Roddimus Prime

Please help. I've bought an 86 FC 5spd and have been trying everything I could think of to get it started. Here's a list of everything I've done and what I've replaced. I've tried the unflooding techniques and still nothing. The car seems to pouring out a lot of white smoke from under the exhaust manifold heat shield and from the underside of the car...most likely an exhaust leak.


new plugs
new wires
new battery
new clutch master cylinder
new clutch slave cylinder
new stainless braided clutch line
new fuel filter
new ebay air filter and adapter
air pump removed and block off plate installed
AC system removed
second cat delete pipe purchased (but not installed)

Just so I can make sure..... The #1 rotor is the front housing correct? and #2 is the rear? That's how I re-attached the plug wires.

When I pull the plugs and spin it over it pops real hard and spits out big puffs of white smoke and oil drips out the holes. I clean out the plugs, re-install them and try it and it tries real hard to fire up but just won't catch and run. I've sprayed starter fluid in the intake while spinning it over and it'll speed up but not catch.

I'm totally out of ideas here. Can anyone please help? I'm also in the south birmingham AL area if anyone local cares to look at it.

DesmoFO

Did you make sure the plugged the wires into leading and trail for the sparkplugs (top is leading bottom is trailing). Or maybe you could find a steep hill and give it a push start.

BlaCkPlaGUE

Sounds like oil seals with the coolant seals are gone.. Due to the oil seals fucked, im sure your getting a nice loss of compression resulting the non starting. Coolant in the combustion chamber along with the oil doesn't help creating a spark either...

Invest 30$ in a compression tester, twist and unscrew the little valve out from the end, and tighten it up real tight to the spark plug hole. Now get in the car, put the gas pedal to the floor, and crank it while a friend checks the numbers. You should see even bounces of compression, it should be like 80 or higher. Any lower than that and you'll have issues starting the car im sure.

You should have seriously avoided spending all that money in the above parts until you realized that the car is working properly.

Roddimus Prime

I installed the plugs and wires according to the markings on the engine block and coil packs. I'm 99.9% sure they are on correctly.

If I were having coolant seal problems I'd be spitting coolant out the plug holes right? I'm not doing that at all. It's a oily gassy black liquid. It has no signs of coolant at all. Also the coolant in the car is green and crystal clear. It doesn't lose coolant either.

WonkoTheSane

iTrader: (2)

Remember that you also have Oil seals inside of your car, too. Do you have any water droplets in your oil? It's also possible that you have a broken coolant seal, causing compression to go out, not necessarily water to come in. . Can you describe what happened when it stopped running? That will likely lead to a more accurate diagnosis.

Roddimus Prime

no water in the oil. just a gas/oil mix...like two stroke.

The car was bought by a friend at an estate auction. He pull started it and drove it around the block....said it chirped 3rd gear. Then he towed it home, parked it and it sat for 6 months. Never started again. It's been sitting at my place for almost another 8-9months. It caught and TRIED to run once but it was pouring white smoke out from under the car. I thought it was on fire (sitting in the grass) so I shut it off....it's never run since.

WonkoTheSane

iTrader: (2)

Have you tried pull-starting it? That's how I fixed my severely flooded engine.. Pull start it, drive it around until it at least reaches normal operating temperature. Enjoy it After you get home, change the oil (there's going to be a lot of gas mixed in), and also change to clean/dry plugs. Hopefully your flooding problems will be gone. If you can't get it to run right after pull starting, then you definately want to check your compression.

Roddimus Prime

I'm scared to pull start it because I don't want to get it a half mile down the street and have it die on me. I also don't know what kind of shape the brakes are in and I know the tires are dry-rotted to hell and back. Basically I'm trying to get the car running well enough to where I feel confortable driving it to my firends shop where I can really get under the car and freshen it up.

WonkoTheSane

iTrader: (2)

yeah, It's always a good idea to have good, working brakes before doing that Your other option is push-starting it, which is inherently less dangerous to your front end But again, check the brakes.

I'd opt for a tow-start myself.. if you can't get it working after a block or so, just drive around the block a bit more until you get home.. Do it at night when there's no traffic on the road.

Roddimus Prime

yeah, I think I'll do it tomorrow afternoon....i'll use the TDi beetle to get it rolling! should have plenty of torque! Can I Just pull it off and then let it idle in place or do I need to drive it to get the rpms up to clean out any build up?

