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how not to clean your enging ( beware stupidity inside)

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Old Nov 15, 2007 | 02:41 PM
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Exclamation how not to clean your enging ( beware stupidity inside)

ok so the other day i was at work steam cleaning the engine of my 2005 grand am, and i thought it would be a good idea to do the same to my vert! well there in lies the stupidity!!! so i proceeded to use a high pressure washer to clean my engine, making a long story short i got my car towed home. thank god for AAA.
ok well now she wont start. cranks strong thanks to my yellow top but no go. when the car was taken off the flatbed it started right up. it was running all kinds of f***ed up thick white smoke and all and i could smell the raw fuel.

ive checked the resistance of the CAS on both the G and Ne terminals im getting 154 ohms, i also checked the resistance on the leading coil and came up with 15.54 ohms. i also checked that i am getting 12v to the coil with the ignition on.
can anyone help me get my baby back on the road?

BTW it an 88 rx7 vert N/A completely stock
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Old Nov 15, 2007 | 03:57 PM
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I've done this several times with no problems. Blow the harness off with an air gun, check plug wire boots for water inside, check tps resistance range.

Check for flooding too. Maybe the washing made for a rough run until the harness dried, causing flooding after shut down when it went on the flat bed.
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Old Nov 15, 2007 | 05:25 PM
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you should push start it and keep it running see if that fixes it
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Old Nov 15, 2007 | 05:42 PM
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ok thanx for the advise. will try.... any other suggestions? i also tried the not so aggressive "de-flooding" method of taking out the fuse. didnt help il pull the plugs tomm and see what i got. when i went out to her today on the first crank it wanted to start right up but as soon as the engine turned another revolution no hope at all

just to be clear. what harness are you speaking of?
also dont know if this will make a difference. but the car was running while doing it. but ran crazy. im not even sure i could describe it. i turned the engine off and it barley started back up

Last edited by 88rexvert; Nov 15, 2007 at 05:48 PM.
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Old Nov 15, 2007 | 06:36 PM
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Originally Posted by 88rexvert
ok thanx for the advise. will try.... any other suggestions? i also tried the not so aggressive "de-flooding" method of taking out the fuse. didnt help il pull the plugs tomm and see what i got. when i went out to her today on the first crank it wanted to start right up but as soon as the engine turned another revolution no hope at all
that sounds like it's flooded...

I think you may have blown off a hose here and there, check around.
and the starting thing mentioned above sounds life flooding...

try push starting it like someone mentioned earlier,
always worked for me when it wouldn't crank
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Old Nov 15, 2007 | 07:50 PM
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If you have water in the connectors, spray em w/ wd-40. It will remove any water in the connections. Oh, WD means water displacing and the 40 is there because the formula was perfected on the 40th try.
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Old Nov 15, 2007 | 07:58 PM
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Check the AFM connector, it's probably soaked.
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Old Nov 15, 2007 | 09:31 PM
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ok i checked most of the connections sprayed them with wd 40. will check AFM tomm its gettin too cold outside. kinda thinking its flooded myself. pulled 2 of the plugs they were soaked in fuel. cranked the engine a couple turns w/o plugs in to get fuel out. got a brownish fluid that smells like fuel on the rag i stuffed in.
per the hayes manual i was looking to check my solenoid resistor, and could find it i did, however, find a dial of some sort next to the pressure sensor. its marked with two arrows L and R. see pic
not sure what the "dial" in the pic is but i turned it a little to the right and car seemed like it was gonna start but of course it didnt

thanks for all the help.
Attached Thumbnails how not to clean your enging ( beware stupidity inside)-dsc00129.jpg  
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Old Nov 15, 2007 | 09:44 PM
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i did the same thing... one of my fi trigger wires grounded out and was just dumping fuel, almost impossible to start, and when it did it sounded really wierd and ran like ****. i had to change my engine harness...
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Old Nov 15, 2007 | 09:50 PM
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that little screw thing's the LEAN-RICH fuel thingee, and it adjusts just that... thats about all I know
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Old Nov 15, 2007 | 11:16 PM
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Did the engine suck up any water from the airbox? Zerodrift is correct about the wd40.
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Old Nov 15, 2007 | 11:19 PM
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Take a Hair dryer to all the wires on your engine,especially the connectors.this will dissipate the Moisture in the harness.It sounds like you "effed" up and got the wiring all wet..a couple days in a hot garage "may" fix that up..just shows you that water and wiring don't mix!
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Old Nov 16, 2007 | 01:54 AM
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I pressurewash engines all the time. I always like to have it running and have the throttle propped open with a brick in the floorboard or a screwdriver in the throttle linkage to hold rpms up around 2000-2500. Most of the time the engine bogs slightly in the presence of a lot of water, which is why you dont want to simply let it idle. As long as you keep it running you can pretty much wash to your heart's content, let it run for a few more minutes to burn off the water, and then it is good to go. None of the electronics in the engine bay of the FC (or FD for that matter) seem remotely affected by the presence of water.

