Starting up an engine thats been stoo a long time

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skiddusmarkus

Active Member
My car is currently in my dry garage.The rebuilt forge engine only has 1-200 miles on it and all new fluids etc but its been stood a long time.What should I be doing before starting it up.

I'm looking at removing plugs and putting little oil in each cylinder and leaving it a few days.Then turning it over with coil disconnected.I don't have the facilities to drain the tank so was just going to go(very steadily) straight to the petrol station and fill up once its running.Its only a mile away.
Apart from checking the oil looks ok, what else should I be looking at doing before starting it up.

Its more the engine side I am concerned about.Not too worried about wheel bearings/tyres as I am expecting to have to replace the bearings anyway and have new tyres ready to go on if necessary.
 
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pulsarboby

Guest
spray some wd40 down the cylinders and leave it overnight just incase the rings have seized.

on startup remove the plug from injector resistor pack on n/s inner wing then crank the engine for around 20 seconds to get oil pressure up, then replace it and try firing her up
 
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skiddusmarkus

Active Member
Well my dry cell race battery is in the shop where they are trying to give it the kiss of life by slow charging and discharging it over the next week as it only read 0.34 volts so I won't be cranking it over for a bit.
The connectors are totally diffrent to a normal battery and I cannot be arsed swapping them over and using my daily driver battery to crank it.Is the resistor pack the oblong alluminium pack about 4" long which is originally near the n/s strut against the bulkhead?Or is it the little fusebox type one behind the n/s headlight?Its been ages since I worked on this car and I've forgotten more than I thought I had.
 
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skiddusmarkus

Active Member
Cheers, that pack is the little hobo of my engine bay as its moved home so many times with various mods.

I have most of the bits I need to get it back on the road and mapped now.Just waiting on battery and getting a pipe welded onto intake pipe(for BoV)then I'll finish off running it in and get it mapped.
 
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skiddusmarkus

Active Member
I have everything I need for it to run now but it won't start.I cranked it with the resistor pack disconned as above then reconnected it and it chugged and farted a few times and sounded like it was trying to start then just went back to turning over.I tried for probably 1-2 minutes total without it starting so I am just charging the battery( I don't think it needs it as its an Odyssey pc680)while giving the excess petrol a chance to drain away.

I also removed what I think was the fuel pump relay to run it over without fuel going in( after removing I didn't hear the pump priming up)before I found a direct connection for it.I did this to try and clear excess fuel out of the cylinders rather than risk i tleaking down into the oil.

The fuel in this tank is maybe 5-6 years old with the limited mileage I have done between its holidays in the garage, would this be totally degraded by now?The fuel filter was new with the engine rebuild but I do have another waiting to go on that I was going to use after the remaining old fuel was gone.
 
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skiddusmarkus

Active Member
I can't remember tbh, I'll check tomorrow.Draining it isn't very practical atm as I backed the car in the garage and there isn't room to swing a cat let alone push it out.Its not really possible to tow it out either to space.

Would old fuel really be that bad?I thought it just degraded and lowered the octane.I'll have a google and check it out.
 
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skiddusmarkus

Active Member
OK, done some checking and it seems petrol lasts anywhere between 3 months to 3 years.I don't have a siphon so am thinking of just unclipping the fuel line to the filter, extend the pipe a bit intoa bucket and then put 12v to the fuel pump.I hear this can clog up your pump though so maybe I'll have to get hold of a siphon.Bugger.

Does our tank have any anti siphon device?
 
zia

zia

Active Member
Does our tank have any anti siphon device?
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nope,you could use mechanical pump with hose one end to syphon it out,personally don't think it would go off that much,make sure you have decent compression, and its not over fueling (tell by plugs).i would remove the turbo oil feed and squirt some oil in there but not necesarry.mines had been standing well over a year, charged the battery up ,cranked until oil pressure was up and it fired up :)

zia
 
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skiddusmarkus

Active Member
Hi Zia :)

I bought a siphoning "device" from halfords and it was utter shite.It didn't even work when I tested it with a sink full of water and a bucket on the floor.So I ended up making my own with some fish tank airpipe and a Flash cleaner spray squirty bit and used that to draw fuel out of the tank into a jerry can, then let gravity take over.I then added a gallon of tescos super unleaded and it still won't start.