Roddimus Prime

reply in red.

WonkoTheSane

iTrader: (2)

You should be able to get a compression tester from any auto parts store. they'll have one in stock for 30-40 bucks.

I would drive the car around to warm it up, it'll warm up quicker, plus you'll want to redline it a few times after it gets warmed up to blow all that junk out. Be prepared for the most smoke you've ever seen a vehicle make in your life!

Roddimus Prime

yeah it started smoking when I was cranking it...lots of white smoke. What color smoke should I look for it's running WELL? If it's running badly I wanna know if I should shut it off.

fcdrifter13

White smoke=coolent
black smoke=too much fuel
blue smoke=oil

Although if you have been cranking it and then it finally sarts and blows blue smoke let it run for a min and see if it clears up.

5252

Just get a craftsman one at Sears in Irondale...

I think you should try pull starting it... we told you think months ago haha

Check and make sure you gettin good fuel to the rail and the rotors... you could have some bad injectors or a FPR...

sorry if any of this has been said or somthing... I didnt read the whole thread. lol

Roddimus Prime

hmm, it pops out lots of white smoke when I try to unflood it..... I'm going to keep an eye on my coolant level to see whats going on with it.

Nate, why would I drive over an hour from montevallo to irondale when I could go to sears in Riverchase 15 minutes away? Where were you today? Jeremy and I were staring at the car for like 2 hours like the "king of the hill" guys.... "yup"....."yup"....."mmhmmm".

5252

haha I guess goin there would be a bit more gas efficient lol...

I was in irondale. haha
I went to party city and a few other places with bridge (04mazda3). I didnt know y'all were gettin together to mess with it today. Well try pull starting it and let us know what happens, if that dont work, do that compression test and check the fuel.

Roddimus Prime

i already checked the fuel. I'll have to convince the wife to turn over the TDi keys without question if I'm going to pull start it.

I think the wheels may be siezed up also....I tried pushing it with Jeremy and it would go anywhere...not even down hill!

5252

lol damn... trhey will free up when you get to movin it... how long has it been sence the car has rolled?...

haha get the wife to turn over the keys??? lmao didnt you buy that car? hee hee ***wasnt me*** haha

fcdrifter13

check the rear end for gear oil. Also make sure that the car is accually going out of gear. I had a broken shiter one time that if you were sitting still felt like it was changing gears but was accually still in first.

Roddimus Prime

nate, I also bought her a new RX8 that she traded for the beetle..... if momma aint happy aint no'one happy. I told her what I was going to do with the car and she was cool with it.

fcdrifter, I'm 99% sure the shifter and everything works fine. I know the rear is full of fluid but it's nasty. Once I get it rolling and driveable I'm throwing it on a friends lift and changing out EVERYTHING. All new brakes, all new fluids/filters/hoses/belts.

I figure a TDi will pull the car up to about 20-30mph and I'll just put it in second and dump it. If it fires I'm going to untie the rope and pull it back in the driveway until it clears up some...then I'll drive it around the block.

fcdrifter13

Umm to make sure you dont blow it I would suggest going to advance and buying some of those sunpro gauges in the 3 pack. OIl pres oil temp and water temp are the ones I got. Any car I am about to start I hook them up to just to make sure I have a back up on gauges even if they do suck its still a good back up.

Roddimus Prime

I'm pretty sure the gauges work...the fuel gauge comes on...the tach works, the oil pressure sending unit is brand new...coolant is the only one I'm unsure about but I know the system has fresh coolant in it. I should buy a new t-stat just to be safe anyway though.

driftin8ez

did you ever get the car running. My car has recently started to do the same thing for no reason at all. In the afternoon started fine. Went at night to try and start it wont start. Something happens when i take out the plugs and crank it. Did you try replacing your cas. I'm so upset that my 7 is doing this to me. Oh ya mine stopped working after i took out and reinstalled my cpu right by the fuse box. Maybe we both have a loose wire down there that is causing the engine to not start.

Roddimus Prime

bumpage.... Driftin8ez, just got his car started by doing the typical unflood precdure EXCEPT he also disconnected the fuel line from the filter to the rail. I'm going to try this first and then I'll pull start. I can do this by myself but need help to do the pullstart!