Rough starting & acceleration on 91 crx si...!

[JimCRX]

It's a 91 CRX Si D16A6, it's just got some basic mods, exhaust, intake, sparks...they have been on there for a while now. The cat. converter is hollowed so it's been running rich. I did also get a cheap mod chip that goes onto the IAT Sensor. Now, about for 3 weeks now I been having a problem with the car running & starting like crap. It takes a really long time to start. It cranks forever and then eventually starts up. It does get gas and spark I think, gas for sure cuz I can smell it. Once started up the RPM gauge goes wild, bouncing, and I hear a water gurgling/bubbling sound noise for a little. It sounds like it's coming from the dash area/shifter area. It seems to gurgle when i press the gas. Now, I had my friend start it up and told him to rev it a couple times. Whitesh/Greyish/Dirty Brown/Black smoke come out. Mostly Dirty Brown/White. Then when I get driving the car stumbles to accelerate and the RPM gauage is bouncy. But after it like warms up it'll be fine and it will start up fine the rest of the day. It only does this if it sits for a long period of time. Like overnight. Every morning it does this and it is getting really annoying. Sometimes I think it won't start up. It takes like 5 minutes just for it to start up. Any suggestions?

[quiXilver]

Once in a blue moon i go to start my car up and it does a loud groan like a big choke out sound like it flooded itself and doesn't start untill the next time i try...um first thing i would do is take off that mod chip deal and see if anything happends...just a suggestion

[JimCRX]

Yeah, I took it off and let it sit then started it up and it gave me shit still. It almost does seem like the fuel injectors are flooded, but the really strange thing about it is it will only do it after sitting for awhile. Like I start it up, drive it a couple miles, let it sit for 30 mins, then it starts up just fine. But if it sits for like 5 hours it gives me hell?! Frickin strange...I was hoping someone else had a problem like this.

[Santas90Si]

How is the oil consumption? If it burns oil it might be your piston rings because I have everything but the chip that you do and mine does that at times. The smoke that comes out of mine is like white at low rpms and then gets darker at higher rpms. I know mine is the piston rings.

[slowCRXinPitt]

Ok.
Check your fuel filter.
Try new plugs/wires.
change the oil.

One thing it might be is the fuel pump. I know if you smell gas sometimes it could be the fuel pump. Better hope it isnt and just do the cheap things I mentioned first.

[cot]

If it's the rings, you should be able to tell from a compression test.

You can test the compression, if it's bad, add a bit of oil to the bad cylinder(s) through the spark plug hole. If the compression gets better temporarily, it's the rings, if not it's probably elsewhere (valve seals, head gasket, etc)

Not sure if the symptoms really point to rings or not, but a compression test is a good diagnostic regardless.

Have you checked for sparking? You can take a plug out and lay it with the wire still on so that the side of the plug is grounded. You should see a good steady spark when the engine is cranked. Be careful if you do this not to shock yourself of have lots of gas fumes around that can ignite or anything nutty like that!

[Akid]

I have the same prob with my rex with a B18 in it............if my car sits for over 5 hours or so its a bitch to get started, once it is started and i drive the first couple feet its just chokes to move and then lights up and takes off......i was told i need a fuel pressure regulator or something like that because my car is prob flooding.......

[JimCRX]

Checked compression today, 171 - 173psi all across. I'm a little iffy about messing with the spark plugs/wires, if i just take the wire out and crank it, shouldn't I see a spark? Fuel pressure, that might be a good idea. I changed the oil/plugs/wires before and nothing. The fuel filter is only a couple months old. As for the fuel pump, I don't know. How can you go about testing that. I dont think it is though, cause I smell gas when cranking. It does burn oil like a bitch. The car does have 150k on it, but it has fairly new header/head gasket/radiator/hoses/distributor and a new oil pan. I dont know but if anyone else has anymore ideas, just post em, thanks -jim.

[wdwalker]

make sure you've plugged the orig. iat sensor (i think thats what u said, its where most mod chips plug in), and then reset the engine's computer (disconnect the cation on the battery and press on the brakes to drain any remaining electricity, then wait a min. or so and replug it. whenever i do any performance mods, i always reset the ecu in order to get brand new factory settings (sometimes the ecu will detune itself according to outside variables like temperature, aggressiveness of driver *like if he floors it a lot*, etc.) sometimes when i'm working around the intake manifold i'll disconnect the tps sensor (on top of the intake manifold, gets in my way a lot), and forget to plug it back in before starting the car. i'll get a check engine light and a very sick sounding engine, but as soon as i reconnect the tps sensor and reset the battery it goes back to normal and loses the check engine light. hope that helps!