 (Same as cylinder nr 3)
FP stays at 42 for a while, so no leakage.
Injectors were bench tested before install.
ECM connectors verified and checked.
Chip verified for install (4 times!)

I am running out of ideas.

 

[WH1]

Is it throwing any codes? Did you try to reset the ECM? Any chance you hooked up the fuel injector harness backwards? Don't know if this could make a diiference or not. Maybe a bad chip or have you asked Eric about this? Should be throwing a code either way.

 

[cool 84]

When I have a dead cylinder, the easiest way to find it is to fire the car up for a couple seconds and shut it off. Then feel each header and see which one(s) are still cool. There will be a little heat in the dead ones due to compression but there will still be a huge temp difference.

 

[Jerryl]

Is it throwing any codes? Did you try to reset the ECM? Any chance you hooked up the fuel injector harness backwards? Don't know if this could make a diiference or not. Maybe a bad chip or have you asked Eric about this? Should be throwing a code either way.

No codes. ECM has been reset about 8 times. Voltage is at 14.1
Talked to TT and that is why I left the larger injectos in with the stock turbo.
Thought about the chip. Will a bad chip result in just one cylinder being off?

 

[Jerryl]

When I have a dead cylinder, the easiest way to find it is to fire the car up for a couple seconds and shut it off. Then feel each header and see which one(s) are still cool. There will be a little heat in the dead ones due to compression but there will still be a huge temp difference.

Good idea. Thought about spraying water on the headers but D*** the PS header is tight on these freaking Hot Airs! Can't get a direact shot by the ports! Either way, the plug should not be wet correct?

 

[BRAD_PADGETT]

Jerryl- The plug should not be wet at all. I am finishing up the same conversion as you and I am running into problems as well. I have also converted to the 87 ECM as well as Alky inj. I upgraded from the 85 Ign and coil pack to the 87 which was a trip.

I would make sure that your coil pack and coil module are firing to your missing cylinder. Is the spark plug new? Verify spark plug wire connections two times to the coil pack. I do not think that your ecm or chip will cause this problem. E-mail me and I will gladly help you. Brad

 

[Lee Thompson]

Harness

Check all the pins in your inj. harness. They push in the plastic piece from the rear and lock. I have had them not lock and when you connect them back up---one can get pushed back out or enough to not mate to the other. Main connections and each inj.

 

[Jerryl]

Check all the pins in your inj. harness. They push in the plastic piece from the rear and lock. I have had them not lock and when you connect them back up---one can get pushed back out or enough to not mate to the other. Main connections and each inj.

Lee,
I looked at the connectors on the injectors and they seem seated (They look to be all the way in and the metal clip seems seated correctly). Of course, after I take all this C**P back off, I will know for sure.

I verified the injector wiring harness plug-in as well and unplugged/plugged it back in twice. If the connections were bad, would the plug not be dry?

 

[Jerryl]

........ I would make sure that your coil pack and coil module are firing to your missing cylinder. Is the spark plug new? Verify spark plug wire connections two times to the coil pack. I do not think that your ecm or chip will cause this problem. E-mail me and I will gladly help you. Brad

Brad,
Thanks for the assistance. The car has new plugs and it sparks (as verified during compression test). Changed the plug wire as well. This is a strange one.

 

[Lee Thompson]

ground

You don't have an inj. wire grounding do you--holding the inj. open.
If that fails --shoot it !!!

 

[SLOW_85]

Damn!

If you need anything, let me know Jerryl.
Gotta love the hot-airs! :biggrin:

 

[boostmaster]

You sad the plug was wet. Is it wet from oil or wet from fuel. If your turbo took a dump and that cylinder is full of oil the first thing to do would be remove the plug and blow the excess oil out of the cylinder. Then you get a can of good throttle body cleaner and while the vehicle is running 2 about 1500-2000 rpm spray into the throttle body and clean your cylinders out. This will set a maf code but you acn reset it later. hold the throttle open for about 1 min after cleaning the cylinders to burn off the excess solvent then return to idle.

