My 87 na runs great, so great infact that I was crusing at 120 down the E-way the other day. My problem is that my starter wont get the car running, I have to bump start my car. Not thats its really hard to start or anything, I usually just push the car down the street a little ways, soon as I hit 10 mph I hop in pop it in first and away I go, first time, everytime. It is although, a giant pain in my ***.....Literally. How can a bump start this easily not start with a brand new starter? My theories: My Smog equipment is not completely hooked up, the air pump is in place and connected the pipe from the cat is not, there is a peculiar 'ticking' coming from the 6 port area. Perhaps the 6th port actuators are stuck open causing a lack of compression...
Theory #2: My Advance warm up system doesnt seem to be functioning, this just might be because I'm bumpstarting the car or maybe my problem all together....

Any help is weclome, just don't tell me I have to rebuild my engine....

-Evan

 

you didnt tell us what the starter does.

 

maybe time for new battery wiring?
yoor maybe a get another starter

 

LMAO...
**see ya hunny, im heading to work!!****
** OK dear!! MWHUUAAA***
**runs out door**
** un -hooks E-brake**
** pushes car down the hill**
**all the neighbors watch every morning holding there coffe in one hand and holding the curtain out of the way with the other as some random neighbor has to PUSH his car to start it**

SHHEEESShh...LOL
i hope you get that fixed soon, that sounds like a royal pain!

 

Well having your 6 ports stuck one way or the other wont hurt compression at all... I keep mine wired open and my GTU starts everytime and idles great. The "ticking" sound is most likely the BACV you should check that with a voltmeter. None of your emissions equipment should cause the car not to start.

What I wanna know is where did you get this starter? Did you compare it with your old one to make sure it was the exact one you needed? Did you install it yourself or did someone else do it? Have you checked the installation at least and put probes on the terminals?

 

I already replaced both battery cables with high quality welding cables, The starter was just rebuilt yesterday by a cetrified Nippon-Denso dealer. I installed the starter myself, all seems kosher haven't tested it though The motor cranks and pops a few times, then just seems to flood out and stop popping. Usually at that point I stop cranking it so I dont flood it and just proceed to bump start it.

 

Quiet you...

 

there is something draining power to the starter...

this happened to me for me it was the stupid crappy stock alarm that didnt work anyways

hope you find your problem

 

if the car turns over, then there is nothing wrong with the starter...

have you checked the spark plugs to see if they get coated in gas? or are you just assuming it floods...?

if it is flooding maybe you're having some fuel injector problems. does your gas mileage suck?

 

you might be leaving to much fuel in the car before it is cranked, you could try holding the throttle open and letting some of the gas evaporate before you start it. when I bought my 88 n/a the previous owner said if he didn't have the throttle open before starting it, it would flood and not start. just a thought.

 

you would have to hold the throttle open for a long long time before a recognizable amont of gasoline would evaporate. when my FC used to flood i would remove the spark plugs and ounces would shoot out.

on 89-91 FC's, holding down the throttle while starting cuts the fuel. this may be what he experienced.

additionally if your car is flooding frequently, you probably need an injector cleaning or another remedy. a band aid fix will help starting, but your gas mileage and performance will suffer.

 

I'm just assuming its flooding. The engine starts popping after a revolution (as it should) after that it stops popping and the engine cranks over like its not getting any spark.

Yes my mileage does suck. I logged 12 mpg on average on my last tank. (taking into account all my 'spirited driving')

btw, I have pacesetter headers running directly into my stock Y pipe and mufflers.

 

I've tried holding the pedal to the floor while cranking, just seems to flood it out more.

Honestly I don't think flooding is my problem, It always starts super easy when bump starting it and the only time I smell raw gas is when I crank it over too much.

 

Sounds to me like it may be a leaky injector... Even with my spirited (autocross) driving, I "only" hit 17 MPG... My average is somewhere north of 20, and upwards of 25 when I'm saving gas.

Have you ever had your injectors cleaned/serviced?

 

additionally if your car is flooding frequently, you probably need an injector cleaning or another remedy. a band aid fix will help starting, but your gas mileage and performance will suffer.[/QUOTE]


Just ran a bottle of seafoam through the fuel system, other than making my eyes water when I walked by the rear of the car I noticed no difference in desire to start or performance.

 

Running seafoam thru the fuel system won't fix a leaking fuel injector.


www.cruzinperformance.com


Send your injectors (all 4) to them. They will put on all new o-rings, grommets, etc...and you can eliminate this from your list of problems for many many miles. Obviously, to get to these, you need to tear off the intake manifolds.


No matter what the problem with the engine, I always reccomend this first: a full tuneup. Oil change, coolant flush, spark plugs + wires, injectors serviced, new vacuum (silicone) lines throughout the engine (Get from them Hosetechniques, they do frequent group-buys and are very high quality), new fuel lines, thermostat, coolant lines, and inspect the heater hose for cracks. It fails often.


While down under the manifolds, refurbish all stock grounds. You will thank me for this later. Sand down the point it grounds to, and clean the terminal.


Doing all of this will 99% of the time eliminate and prevent all problems you can imagine.

 

I say bad grounds, battery connections or battery.

 

LOL, just pulling the chain man...
http://www.witchhunter.com/
id say maybe injectors need cleaned...
these guys did mine and they are good...
new screens, pintle caps and O- rings and a flow chart of before and after
and CHEAP...
expect a little over a week for them to clean and send them back...

 

If it starts up right away bump starting and not at all with a key it sounds like the problem is related to the means of cranking the engine. A bad contact on the igniton switch would do this or bad contacts on the coil/ignition relay causing high resistance, these become a real problem when the voltage is dropped even lower by the cranking power draw (possibly enough volatage drop to cause a relay to go open). Use a volt meter and check for voltage drops all over. You should not get more than a volt between the + battery terminal and any 12V component. Or even hook a jumper from your battery to the leading coil pack to eliminate possible issues with the wiring and make sure it is getting full juice just to test.

Hey no worries man, my dad used to do this with an old VW rabbit. At least you aren't driving a rabbit, and it will be good for stories later in life.

 

How fast is the motor cranking

 

Check the ground wire on the intake manifold. This caused me numerous headaches with flooding & running very badly on occasion.

Ramses666

 

Thats a good point. I would keep going with this thought, I dunno what type of tools you have handy, I have an amperage clamp for my multimeter that works great for checking current draw from a starter.

 

wait, so does the motor turn over or not? if it's cranking but not actually starting up, I can't see how it would be the starter at all. It's most likely a flooding issue.

 

so it tryes to start but then dies and then just turns over not catching at all correct? Sounds like flooding to me...what kind of compression #'s are you getting? Get your injectors serviced.

 

hmmm... try the deflooding procedure and see if it starts, then its safe to say youve got a leaky/stuck injector
its somewhere around here

what happens is fuel leaks into the combustion chamber and then in the morning, its flooded imedeatly. If its starts after a good deflood procedure, then thats more than likely the problem, does your Oil reak of gasoline?