Hello everyone! I’m here today asking for your collective assistance and wisdom. I’m nearly at the point of trailering my car up and hauling it 8 hours to Calgary for professional help, but if I can figure it out here I’d rather put that 1k in fuel and hotels into needed upgrades and repairs. So, here is the situation. I’ll explain everything to the best of my ability. A bit of background of where we are:

I was in the process of the restoration of the car around 2008. Engine was rebuilt. Car was tuned in Calgary and was running when it was parked. It was Dyno ran before being sat. Before being parked, I was developing intermittent power loss issues and surging.
I was trying to sort this out and it was never accomplished. Then, divorce! The car was parked in the storage barn until last year. I’ve brought it back out, and it’s time to finish some dreams.

At present: the car turns over strongly. There is *zero* sounds of combustion taking place. There is not a strong fuel or exhaust smell either.

84 GSL-SE

Engine has >1000kms on it. Was rebuilt around 2008 by RPM Motorsport in Ontario. We work with the assumption that the engine does not require rebuild. I don’t have a compression tester, but with plugs pulled we get very strong PSSST PSST PSST sounds from both rotors.

ignition: All 4 spark plugs looked very dark when removed, despite less than 1k of driving on them. It’s also been ten years, so - they’ve been replaced with brand new NGK. I’ve removed each and tested for spark against the hood. Each one has spark. Both positive and negative cables have been replaced, along with the negative ground from the 2nd Gen fuse block I’ve got installed, to the chassis on the strut wall.

Fuel: Tank was dropped before attempting any restarts. It was taken for steam cleanin. Fuel pick up screen is old and brittle, but clean and intact. Tank was reinstalled. I have a new fuel filter to be installed still, but I’m bending the bracket trying to remove the old one. It’s been sprayed with rust breaker, so I’ll get this off right away and swap it.

Fuel delivery line was removed and when cranked, fuel quickly fills a cup. I have a mechanical aero meter fuel gauge to be installed today so I know the precise PSI, but as of right now I know that fuel is at least being delivered.

fuel injectors: cleaned by RC engineering *before* being parked.

Timing: This idea just came to me while discussing the issue with a friend while writing this. Legitimately, I have no idea if the timing is accurate. I haven’t attempted to look at this or review. Could timing be so off that zero ignition takes place?

Air: Stock airbox and AFM.

Thank you all in advance for your help and advice, it’s greatly appreciated.

 

If you don't smell any fuel from the exhaust while cranking, it's likely that the injectors are not pulsing (since you said the fuel rail is getting fuel from the pump).

Have you tried giving it a blast of starting fluid or brake cleaner into the intake and seeing if it lights off? That would rule out a lot of things and have you focus on the fuel delivery issue.

 

First off - welcome back! Secondly, its fortunate that there's now 17 years of additional posts on this forum to help you get it back on the road! Search on my Username and SE for a huge list of topics related to getting an SE running and keeping it running well.

What you have in your favor is that these cars are very easy to troubleshoot compared to newer cars as the systems are so simple. Remember that you need Air / Fuel / Spark to start and run - so focus on these 3 things, and just get it back to where it was when you parked it. Good luck, post back,

 

You don't mention if the plugs were wet when pulled. If they were dry then the fuel is not getting delivered by the injectors. Sounds like you have spark and maybe air. I would focus on the fuel. You had a good start with cleaning the tank up but change that filter and work your way up to the intake to make sure fuel is getting there.

 

Hey there everyone! Thank you for your input so far, it's been incredibly helpful. Here's todays update:

The plugs were looking pretty dry when I pulled them. I had a fresh set of NGK plugs on the shelf, so they got swapped in. We pulled the intake off a little bit and fired in the starting fluid - and success. The engine stumbles, barely, but it stumbles. It's clearly a fuel delivery problem, as air and spark are confirmed. We tested each plug and cranked it over with them exposed. We have good sounding compression wooshes, and the spark is there.

So todays work: We installed an inline fuel pressure gauge. It should give me a real time readout of the fuel pressure, under the hood. I wanted to confirm a few things though before I tighten everything back up for the final time before testing fuel:

Fuel Line to fuel rail HOSE size: 3/8th inch hose? or is it 5/16th? What was on here was 3/8th before hand, but I keep finding informations saying that it’s 5/16th line. If its 5/16th I’ll need to reorder my fuel t connector for the pressure gauge, as it’s 3/8th on either end and 1/8th npt at the T for the gauge

Fuel line from at fuel pump inlet: 1/2 inch Hose?

The fuel line at the pump presently is half inch. I found the fuel line CONE filter about 2 inches back, inside the fuel line. So to confirm: The cone presses INTO ( Small end goes into ) the fuel pump itself, and then the hose presses over both of those and gets clamped? It feels like a very tight fit pushing the filter cone into the fuel pump inlet.

 

After a decade of being idle, the SE is running again.
5/16 line replaced the incorrect size that was there. New half inch supply was found - not an easy task, since it needed to be for fuel injection. It had to be found online.

In the end - the fuel pump was the culprit. Despite it buzzing in my hand when turning the key on and getting power, it wasn’t actually running. Some one recently had a fuel pump issue here on the forum, and it was suggested that the pumps don’t typically die, they get gummed up. I pulled the pump and tried putting power to it. It clicked and vibrated but didn’t move any fluid or run. I next filled it with alcohol and let it sit for an hour. I came back, gave it a good shake and hit it gently with a mallet. It made a soft clunk when I powered it up next and then it started spitting out some very rusty and gross fuel goo. I grabbed two fuel cans, one full and one empty and spent about 30 minutes running the pump between the two fuel cans back and forth.

All hooked back up, and we’ve got life. The exhaust is only the RB header and pre silencer atm. The midpipe is missing and the muffler is waiting for it next.

thanks everyone for the advice - I’ll likely have many more questions soon!

 

Awesome! Congrats on sorting that problem out. Huge win.