DeathTrap
01-10-2020, 07:14 AM
Well, since I'm depressed af about my car dying, I figured I'd post up my thought process of how I think I'm going to tackle this issue. If I can't solve it by the weekend, I'll take it to a shop.
1. Reflect on events that occured previously that may be related.
TLDR;
Hit rev limiter in 3rd
Car starting losing power and dropping cylinders.
Car died when I pulled into driveway.
As you all may know, I had a misfire issue that started off at around 6000 rpms, and eventually decreased to around 4000 rpm. I had no starting problems while these issues were present. I installed headers which seemed to take care of the misfire issue until yesterday when I realllllllly winded the engine up, all the way up into the rev limiter in 3rd. I did this intentionally as it should not cause any failures under normal operating conditions. Well, I guess the weak link finally broke.
When I hit the rev limiter, the engine cut power as expected. The overrun sounded normal, but as I got back on the throttle, I felt a similar vibration as before. Turned the car off and back on again and it's still there. I'm only a few miles from home at this point. As I'm driving along, it feels like more and more cylinders are dropping out. The car died on me at a stop sign and was very difficult to crank. Once it started, it needed throttle or it would die again. I made it home, let her idle and she died.
2. Check Fuel
Fuel pump is good, haven't put a gauge on it but it's new, so we'll put that at the bottom of the list along with all 6 injectors dying at once... it's just not likely.
I sprayed carb cleaner (closest to starting fluid that I had on hand) into the intake this morning and it started once, but I believe that was because it may have started anyway as subsequent attempts yielded nothing. Not even a stutter. This points to a lack of spark.
3. Check spark
Here is where I suspect my issue lies. I have 12V on the harness rail which tells me my fuse is good. My ring terminal grounds are good. I don't measure any strange resistance, such as a short or open, on the trigger line to the DME. My next course of action is to verify that I have a spark pulse (and injector pulse while I'm in there). I'll use my meter for this, but a test light works just as well.
4. Check mechanicals
Let's assume that we get spark and fuel working. Next is compression and timing check...oh shit. I just remembered that there was a bolt in my oil pan when I did my oil pan gasket...is the crank trigger wheel bolted to the crank? Damn, that's going to suck hard to get to if that's my issue. But the spark and fuel injector pulse check will tell me that quickly. It's not the kind of bolt that I found :). But yes, that would be part of the check as well. The cam and crank trigger wheel check.
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1. Reflect on events that occured previously that may be related.
TLDR;
Hit rev limiter in 3rd
Car starting losing power and dropping cylinders.
Car died when I pulled into driveway.
As you all may know, I had a misfire issue that started off at around 6000 rpms, and eventually decreased to around 4000 rpm. I had no starting problems while these issues were present. I installed headers which seemed to take care of the misfire issue until yesterday when I realllllllly winded the engine up, all the way up into the rev limiter in 3rd. I did this intentionally as it should not cause any failures under normal operating conditions. Well, I guess the weak link finally broke.
When I hit the rev limiter, the engine cut power as expected. The overrun sounded normal, but as I got back on the throttle, I felt a similar vibration as before. Turned the car off and back on again and it's still there. I'm only a few miles from home at this point. As I'm driving along, it feels like more and more cylinders are dropping out. The car died on me at a stop sign and was very difficult to crank. Once it started, it needed throttle or it would die again. I made it home, let her idle and she died.
2. Check Fuel
Fuel pump is good, haven't put a gauge on it but it's new, so we'll put that at the bottom of the list along with all 6 injectors dying at once... it's just not likely.
I sprayed carb cleaner (closest to starting fluid that I had on hand) into the intake this morning and it started once, but I believe that was because it may have started anyway as subsequent attempts yielded nothing. Not even a stutter. This points to a lack of spark.
3. Check spark
Here is where I suspect my issue lies. I have 12V on the harness rail which tells me my fuse is good. My ring terminal grounds are good. I don't measure any strange resistance, such as a short or open, on the trigger line to the DME. My next course of action is to verify that I have a spark pulse (and injector pulse while I'm in there). I'll use my meter for this, but a test light works just as well.
4. Check mechanicals
Let's assume that we get spark and fuel working. Next is compression and timing check...oh shit. I just remembered that there was a bolt in my oil pan when I did my oil pan gasket...is the crank trigger wheel bolted to the crank? Damn, that's going to suck hard to get to if that's my issue. But the spark and fuel injector pulse check will tell me that quickly. It's not the kind of bolt that I found :). But yes, that would be part of the check as well. The cam and crank trigger wheel check.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk