OK, so i recently rebuilt my engine myself, all new Atkins hard seals and Pineapple HD water seals. Just got the engine back in and am having the toughest time starting it.

I understand that the first start should be relatively easy because of the engine assembly lube helping with compression, but i think i used up that shot trying to start it with the timing completely out of wack (lined up the front pulley and pulled the crank angle sensor to find it way off mark, but has since been fixed).

So now my main guess is that it's just really bad compression, maybe? Or is there something that is commonly forgotten when installing an engine that is keeping it from starting?

I read that maybe adding seafoam or something similar into the spark plugs might help compression to get it started. Would this be a good idea for a newly rebuilt engine?

The engine acts like it almost wants to catch, but just doesn't.

 

get some oil in the compression chamber,instal a fuel cut of switch and then give it a try,new rebuilds with old housings dont build up good compression for a while.

 

^Word. Your spanking new apex seals need to "wear in" to match the surface of the worn housings, so they will need a little help with some oil in the plug holes.

 

Yeah, i know compression will be bad until the seals have a chance to wear in.

How much oil we talking here?

 

Like a teaspoon or two.. Couple squirts'll do ya.

 

You could also try bump starting it by pulling it behind a car and letting the clutch out with it in 2nd gear. Sometimes a new rebuild won't start because the starter can't spin the engine fast enough.

 

IT RAAAAAAN!!!
so happy about that. just added that little bit of oil and it started right up. Though right after that it smoked like a bitch and i found 2 coolant hoses that weren't on tight enough. And it idled horribly, needs power steering fluid, and died when i turned the wheels... so yeah.

Still work to be done, but at least i know it runs

 

yah, not suprised it died when you tried to turn the wheels. as everyone else said, when its new like it is now itll have really low compression. ive found a few rebuilds that wouldnt even hold an idle under 1000 rpms until they had ran for a couple of hours....putting any sort of load on it will make it stalllllllllll haha.


just incase you run into the problem again, you shouldnt really have to add more oil or install a fuel cut switch. just go to the fusebox in the engine bay and pull the EGI and COMP fuses, get in the car, crank it over maybe 5 times......this will get a bit of oil+air+friction heat build up in the engine, raise oil pressure to an appropriate level (sort of like priming a new engine or cranking an engine after doing an oil change) then put the fuses back in and start her up as normal.

 

OK.... new problem.

we have discovered that one of the leaks is not coolant, but rather fuel. Looking at the primary injectors, it seems that they aren't in tight enough, as in, we can rather freely rotate them in their place where the secondaries, when in, don't move nearly as much. The thing is, the bolts in the rail are as tight as they will go.

So are the primaries not supposed to be that tight, or do i need to remove the little shim thingy that goes under the rail bolts to get them tighter? Any ideas?

 

I had the same problem and used 90wt in the chambers. Qwik start!

 

Sounds like you need new injector grommets.


Set the idle at 1500RPM or so, and let 'er run, drive it up and down the road a few times, and let everything wear in to build compression.

 

good job getting it running. make sure you take your time and double check all your connections.