When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Whoa! Hold on a cotton-picking moment. This completely violates my core tenet to do as little as possible for as long as it takes. You could certainly hook up a gauge to confirm low compression, but at this stage I think it's more work than necessary.
Putting on my Hunch-O-Vision™ goggles*, it still seems like we're dealing with fuel washing away the oil and killing off compression. Previous attempts to reintroduce oil and restore compression have not succeeded yet. Personally, I'd be willing to fully exhaust that possibility before digging deeper elsewhere. I suspect a double whammy at play. Not only has the oil been washed away, the plugs have become fouled in the process, too. Low compression and no ignition? Not a great combination.
Here's what I'd suggest:
1) Charge that poor battery!
2) Concentrate on restoring compression as a preliminary step. For the moment, don't worry about actually starting the engine. Stop the introduction of fuel so you can restore compression, and then go from there. Holding the gas pedal to the floor is supposed to cut off the injectors during a start attempt, designed to clear flooding. But if the fresh oil has barely been distributed, subsequent start attempts (with normal fuel delivery) are going to wash that oil right off again, and you're back where you started. Pull fuse F17 under the hood. This disables the injectors completely, no matter where you hold the gas pedal. You can now do the full oil trick, and crank the engine over several times with the plugs out to properly distribute the oil. When you reinstall the plugs, the starter should work harder (as normal) to indicate compression has been restored to some extent. If the starter still cranks rapidly, that means compression is still low and needs further investigation. It's VERY important to have the battery fully charged, because if low the resulting reduced starter speed may trick you into thinking compression is back to normal.
2) Inspect the firing end of the spark plugs. If not spiffy clean, try some aerosol electronics cleaner on them. If you see anything but the lightest deposits built up, replace the plugs. Old plugs are going to have some deposits on them, and this stuff acts like a sponge to hold fuel and oil. Any such liquid contamination is going to keep the plugs from firing. Those two-timing chicken-livered electrons will always take the easiest path to ground versus making the arduous jump across the gap. You may ask how were they working before? It may have been enough to put them over the edge due to all that extra fuel from flooding and oil from trying to regain compression. You've presently got a very tough situation inside the cylinder for any plugs to fire properly, so they have to be in top condition.
3) Once satisfied compression is back, reinstall fuse F17. Keep your foot off the gas pedal and see what happens. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Expect a lot of smoke for a few minutes due to the extra oil.
4) Write a nice follow-up message, pointing out just how wrong Norri was...
*Hunch-O-Vision™ goggles let you see only what you want to see while ignoring all other possibilities.
What about a boost charger hooked up while cranking to help the battery. Or would the extra surge potentially hurt the electronics as it would be constant
What about a boost charger hooked up while cranking to help the battery. Or would the extra surge potentially hurt the electronics as it would be constant
I'm not a big fan of using a battery booster, whether a portable jumper pack or high amperage assist mode on a charger. In theory, a battery in decent health and properly charged should be able to handle any normal electrical loads asked of it. I have seen them used successfully for troubleshooting a struggling starter system, but for the most part you should not really need one. And in this case, the problem doesn't seem to the starter system struggling. Actually, it's just the opposite, with an apparent lack of compression letting the starter spin faster than normal.
It's not going to hurt anything, though, at least a booster built in the last 20 years or so. Any modern booster should have internal regulation to prevent dangerous spikes or voltage going too high. I would not use some ancient charger with a boost setting, as who knows what it would put out. That might have been fine on a tractor 50 years ago, but not so much today.
Agree. I was just thinking about extra for the ignition system as the starter draws. I think new plugs would really help as you stated. OP is getting close. I think the suggestion to disable fueling for a bit will be unsung hero
I would not use some ancient charger with a boost setting, as who knows what it would put out. That might have been fine on a tractor 50 years ago, but not so much today.
you mean the ones you can weld with too. The good old days
I think new plugs would really help as you stated. OP is getting close. I think the suggestion to disable fueling for a bit will be unsung hero
Fingers crossed. Hope we haven't scared him away. People tend to get upset when we don't tell them about the magic reset button behind the glove box that fixes everything.
Fingers crossed. Hope we haven't scared him away. People tend to get upset when we don't tell them about the magic reset button behind the glove box that fixes everything.
i dont think he will scare off. You havent scared anyone since that halloween incident a few years back. Right
Hi Karl.
Update|: Recharged and load tested battery.13.89 volts. Battery tests good. Tried new plugs. No spark on any coil pack.
Test positive and negative on coil packs. 12.90 volts
Test green wires from ECU 6.5 volts to negative. Fluctuates to zero and 5.5volts while cranking.
Rev counter shows nothing while cranking.
No error codes.
i have opened and rechecked every connection..
HELP
Last edited by kevincombrink; 01-09-2022 at 06:10 AM.
Battery charged 24 hrs and load tested 13.89v .
Coil packs removed.
New plugs fitted.
Coil packs refitted.
Fuse 17 removed.
Foot flat on accelerator, just in case
Engine now sounds like it has compression.
Replace fuse 17.
Not starting.
Remove spark plug No 1 Not fuel contaminated.
Check for spark. As dead as a dodo
Check each COP and plug. No spark.
HELP.
Believe it or not, you are making progress. One huge drawback of long distance troubleshooting is the process can be very slow, so don't despair.
It seems you have got compression back, at least to some extent. You've got your battery fully charged, so be careful not to run it down again.
Seems we are down to just a lack of ignition. That fault should be fairly easy to isolate.
Check fuse F19 under the hood. This feeds all 8 coils.
Next, do the click test on relay R3 at the same panel. Have a helper cycle the key between Off and Run. With your finger on the relay, you should feel it click. Careful, because several other relays will click at the same time, so make sure your not feeling a vibration from one of them.
i know you mentioned having checked for power and ground at the coils, and that is good. But sometimes you can pick up stray voltage that doesn't really mean anything, so don't let that trick you.
Are you still using the same coils from before all this happened? That is preferred for right now, because we know they were working until at least very recently, and there's no way 8 of them failed simultaneously. Some new coils are junk right out of the box. Just checking to make sure in case a new problem was inadvertently introduced, such as a new coil blowing a fuse.
After disconnecting and reconnecting all plug connections that were separated when I removed the intake manifold, I cant get the Delphi to communicate with the CPU.
Voltage to fuses 3.5 volts. I removed the cabin air filter and housing to discover this.
I must have pulled on the loom a bit to hard at some stage.
I removed the cabin air filter and housing to discover this.
Wow, that's going to need some love. Thanks for the update. I'd been wondering if you had made any progress.
Had you been having any other problems? It looks like that corrosion had been there a while. For cleaning up corroded contacts, I've had excellent results with Deoxit:
Progress! Now be sure and pull the ECM and open it up. I think what's happened is you got water inside the ECM. It's got a weather proof plug but they can still leak. You want to see if there is any visible water damage inside the ECM. This has been reported before.
.
.
.
Put a jumper lead on the board and connected to brown and red wire in the engine loom.. 12.66v at battery. 12.40 volts on fuses/ coil packs. Still no spark. No spark signal to coil packs. Did compression test and all cylinders test good.
I used white spirit vinegar and let it soak for an hour followed by a good rinse with surgical spirits. I sent ECU for testing on Friday. Will get results some time today.