K_millar

Okay, I grabbed this car as a smashup and have recently done all the repairs and now I wanna get it running. When I first got this car I noticed that a whole bunch of the electrical connections were disconnected, or the connectors ripped right off the wires.

When I try and start the car it turns over usually at least 4 times, or more at a really good pace, then just stops. If I continue to hold the key, you can hear it just slowly gets past the spot and it will speed up again. I can here a fuel pump run when the ignition is on, and I can smell gas coming from the tailpipe, also theres a hint of smoke coming out. Im pretty sure it sounded as if it was about to start once.

Where should I start?

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KMillar

Tacuvito

well sound like one or maybe two cylinders are not firing, check your ignition firing order remember that cylinder #1 should be the first cylinder next to the drive belt end of the engine. and the order goes like this 1-3-4-2 for a four, and 1-5-3-6-2-4 for the six.
Tacuvito.

K_millar

I did change the plugs and wires. The thing that I was unsure of though, was in the haynes manual they show a diagaram for the number one sparkplug wire position on the cap and the direction of the distibutor, they show two + signs indicating the way your suppost to be looking at the distributor cap. What are the two plus signs? If they're representing the clips that hold on the cap, it should be all correct.

Its a 4 cylinder, and it could have been sitting for a while before I got it.
If the gas was old enough, would it not start?

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KMillar

boschmann

Your description definitely sounds like the firing order is messed up. Remove the cap & rotor & dust shield if it's still there. You should see a small notch in the rim of the distributor housing, where the cap seats. That notch is #1 cylinder. Then follow the firing order listed above & rotation of the distributor you can locate the rest of the wires to the correct plug.

K_millar

Thanks guys.
The car started first crank. It runs a bit roughly though.

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KMillar

boschmann

Make sure all the ground wires are connected as they can be fatal for the ECM. If it seems to run rich try the temp sensor at the head flange at the upper radiator hose. With a multimeter the sensor should read 2000-3000 Ohms cold & go to 250-300 Ohms @ operating temp.

K_millar

I bought a fuel filter (expensive little sucker) and drained the gas. I was going to change the filter, but it looked pretty new so I'm going to leave it for awhile. I added new gas, and took the car out for the first time, since I took ownership of it. It seems to run pretty well considering it has over 300,000km on it. The thing I noticed is that once it was warm it idles kinda high, and if I give the throttle a quick blip it will idle normally for a second and slowly climb back up to 2000. I'm gonna try checking the auxiliary air valve trouble-shooting from a previous post.
Thanks for all your help guys, it's appreciated.

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KMillar

boschmann

That's agood place to start. Check for vacuum leaks too.

K_millar

get this, the car was working just fine and I was going to move it and when I tried to start it all I got was a terrible starter-flywheel conflinct noise, and my cousin said he saw smoke coming out from the starter region. What could this be? Bad connections?

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KMillar

boschmann

Auto or manual? Does the starter still turn slow? Will it try to start now or just grind?

K_millar

it's automatic. It just grinded that once, now it just does nothing.

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KMillar

boschmann

It's a horrible job, but you will probably have to go in there to see what happened. Automatic starters die easily as they get cooked by the exhaust.

K_millar

It was a electrical problem. I just put that starter in and I cleaned all the connections, but the inside of the connector was corroded.
Thanks

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KMillar