New engine is having problems
 

WARNING: a very long post!!
I have a '92 SVX that had a crankshaft failure. I got a motor from a wrecked donor car. Cleaned up the motor replaced all of the seals, timing belt, plugs, etc. The car had been sitting for over a year and had almost a full tank of gas. I started it up and the car ran pretty well with no sounds coming from the motor but if you put it in gear, the engine would go down to the usual idle only it would miss pretty badly and was very slow to accelerate while in gear. I then added stabil and octane 104 followed by draining all but 2 gallons from the tank. Later I drove the car to a friends house with the intentions of leaving there to get gas. I made a 25 minute trip successfully. but when I left his house I started up a hill and half way the car started missing badly and any time I pressed the gas pedal the engine would die. so I drifted the car back down the hill and got it off of the road. Hoping it was just low on gas, I went back to my friends house and used the one gallon left in his can in my car. To my surprise the car rose to life again. I then attempted to drive it back to his house but the car would only idle, if I pressed the gas pedal it would die. Got the car to his house and shut it off. Put another 5 gallons of premium in it and it rose to life only now the motor wouldn't die if I pressed the gas. I let it sit for approx. 10 mins running, and walked away for another 10 mins while it was running. when I came out, the engine had stopped never to restart again. The cam timing is perfect. I pulled the plugs out and the were a nasty shade of black (not oil). I don't know what the problem is. I am now replacing the ECU and the 3 shaft sensors. I'll keep you posted as to whether or no the changes anything.

Thanks,
Chris

It's good practice to never leave the sight and sound area of a running, troubled vehicle, just in case there are any sights to be seen, or sounds to be heard.
I hear there are places that can actually flush fuel lines.

I finally found the culpret of the first problem but don't know what that may have lead to. the cam timing was off by 180 degrees and the car was driven for a good 1/2 hour. I don't know what that may have done to the engine but there were pieces of exploded cat and molten metal in the exhaust. I was able to restart the car after correcting the timing, but it doesn't run well at all. I think I may have ruined the motor.
Chris

180 degrees:eek: I think because our engines are the non interference type, you did't blow a cylinder...But having the fuel ignite in the manifold....Ouch. I'm interested to see what happens. Good luck

Why don't you try it with the exhaust disconected from the manifolds? Maybe it only melted a cat closed? If it seems to rev freely maybe you got lucky.

I'm pretty sure this motor is toast. for the few moments I'm able to keep it running, it sounds like metal on metal like maybe a compression ring blew and is still in the combustion chamber.
anyone know of an engine for sale?
Chris

Personally I'd check the belt again. You may find that it was actually in time and you had another problem. Plugged cat/exhaust could be a problem, but what caused it/them to plug up? Have you tried unplugging the MAF and see if it starts/runs better?