Startup!!

[OK-944]

Yesss!!!! Finally got it to start!

But what had been staring me in the face…that the alarm had never been jumpered. Actually I’d acknowledged this earlier but figured that the PO had done something else to get around the alarm.

What did not cross my mind is that by removing the battery many months ago (before my rebuild), I’d basically taken out the ignition - meaning that the car would not start without the alarm system being reset. While I did read something about opening and closing the hatch three times as a way to reset the alarm (is this a thing?), I just went ahead and jumpered the alarm module plug. Took just a few minutes…but cost me three weeks of driving/break-in time, during which I dove further into grounds, timing, ignition system continuity, and opening up the DME/ECU to re-solder what looked like an iffy coil driver contact. But hey…live and learn!

At any rate, upon starting up I backed the car out of my garage (nice that the new clutch engaged!), knowing that things would get real smokey - as they did fairly quickly (fire extinguisher within arms reach). I got the RPM’s up to between 1.5 and 2K and held this for about ten minutes, noting good oil pressure (around 4bar), good charging (around 13 volts), and fans coming on as engine came up to temp. Also smoked like hell, but I expected this.

Then I started to hear a horrible noise, from down low someplace - and my first thought was that something in the engine…specifically the crank…was somehow beginning to self-destruct. Then I thought of the power steering system, and sure enough - as I turned the wheel…the noise got worse.

So I shut off the engine, noted that the PS reservoir was basically empty - so I topped this off, and also re-bled and topped off the coolant.

Starting up the second time…the car smoked much less (eventually not at all), but it started running rough - almost like an injector had stopped working or maybe the balance belt had broken. But after another minute things smoothed out nicely, as did the PS system - and I ran the engine for another ten minutes before pulling back into my garage and getting the car back up on the lift.

I then opened the oil plug, noting that the oil seemed clean at first but does look a bit cruddy overall (as expected), and I’m about to go back out to remove the oil filter - which I plan to saw apart so I can examine the contents (just curious!)

Later I’ll tuck the ECU back in (I’d left it out just in case) and secure the jumpered alarm plug and wires, and pour in some break in oil, in preparation of doing a bit of ring-setting - either later today or tomorrow.

One more thing - I noticed no smell of gas…not in the engine bay, nor back by the fuel pump - a good thing, seeing as how I’d replaced the engine bay fuel lines, fuel pump, fuel tank to pump hose, and fuel filter. So…so far so good!

[jjeffries]

Big Congratulations to you, Sir.

John

[944 Ecology]

Glad to hear that you fixed the final problem...

[onZedge]

yay!