 

[Jerryl]

You sad the plug was wet. Is it wet from oil or wet from fuel. If your turbo took a dump and that cylinder is full of oil the first thing to do would be remove the plug and blow the excess oil out of the cylinder. Then you get a can of good throttle body cleaner and while the vehicle is running 2 about 1500-2000 rpm spray into the throttle body and clean your cylinders out. This will set a maf code but you acn reset it later. hold the throttle open for about 1 min after cleaning the cylinders to burn off the excess solvent then return to idle.

Wet from fuel. Cleaned the cylinder out already doing 60+ on the highway for about 10 miles.

Changed the coilpack and module (again) with an 87 set-up and did the "run it for 3 second" trick last night. Nr 6 header was definately cold.

Pulled everything, down to the injectors, off last night (took about 1 hour). I am getting REAL good at this! Taking a DEEP breath and looking at EVERYTHING again.
Getting ready to SHOOT it! :biggrin:

 

[Squid4life]

Jerryl,
If all looks correct and you are thinking maybe an injector, move the questionable injector from say 6 to #2. If #2 is now affected instead of #6, you found a bad injector. Not sure how feasible this is, I haven't had my morning cup (pot) of coffee yet.

You could also get one of those injector "noid" lights to check injector firing.

 

[tenright]

Wait a minute

If its wet from fuel and you did not return to the original injectors, stop, put in the old injectors, try it then go on. Your original problem may well have been a bad injector with the conversion. Just because it's new and in a pretty package doesn't mean it's good.....

As a troubleshooter for the past 30 years I can't stress enough....always, always, always, return to the original configuration. By leaving the new injectors in you may well be moving the problem around.

Squid4life had an excellent suggestion, move the suspect injector to another cylinder and see if the problem moves with it.

 

[Jerryl]

If its wet from fuel and you did not return to the original injectors, stop, put in the old injectors, try it then go on. Your original problem may well have been a bad injector with the conversion. Just because it's new and in a pretty package doesn't mean it's good.....

As a troubleshooter for the past 30 years I can't stress enough....always, always, always, return to the original configuration. By leaving the new injectors in you may well be moving the problem around.

Squid4life had an excellent suggestion, move the suspect injector to another cylinder and see if the problem moves with it.

Great input and possibly a bad injector.
Here were my thoughts;
1. If the plug is wet, the injector either opens, or stays open.
2. If it opens, the cylinder "should fire".
3. If it opens and "floods", the cylinder may be dead as a result.
4. If it stayed open, the FP would not hold for 15 min.
5. These are not new injectors, but bench testing before install indicated that the injector did not leak and actually opens when energized.

 

[Squid4life]

Jerryl,
If all looks correct and you are thinking maybe an injector, move the questionable injector from say 6 to #2. If #2 is now affected instead of #6, you found a bad injector. Not sure how feasible this is, I haven't had my morning cup (pot) of coffee yet.

You could also get one of those injector "noid" lights to check injector firing.

Do the same thing as above, but see if it stays at #6, indicating something in wiring, maybe a pinched wire? Could be pinched, grounding out? That noid light may show you something...?

 

[conn84gn]

Check your EGR Make sure you don't have a vacuum leak at the manifold
I did and chased my tail till I found it. I though it was a injector problem

 

[buickpower]

hey jerryl, sorry to hear about these troubles.
What was your method of verifying spark btw?
if your injectors are all plugged into the correct plugs, and the other cyls. are firing, sounds like spark to me, either nonexistent or horribly timed. only thing is, #3 should fire at the same time being waste spark. let us know if swapping the injectors for stock helps.

also to clarify, you did a test on the highway to clean out the oil etc., when it was running like this correct?

 

[conn84gn]

Jerryl
After finding the vacuum leak on #1 it was still wet on mine
changed Injectors still wet same cylinder 130 Psi
within 20-50 miles of trying to find out what was going on the compression dropped
Yes loss a cam lobe on #1 intake
I hate to even suggest it