Brand new problem (scary!)

[NikFu S.]

Yes, mom...

[NikFu S.]

Inserted blue wire second pin from left on notch side. It just blinks indefinitely, no change in duration, no pauses in between. I counted passed 30 before turning it off.

I'm going out today to try to find a cheap tablet to run JECScan.

[92snowmachine]

if you have no codes it will just blink.

[michael]

Just incase you're bored and want to try stuff. Check for vacuum leaks, clean the ground on the back of the intake manifold, reset the computer, look at your coils in the dark with the engine running, check the maf connection and clean the element. I usually don't give advice when I'm unsure but like I said, if you're bored.

[NikFu S.]

The tablet thing didn't pan out. Need to find a USB to micro USB adapter first.

So here is what I found just now:

I ran the engine and looked around, saw nothing out of place, but unlike the video above the engine is rocking side to side, same as it did when I had a bad coil. At first it tried to idle at the normal RPM.
So I started pulling injectors and injector 6 is the only one that when pulled caused the motor to bog. Pulling injectors 1-5 did nothing that I could discern. By the point I started actually pulling them the RPMs had increased as they usual do when the car thinks something is wrong. All of this is telling me maybe fuel pressure is down?

I ran the car for about 5 minutes and noticed the temp gauge had barely moved. I opened the rad cap, the fluid looked motionless, the rad itself was still cold. Given the temperature outside (about 50F) I don't think it should remain in open loop for more than a couple minutes, but I could be wrong.

While I was pulling injectors the hood fell on my head and I praised Hera that I have a fiberglass hood now. Heeeey silver lining.

Right now I'm going to go borrow a tiny laptop which supposedly has a standard USB port.

[NikFu S.]

So I got JECScan working, watched the numbers change as the engine ran, and what I learned is I have no idea how to use this.

I downloaded EVOScan and got that working as well, actually drove it up and down the street once and created a small datalog. It seemed as though the ECU has trouble keeping up with the logger as it attempted to reconnect 185 times. The car also felt as though it didn't want to move. It kept idle alright, but if I gave it more than a little gas it would bog down. Temperature readings seemed normal after actually moving the vehicle.

In the image below you can see the O2 readings are a bit strange. The numbers slant downward like that because I was shutting those readings down in an attempt to reduce the read load.

If anyone can make heads or tails of this I would appreciate it. In the meantime I suppose I'm either going to go learn to use a multimeter or go eat a cheeseburger and cry a lot.

[92snowmachine]

is this data while driving? it looks more like a sit and idle data.

[NikFu S.]

It was a mixture of both. I actually could not get the car above 20mph, but if you look at the data capture time it is quite erratic. It could be that once I got moving the connection became worse. I noticed it seemed to update less as it went on.

It's getting a bit too late to continue making runs. I live in a strict HOA neighborhood. Tomorrow I might try it again scanning fewer parameters.

I am somewhat confident at this point the engine is not getting enough fuel.

[92snowmachine]

your timing, maf, load, and tps hardly change during the sample so maybe it only sampled during warm up. if it runs better with carb cleaner or wd40 sprayed into the intake then you may have a fueling problem. take a dollar bill and hold it where it waves in the exhaust stream if at any point it sucks back to the pipe then you timing is off.

[NikFu S.]

I used a white napkin as to prevent neighbors from thinking I was attempting to coax a hobo out of the tailpipe. I didn't notice it breathing back in at all, though it stumbled a few times and seemed to be no air moving at all for occasional split-seconds. I can smell a little gas as well but I do not think it is coming from the tailpipe.
I also found a fresh drip of some thin liquid substance after I moved the car back in the garage. It lines up with the passenger side of the engine and just smells like typical engine smell (napkin came in handy to that end).

[NikFu S.]

So lots of different stuff today. I went to the guys who did my head gaskets and they said I could bring it in Tuesday. I figure since they tore the engine down last they would be fairly aware of what sensors were replaced and with what brands and would be comfortable enough poking around the engine which I have tidied up since they last had it.

I drove it over to their shop tonight and tried another data logging. The connection still wasn't very good but I think I have some better data than last time. I managed to almost keep up with traffic, hitting about 40 in 3rd. It did not like 4th. Lots of feedback from... something.

Also worth noting is upon starting and running the engine today it sounded exactly like a helicopter sounds flying overhead with that distinct "chop chop chop" noise. I took video, or I thought it did but it turns out I took two pictures instead of starting and stopping the video recorder.

I smelled fuel on startup, notice a wet spot on the floor, and smelled rotten eggs on the drive over. Just going off that I would think there is fuel pouring into the passenger exhaust manifold. Am I on to something?

Scan results are below. Notice again O2 readings are kind of wacky on one side, again steering toward the "fuel in exhaust" hypothesis.

Oh, and after 5-6 minutes of driving the temp gauge was low and the radiator was barely warm to the touch.

[EdWindows]

Rotten egg smell = bad cat(s)
Time for some high flow cats
EDIT: Looking at your data and the thread you linked, I suspect it's the right side precat. If it were the main cat, your car would probably not start just like the person in the thread you linked.

BTW, what cable are you using to read the ECU, and where do you find JECScan and evoscan? Google search just gives me a bunch of SVXWN threads.

[NikFu S.]

Timing is confirmed good. All coils are confirmed good.

Originally Posted by EdWindows

Rotten egg smell = bad cat(s)
BTW, what cable are you using to read the ECU, and where do you find JECScan and evoscan? Google search just gives me a bunch of SVXWN threads.

I used LAN's adapter and the extension he recommended.

http://www.alcyone.org.uk/ssm/

[NikFu S.]

Back pressure was measured at 1psi the other day. They are saying 3-4psi is where it starts getting bad. Anyone know anything about that?

Four cylinders are decompressed (one only slightly, three on one side) and there's nothing left to check without going into the engine.

Even though they said the spark is good the guy actually doing the work said there is little or no combustion occurring.

Do I have them tear into the engine (again), or are we missing something obvious?

They swear the timing is spot on. Could the cam itself have broken? Crikey, I hadn't thought of that until now.

[huck369]

Originally Posted by NikFu S.

Back pressure was measured at 1psi the other day. They are saying 3-4psi is where it starts getting bad. Anyone know anything about that?

Four cylinders are decompressed (one only slightly, three on one side) and there's nothing left to check without going into the engine.

Even though they said the spark is good the guy actually doing the work said there is little or no combustion occurring.

Do I have them tear into the engine (again), or are we missing something obvious?

They swear the timing is spot on. Could the cam itself have broken? Crikey, I hadn't thought of that until now.

The cam "could" have broken(but unlikely), or the teeth in the gears between the intake cam and the exhaust cam could have stripped.....pull the valve covers and checking isn't too difficult