You definitely want to stay away from the air inlet and try to stay off the exhaust manifold/turbo hotside as much as possible too.

Old engines usually have gaskets and hoses that are not fully sealed which means they could actually suck in a little bit of water. This won't hurt the engine, but if the rpms are low enough it will sputter and die, and youll be in the situation you are in now.
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Old Nov 16, 2007 | 10:08 AM
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LOL you learned something I leared when I was young.... when you clean a motor you should not need a high pressure washer. I soak mine down in whamo and acid and let it sit (kerosene if it is real greasy) and spray it off with hot water. also cover all coils/distribuiter/etc with plasstic bags.
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Old Nov 16, 2007 | 05:27 PM
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ok i took the time today to spray the rest of the harnesses with WD40 checked to see if the air filter was wet( to my surprise i found a K&N filter) i also tried de-flooding it by pulling the plugs letting the fuel spray on a rag and putting a little bit of oil in the chambers. i then tried to push start it no go. let me see if i push started it right...
i put the car on hill let it roll with a little push put the car in gear ( i tried 1st and 2nd) let the clutch out and the rpms on the tachometer went to about 1k but didnt start. i also looked at all the harnesses and wires nothing seemed out of place or cut.
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Old Nov 16, 2007 | 10:39 PM
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Are you getting spark? What did the plugs look like? Wet? Dry? Tried new plugs?
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Old Nov 16, 2007 | 11:37 PM
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the plugs were soaked in fuel defiantly need to be replaced gonna go tommorrow and get new ones. forgot to check for spark will do tommorrow when i get new plugs

changed the plugs, de- flooded again, didnt start. i started looking to see if i could get to the primary fuel injectors to test them, found what appears to be the broken end of an injector still connected to the FI wire harness. im thinking that it was broken all along and that was probably causing my stalling, and when i pressure washed the engine it shorted it out causing a situation DREYKO was talking about. i also checked that i have a strong spark both leading and trailing. gonna tear the intake off tomorrow when i get home from work and see if it is in fact a broken injector

im almost positive its an injector, any recommendations where to get one,brand, type, and are all the injectors the same? or are the primary and secondary different?
advanced auto parts website has one for 82.44, is it the right one?
( http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductD...pe=677&PTSet=A )

thanks again for all the help

also one last question,
what gaskets will i need to replace when i tear the intake off

Last edited by Aaron Cake; Nov 23, 2007 at 10:44 AM. Reason: Merge two posts
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Old Nov 17, 2007 | 09:42 PM
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So, is it sparking when you rest a plug on the block? rotaryresurrection.com --> 2nd gen tech for plug info
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Old Nov 18, 2007 | 08:17 AM
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yes. very strong spark from both leading and trailing coils. i took intake off this morning to find it wasn't an injector that was broken. i think its a a coolant temp or pressure sensor, im not sure though. i checked the FI wires they look good. i also noticed that when i was taking the throttle body off ( not sure if it has a different name on a rotary) the " outside" upper butterflies were all the way open, is this normal?

i think what is happening is the ECU is just dumping fuel every time i crank it. what could be causing this? when i pull the plugs there dripping wet after trying to start the car
Attached Thumbnails how not to clean your enging ( beware stupidity inside)-broken-sensor-1.jpg   how not to clean your enging ( beware stupidity inside)-broken-sensor-2.jpg   how not to clean your enging ( beware stupidity inside)-dsc00133.jpg  
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Old Nov 18, 2007 | 08:24 AM
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To answer the question about the fuel injectors - the Advance Auto injector you 'quote' is correct - just replaced the secondary injectors with those units.
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Old Nov 18, 2007 | 08:38 AM
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ok good to know, thanks

is it possible that it is my main relay? when checking should i see voltage at terminals a&B then at c&d? the FSM is telling me to check continuity what exactly does that mean

im looking for a point in the right direction, any help will be appreciated

ok i figured out that my cats are clogged and i know what exhaust im going to go with when i save up the money. the question i have is can i buy off the shelf cat and pipes to make a temporary fix. and what size is the OEM pipe

Last edited by Aaron Cake; Nov 23, 2007 at 10:44 AM. Reason: Merge 4 posts
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Old Nov 24, 2007 | 06:17 PM
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..
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Old Nov 26, 2007 | 05:33 AM
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i had my friend fab up a straight pipe for me to replace my cats. my car started right up. i let get up to operating temp shut it down.
i went and had dinner, came back out to my car i was gonna take her out for a drive and she wouldnt start again.
a question i have is how dependent are rotaries on back pressure, and do i have to have the air pump thing hooked up for her to run right or is it just for emissions control?
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Old Nov 26, 2007 | 07:13 AM
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that depends on wether or not you've got a s4 or s5, turbo or N/A
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Old Nov 26, 2007 | 07:37 AM
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its an N/A s4 ( 88 vert 13b)
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