Need help car wont start
 

2 weeks ago I did some clean up in the engine bay. I was carefull with the water, but apparently a few things got wet. I did not start the car afterwards like I should of. Today I spent the morning cleaning every electric leed and connection. Grounds, Relay board, injector conections, distr cap, plugsl etc.
with wd40 to dispurse any water and contact cleaner.

The car is a 2.0 with pertronix. I tried starting fluid in the throttle body. It runs for a sec then dies. The fuel pump is working and it the starter and ign. are good.

Any tips on where to look next?

Sounds like you have spark and compression--it starts with a shot of starting fluid.

That means you don't have fuel going into the motor--or at least, not the right amount.

Check for disconnected wires. Easy way to cause a no-start. Ditto hoses. Check for broken, brittle, or cracked wires. And hoses.

Then check to see if you are geting any fuel at all--pull an injector or two and stick them into glass jars. Look while someone cranks the sarter to see if any fuel comes out, and what the spray pattern looks like.

Those are first steps...

--DD

Moisture inside distributor cap? It happened to me before.

Ditto KURO. You simply cannot dry a dristrib cap out enough to function.

but wouldn't it not fire at all if the distributor cap was the problem?

Ok getting fuel, injectors clicking but not spraying. Im going to check the pressure and then see if they are clogged.

I steamed out my Saab once and it ran fine on the way home but ran like a dog the next day. No torque. Sounded like it was running on two cylinders. I drove it to parts store that way, got new cap and all was well. Thinking about it now, I did leave hood open and dizzy cap off while I was inside the store. Sun was shining right on the engine too. Maybe there was residual moisture in the distrubutor mechanism. I think what screws it up is not shorting through water traces, but 99.9 % humidity under the distrubutor cap as residual water evaporates, leading to some peculiar arcing or something in there. Get the blow drier and dry out the dizzy really well (maybe?).

Fuel pressure is between 28-29 lbs. It will drop to around 22 after about 10 minutes. I guess the cheapest thing to do i get a new cap and rotor.
I will do that tomorrow. Any other thoughts? Injectors click but dont spray.

Don't know about the injectors. I've got webers on the 914. But Dave is an intuitive guy.... Could something in the FI have the same moisture trapping capabilities too? Of course, if the cap/ rotor doesn't actually fix it, it will make the car run better eventually....

Injectors click when you crank the starter, or just when you open the throttle?

I'd check thewire connection at the MPS. Also the trigger points on the distributor.

Havingfuel pressure and having the injectors click but no fuel go through is a very odd one...

--DD

Dave, they click when its cranked and also when the key is on and you move the pedal. I was moving wires around to do some touch up work and cleaning. I went over everything 3x to make sure its connected. I cleaned all the contacts with contact cleaner and made sure I had good clean grounds. Could I have broken a wire in the harness somewhere???? Any particular ground I could of knocked loose unknowingly? Im really confused on what to do next. Im having the injectors tested tommorrow to rule that out. I'll grab a new cap and rotor, but being I have spark I dont think that will change anything. I will try to borrow another MPS and see if that helps. The MPS wires are connected right. I 2x checked them. I matched up the numbers on the wires with the ones on the MPS.
Is there possibly a wire that shorted out that could make the injectores click but not spray???

What should I look for on the FI trigger points? They are 1 1/2 years old.

If the injectors click, then they should be opening. That is the source of the clicking noise, after all. If they are opening, and there is pressure in the fuel rail, then fuel should come out of them. The only possibility I can think of is that they are blocked. But having that happen to all of them at the same time is a pretty big coincidence...

--DD

I took the injectors off today. There was some sediment in the elbows that came out. A friend tested them for me. He hooked them up to a fuel pump and ho train control box. He got them to spray. We ran carisene through them. They didnt seem to be clogged. I cant say how much voltage he used, but maybe it was more than what the car is generating that made them open. I'm really not sure. They all sprayed when he did that. He said the pattern was good.
He timed them, and they all filled up the same amount of fluid in a tube.

So, we have spark, we have pressure. He was thinking maybe I broke a wire some where and suggested that I test the relay board and all my connections again. I will do that tomorrow. I will also check my system for fuel contamination. His conclusion was the same as yours. He thought the odds of all 4 going at once are pretty slim.

Could a bad head temp sensor cause this? I guess I need to check the voltage comming off the trigger points.

Any other ideas?

I know if you disconnect your TS2 sensor, the car won't start.

perhaps the three tabbed ground lug is not grounding, could that cause both sides to quit squirting?

I'll cleaned all the grounds. I will go over them again. Thanks.

whoops, i reread and see you've cleaned the grounds.

the clicking is TPS and ECU, that connection is good. Grounds must be good too, otherwise no clicking. I've pumped the accelerator a few times with the key on to squirt fuel in to start a cold engine, so if it fires with starting fluid, it should fire when you do that, even if the trigger points and/or mps connections were bad. If that doesn't happen, I'd visually check the fuel pressure by removing the check screw and watching to see if fuel pumps out in volume.

the 3 connections I can think of that would shut down the FI system would be MPS plug, Trigger contact plug, and the temp sensor in the head. If the temp sensor was shorted, it could cause the ECU to send a very lean signal.

My best guess is water pooled in the plug for the trigger contacts. you could check for proper action with a ohmeter.

How do i test the triggers for proper action with an ohm meter?
I have no idea on what to do regarding that.

there should be no resistance when they are closed and inf. resistance when they open. a test light would do the same thing. each side should be open about 180 deg rotation of the distributor. check by touching the center contact and one of the sides.

I like starting fluid or brake cleaner to clean contacts, because it dries residue free.

Hope you get it going this weekend.

I bet carbs are sounding pretty good about now huh?