1983 SC Won't Start

[Turkocharged182]

I will start off with a question and then I will give you guys some background on where I am at in my troubleshooting.

Can the WUR keep the car from running?

I ask this because my control pressure (65psi) reads the same as my system pressure (65psi). From what I have read this will cause a lean condition. I have spark and I just installed brand new plugs, wires, cap, and rotor. I also just installed a new fuel filter and adjusted the valves. The valves were all set with no gap before I set all of them to spec.

A little more background.
I have had this car for a little over 2 years. It did run well but never great. I new the car needed all of the maintenance done and I wanted to do all of this myself to help me learn the car. I pulled the car off the road for a little while around a year ago. During this time I redid a lot of cosmetic issues and started shedding weight. I removed all of the a/c stuff and blower motors and things. About 6 months ago I had planned on taking the car to a Porsche meet and cranked the car up. The car fired right up and sounded great. While I was warming up the engine my son came running to me and told me I was on fire. There was a small oil fire on top of the heat exchanger by the oil cooler. I shut the car off and put out the fire and let the car sit over night. The next day I cranked the car up and drove it straight into the garage and let it sit. I waited a few months until I bought all of the the tune up parts and gaskets needed and installed everything.

With fresh parts I tried the first start in several months and the car barely started and barely ran. It would misfire and had no power or throttle response. Another 2 weeks went by until I could try and trouble shoot some more items and now the car won't crank at all. So far I have checked everything I can think of and everything tests good.

My compression numbers are:
1: 92psi 4: 102psi
2: 90psi 5: 40psi
3: 98psi 6: 115psi

These numbers are all on a cold engine and I think would still be good enough to run. I am hoping number 5 is just a carbon issue and I can troubleshoot that one more later. Right now I want to work the bugs out before I start changing anything else. I also removed the evap canister when I was shedding weight but I plugged the fittings off where it connected. I haven't done a vacuum test yet but I don't think a vacuum leak could cause me not to run completely.

Let me know what you guys think. I really want to drive this thing and want to start doing some more mods but not until I fix what I have.

[Turkocharged182]

I know you guys love pictures so here is one right before the little fire happened.

[T77911S]

what does turkocharged mean? just curious.

nice looking car.

if you are reading system pressure for CP, you either have the gauges connected wrong or there is a blockage in the return to the tank or the inlet screen to the WUR is clogged.

those compression numbers are VERY low, even if #5 was up to the others.
i would do a leak down to try and figure out where the problem is. could just be rings, i did not see the mileage. might just be the way you did the test.
what about this "no gap" valve adjustment? is it still that way? are you sure the valves are correct? tight valves will give you numbers like you have.

what part of charleston are you in?

[Turkocharged182]

Turkocharged is my joke race shop. My name is Turko. I'm in Goose Creek.

The gauges are connected right and I also tried it other ways to double check. Same results. I think the screen to the WUR could be clogged but was wondering if that could keep me from starting.

I know the compression numbers are low but I was thinking they might not be too bad on a cold engine that hasn't ran in a year. I plan on doing a leak down test but I wanted to be able to do this on a warm engine if possible. From reading on this forum it seems that for best results on compression and leak down tests the engine has to be warm. This is my first air cooled engine.

I set all of the valve lash to .004". The car ran before when all of the valve lash were set to "no gap." I have no idea what internals are in this engine if anything is other than stock. I do know that all of my head studs are steel so that has been done in the past. The car has 183,000 miles on the odometer.

[vash]

you just changed the fuel filter? did you bleed the fuel system? i find that anytime i take a CIS part out, i had to bleed the system before the car will start.

simple enough to do. just lift that air sensor plate. you do hear the injectors whine, right?

[T77911S]

65 psi CCP will keep it from starting. it probably fires once then wont fire again or keep running. thats the CS injector giving it that initial kick.

180k is a lot of miles. rings and valves are due sounds like.

no gap could cause it to burn a valve. that would give it poor compression too.


you can play with the air sensor plate to get it started and likely to keep it running. hope you have a pop off valve because it will be backfiring.



dont get out to goose creek to often. MT P or james island.
go by rennsport and see stan over on hwy 7 behind macco.

[Turkocharged182]

I bled the air out of my fuel pressure gauge but that is the only thing I bled. I haven't read anything about bleeding the system anywhere else. I have 65 psi system pressure. Could there be air in the system between the supply and the injectors still?

I assume I just need to run the fuel pump and lift the sensor plate to do this then? I have not heard the injectors whine. Is this something I should hear with the naked ear or do I need to use my stethoscope? I hope that is all it is.

[Turkocharged182]

I do have a pop off valve and if I didn't I would have already blew up my air filter box. I am planning on doing a rebuild or a 3.6 swap soon. I just want to see if I can keep it running until then.

I will remove the WUR and clean that out tonight and then try and bleed any air out.

Thanks for you guys help.

[schumicat]

if the return to the tank were blocked you would see much more than 65 psi (more like 100 psi). the return line to the WUR may be kinked or blocked by debris. disconnect the return line at the WUR, use towels to catch gas coming out the WUR, pull the fuse pump relay, bridge the 2 pins on socket to get fuel pump to run in key on position (do search for which pins, can't recall now), and turn key on for couple seconds and read pressure. gas will obviously spray out of the WUR so don't smoke. if control pressure drops significantly i think that suggest the WUR return line blocked/kinked. otherwise i would try to clean the WUR screen.