I had a look around the engine bay for unconnected wires, but couldn't see any but did spot the fuel filter looking a bit sorry for itself.It had a kink in the pipe that goes to the fuel rail so I replaced that and tried again but still no joy.I am again charging the battery in the hope it was a bit low after all the cranking before I changed the filter.

I remember from the last times I drove it that the coil was fooked so I put a spare 2nd hand one I had kicking about on and am hoping its that which has died.I have an MSD coil and 6200 ignition to go on so hoping they will cure it as I don't really want to buy a brand new coil as well to test it.

Anyone live near Chesterfield who has a good working coil I can try?
 
zia

zia

Active Member
Hello Simon long time no see :)
So your getting both fuel and ingition but it worn't start,(what colour are the plugs? are they wet after cranking?.test out spark by using old spark plug with plug lead connected to it and earth it to the engine with someone cranking it.

zia
 
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skiddusmarkus

Active Member
I'm having to do it on my own atm Zia.The plugs are quite black and do smell a bit of petrol when I take them out hence me thinking its the ignition.I'll see if I can get the gf to help me test an old plug later.

I ordered a new coil anyway(£29 new off ebay) as apparently you cannot set up the ignition for mapping with the msd.Hopefuully it will arrive befoore/at the weekend as I want it running for then.
 
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zia

zia

Active Member
The plugs are quite black and do smell a bit of petrol
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Ok once you determined that there is good strong spark.remove all the plugs,crank couple of time to get any excess fuel out of the cylindars,decarbonise the plugs (posh word for give them a proper clean :p) make sure no soot is on them,put them back in.don't touch the throttle and crank it,hopefully it should start.if it doesn't straight away,remove the inlet pipe into inlet manifold and spray some wd40 down there and reattach,this should cuase it at least to ignite the fuel.if that don't work i'm fraid either timing for igniton is completely out,2. no compression in either one or 2 cylindars.

zia
 
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skiddusmarkus

Active Member
I have just checked for spark as you described Zia and it sparks but only up to about 3/4" away form an earth.I don't know if thats good or bad.

I'll give the plugs a good clean tomorrow and try again.I cannot see it being bad compression as its a forged engine with only about 200 miles on it.
 
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ChrisS

New Member
skiddusmarkus said:
Hi Zia :)

I bought a siphoning "device" from halfords and it was utter shite.It didn't even work when I tested it with a sink full of water and a bucket on the floor.So I ended up making my own with some fish tank airpipe and a Flash cleaner spray squirty bit and used that to draw fuel out of the tank into a jerry can, then let gravity take over.I then added a gallon of tescos super unleaded and it still won't start.

I had a look around the engine bay for unconnected wires, but couldn't see any but did spot the fuel filter looking a bit sorry for itself.It had a kink in the pipe that goes to the fuel rail so I replaced that and tried again but still no joy.I am again charging the battery in the hope it was a bit low after all the cranking before I changed the filter.

I remember from the last times I drove it that the coil was fooked so I put a spare 2nd hand one I had kicking about on and am hoping its that which has died.I have an MSD coil and 6200 ignition to go on so hoping they will cure it as I don't really want to buy a brand new coil as well to test it.

Anyone live near Chesterfield who has a good working coil I can try?
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Ive got a coil ect kicking about in my boot at the moment as spares if mine go. Came off my old one which was running fine on them. Not a million miles away in wakefield if you want to try them.
 
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skiddusmarkus

Active Member
Thanks Chris but I ordered one off ebay now(£29 delivered).

How big a gap will other peoples spark jump when they pull a lead off and slot a plug in and then earth it with the engine turning over/running?
 
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skiddusmarkus

Active Member
I fully charged the battery again just in case, scrubbed up the plugs(just ngks)with carb cleaner and an old toothbrush and........pop,fart,pop












































































Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum!

It lives!
 
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skiddusmarkus

Active Member
Ok, after getting it running again I started fitting some Mikalor clamps to the intercooler hoses.I have the forge fmic and did all the ones from the exit off the i/c to the inlet manifold.I moved my greddy boost solenoid as it had been fitted in the way and I fitted some new vacuum hose to it as the old one wasn't long enough.This was a different diameter to the original one.

Now when I went to reverse back into my garage it runs even worse and sounds like it is missing quite badly-I could barely reverse without it wanting to stall.I can't see how what I have done could have caused this, anyone knwo differently?

The only thing I can think it might be is the plugs sooting up again but if it is that I must be massively overfuelling as its barely ran since I cleaned them yesterday.

Thoughts please!
 
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