smikels

So I drove for 180 miles and after coming down the mountain I had a super lean condition and the car had no power. The car was idling barely when I pulled it over. It was running 16-17 AFR to Infinity. I push gas down to floor and the car didn't respond or just sputtered a little. I have checked compression on top 2 spark holes. I verified they have spark as well. I changed out the fuel filter. I tried spraying starter fluid in the throttle body in the plates through the greddy elbow. So when I try and crank the car I can see white smoke like fuel and it sounds like it wants to start. My next item to check is injectors I guess. Any ideas off top? Most everything has been changed out new plugs and wires, fuel pump pretty new. I am not sure if the adaptronic will show me any information on like the injectors that could be useful or not.

88 RX7 Turbo II
Adaptronic ECU
720-1000 injectors
Aeromotive 340 fuel pump
Fuel pump rewire

insightful

fuel pressure and compression test

smikels

Compression test complete earlier before 1st post. Gotta check fuel next. I guess I could take off the UIM and pull the primary injectors and try to start it to see if they spray fuel.

smikels

Ok so i verified my fuel pump is pumping fuel. I pulled the injectors and fuel spraying out of both. I am kinda bummed as I thought it was a fuel issue. I am going to verify compression on the bottom / primary plugs. I have already verified compression and spark on the top plugs. I am not sure if there is a difference. My wiring harness is quite old and brittle as I am sure most peoples are. Pins are weak in their connectors. I have been using zip ties to help hold some connectors on. Hopefully I will get to check this out this weekend.

smikels

Ok so I put car back together and it starts and ran. The car has some lean spots down low though. Only thing I did was bypass the dreaded 90% coolant hose. I am not sure why the lean right after idle some. Hesitant to add fuel to my map right away but might do that and see. If I get on the gas though it runs perfect a after the little lean about 1 psi. Gonna go back out later and see if the same thing. If so add fuel to lean spot and go from there I guess. Maybe bypassing the coolant hose causing an issue?

I have no idea what the problem was though. Maybe a wire or something I tried to make sure was done after pulling off the UIM to test injectors.

smikels

Just noticed its got a fuel leak somewhere. Maybe injector o-rings or I didn't get the injector in their just right. I think I will wait till next week to look at that. The car was running for a few and warm.

Rotary Alkymist

How many miles on the plugs? Did you inspect all four plugs?

smikels

I have about 6k miles on the plugs and engine rebuild. I didn't pull out the bottom plugs and only looked at the top 2 when checking compression. The fuel issue once I look at it again should be easy enough to spot and fix hopefully. I did look real quick and no leak at the line coming in so I think it is under the UIM unfortunately. I was a little hesitant to mess with it when the engine was hot from running for a few minutes. Since I bypassed the coolant hose going into the UIM it should be easier to mess with however. Hopefully get to it this week or the weekend. But I hate having a problem and it going away when troubleshooting and you don't know what was fixed. I still thinking brittle wiring and something came unplugged. The thing is there aren't to many connections though.

Rotary Alkymist

Be careful with fuel leaks at the engine. Our cars are known for bursting into flames because the exhaust is right underneath our injectors. I've had pools of gasoline literally BOILING in pockets of cast right above the exhaust manifold! I shut'er down, grabbed the extinguisher and waited for it to burst into flames. Thankfully it didn't. Scary stuff.

That's why it's good practice to always jumper yellow connector for ten minutes to check for leaks before you put the UIM back on. That ten minutes might save your heart from shattering.

smikels

So I put the car back together after fixed a fuel line that was leaking on top of the engine. I replaced a few of the lines there connecting to fuel rails. So cranked the car up and it seems to be running rich and idle is up a little. I also see that the wire coolant connector has a short in it. I hope i can reach it good enough to fix it. Then I gotta figure out why the rich and up. Is it since I blocked the UIM coolant hose? Or does adaptronic not care about that. Hmm hope i didnt open up a can of worms since I messed with it. I am look at it later.

smikels

I pulled the coolant sensor and 1 of 2 pins was bent a little. I took my need nose pliers and straightened it out. I may have turned the connected around when i connected it. Anyways when I want to start the car I received a big backfire after it tried to start for a few seconds. Then it didn't even try to start. I gave up for the night and was a little ticked off after starting the car a couple previous times this week. I have been thinking and maybe I will unplug that sensor and turn it around. I haven't really noticed which way it was supposed to be plugged in. Would this cause the issue with it not starting? I will try this tonight or tomorrow depending when I get home. I have thoughts of building my own wiring hardness possibly as well. I am not sure I am at that point yet.

Rotary Alkymist

There should be only one way to connect it. It won't allow for faulty connection. It wouldn't cause a no start in any case.

How was the compression test done? Did you hold release valve in to check pulses?
All spark plugs should be inspected.

When you crank your car does it have a weird rhythm to it?

Re-do compression test and post results ( check your pulses).

smikels

You are correct there is only one way to connect the connectors. So compression is the same on bottom plugs as it is on top plugs from my understanding as it it the same rotor. I did get the car started finally after trying for a few minutes. When I did compression test I just plugged it up and had someone crank.So maybe I am checking it wrong. After the car started the 1st time I let it warm up some and turned it off a few times and was able to restart it. Maybe I need to check the starting fuel again. I also notice a lean and hesitation when i step on the throttle. I will get to check it more this weekend hopefully between school work. Thanks for the voice of reason on troubleshooting.

Rotary Alkymist

Always willing to help a rotor head in need.

You should have a friend help you do the test again but this time hold the release valve as you have your friend crank the car(with first two PAL fuses out under hood).
Observe the pulses of each rotor face. You should observe even jumps. If you have a bad seal it will be apparent.

smikels

So car cranked up without issues last few days. I have become a little hesitant on the cars reliability after that mess though. Especially since I don't know what caused the hiccups to begin with. That is the real kicker. If I found the issue and then fixed it that would be one thing. I took it into to down to the gas station and back and all good there as well. Idle back to normal as well.