Ranger's Dec09 motor rebuild thread (lol)

#321

DaveCN wrote:

I looked at a spare harmonic balancer this morning and I think that you’re right .

#322

If anyone’s interested, we’re working on the fuel injector ground problem over at E30tech and BF.c\E30.

#323

injector harness?

#324

kishg wrote:

The only way for the symptoms to be met is if the DME “delivered” a high resistant ground as soon as the car was turned on. Not before. The car has to be turned on. And that means it’s not a harness issue.

What the DME is supposed to be doing is delivering no ground at all until the it’s time to trigger the injector. Then the DME delivers the ground briefly, that allows the injector to see the 12V, and the injector fires.

And there’s no way that 2 different DME’s have failed in that bizarre way, so I’m going to replace the batteries in my multimeter and check everything a couple more times. I’m missing something. And once I figure out what I’m missing, it will all start to make sense.

#325

FWIW, we cured voodoo engine not running problems on my LeMons E30 by obsessively cleaning the injector harness connector (1990 model car), and carefullly inserting some magic conductive goop into each pin’s hole.

Here’s some more info about the connector: http://www.verrill.com/car/idle/e30_idle_c191.shtml

#326

The threads at e30tech and bfc.com/E30 have the details of the continued troubleshooting, but I ended up taking the car to “my shop” this morning. Since I’m clearly missing something, I figure that it’s time for a fresh perspective…

Although the 3v across the injectors when the car was turned on never got figured out, I did confirm that the injectors were firing. I set up a spare rail, ran the starter and watched all 6 spare injectors spritz gas.

#327

The engine has a major ground wire to the chassis…connected? I have run two others from the LF fender ground point, one to the valve cover, and one to the stud under the intake manifold. Jes thinkin:) Chuck

#328

cwbaader wrote:

I want to say “I don’t think that’s the problem”, but one of those things I’m sure isn’t the problem…is.

I confirmed the ground wire from frame to oil pan was nice and tight. And also, just like you , I have a 2nd ground going to the valve cover.

#329

So you have confirmed you have spark, you have fuel, and you have air. The only thing left is timing. Are you sure your timing is correct?

#330

King Tut wrote:

I turned the tbelt thru multiple revs to check. But clearly I’ve missed something, so that’s as likely as any.

A couple months ago I had race cars in both of our 1 car garages. With the Lemons car at another guy’s house and the SpecE30 at the shop, I suddenly have no race cars. Don’t know what I’m going to do tonight. I’m already bored.

#331

Ranger, KingTut has a good point. If you have spark and fuel, that in itself suggest that everything is working. Although you may have a correct cam timming, if by any chance you were missing the guide pin for the harmonic balancer, and it was taken off and put back on incorrectly, the engine may not start. No harm in checking both cam and ignition timming…:slight_smile:

#332

Are you using a known good crank position sensor? cB

#333

cwbaader wrote:

The CPS that is on this motor was the one it came with. When I bought the non-running parts car, I got it running before I started stripping. For no good reason then just to see if I could. So the engine did run, albeit briefly.

I thought that the CPS was pretty much a dumb go/nogo device. And the fact that I was getting fuel pressure and spark meant that the CPS was ok. No?

As I recall the spec for the CPS gap is 1mm. I didn’t check it precisely, but it looked about right.

Re. harmonic balancer. I took if off when I pressure washed the motor. The pin was there when I put it back on. I gotta tell you tho that I’m not sure I buy this idea that the pin has to be there for the car to start. Certainly the harmonic balancer has to be on correctly, but that’s another issue.

The only thing that I’m pretty sure is wrong is that 3V at the injectors with the key on. But what I don’t know is if that really makes a difference.

In any event, the car’s at the shop. They’ll figure it out.

#334

Ranger, don’t buy the idea that the pin has to be there for the car to start. It just secures the correct position of the balancer…:S

#335

IAP wrote:

It’s hard for me to tell if your being serious or sarcastic. Maybe we’re just stuck in semantics. I’m oriented on the harmonic balancer being on correctly. You seemed to be oriented on the pin. One is “the goal” and the other simply helps get you there. In any event, the pin was there when I put the harmonic balancer back on.

#336

Ok boys and girls, we have ignition.

Mystery solved. It was spark.

The problem turned out to be the black plastic piece that fits in or on the camshaft gear. Not the round black hoop that is free to rotate, but the one that is held against the gear with the gear’s center bolt. Mine was cracked a little. I have several spares but they are all cracked a little…so maybe this is common.

The way this particular one was cracked the rotor needed a gentle push to fit into place. The plastic piece helps precisely locate the rotor. What I failed to consider is that if I had to give the rotor a gentle push to go on, it might want to push back out a little later. I figured the screws would hold the rotor in place, and besides, it was just a little push. But since the rotor is held by 3 screws and not 4, it apparently can shift a little if the 4th leg is pressed away from the cam gear, even tho it’s properly fastened in place. As a result the rotor’s brass edge that should have been precisely stricking the brass buttons of the distributer cap, was a little off kilter.

Just looking at the rotor sitting on the cam gear, the problem was invisible. But if you looked at the dist cover, you could see that the wear pattern on the brass buttons was wrong.

A spare cam gear, new rotor and dist cap later, I was in business. OOH RAH!

Because I was getting spark, I didn’t take the distributor cap off and look. There’s lesson for me there. And the mystery 3V at the fuel injectors did turn out, as predicted, to be a red herring. It was never solved and may never be solved.

SpecE30 #6, the terror of Roebling, is back. We’re not the prettiest, fastest, nor most distinguished…but we never f**king give up.

#337

WOOT. Go get em Ranger!

#338

kishg wrote:

+1 awesome news. I had a similar problem right after my second timing belt job. I was so careful to put everything back together but still managed to forget to tighten the screws on the rotor. I made it all of 1 mile before the car died. I figured it out pretty quickly the next day when I started re-tracing my steps.

#339

Ranger wrote:

I like your style!
Now how much are dues in that club? :slight_smile:

#340

DDO wrote:

[quote]Ranger wrote:

I like your style!
Now how much are dues in that club? :)[/quote]

Lol, the club is all yours. I’m going to start a club that is utterly free of mechanical issues and toil. And no aggravation. Aggravation is right out.