built ka-t wont start :(

[kazuma]

today was the first day I was able to drive my car(built ka-t, s14 se), I took it to the gas station put 6gallons of fuel and then came home and let it cool down and then went for another drive, as soon as I pulled into my driveway after the second drive, the car stalled and wouldnt turn back on!!!!

now I know i have spark but I dont think I have fuel cause when I crank the car( i crank it for about 10-15 seconds) I check the spark plugs and not a drop of fuel! I know for a fact before when I had spark issues I would have spark plugs covered in complete gas!

Now I can hear my fuel pump prime up and I can hear the fuel entering my rail(quite loud cause of the 300zx fuel filter) but at most I get is just a little blip and then just constatnt crank!

what could be causing this?! its really frustrating me that I cant drive my car .

btw my setup is: ka24de 8.5 ross pistons eagle rods 650cc detschworks injectors tuned ecu safc2(used to turn the fuel down a bit, tune is for 550's) n60 maf

can anyone please help me!

[240sxvaj]

If havent upgrade your fuel pressure regulator then this is the time. when i went turbo i didnt buy a fpr and later got stuck on the side of the road not being about to start the car up. check to see if it have a strong smell of gas coming from around injectors. what you can do to test this is unplug the fuel line right on top of the fuel filter and let some gas out, then start the car w/out pressing the gas pedal, should start up fine. If this helps then either your fuel lines are bad or fpr mainly fpr though. When i unplug mine i left it unplugged to see if fuel was coming through and started the car up, but found out it was the fpr. you can leave it unplug but gas will shoot out (not recommended).

This is if you have sparks and etc...

Remember stock fpr isnt made to handle the high pressure fuel pumps or "maybe" fuel filter. doubt it could be the z32 fuel filter.

Hope this helps(anyone is welcome to correct me, but this was how i checked)

Modified by 240sxvaj at 11:16 PM 7/29/2008
Modified by 240sxvaj at 11:17 PM 7/29/2008

[kazuma]

If havent upgrade your fuel pressure regulator then this is the time. when i went turbo i didnt buy a fpr and later got stuck on the side of the road not being about to start the car up. check to see if it have a strong smell of gas coming from around injectors. what you can do to test this is unplug the fuel line right on top of the fuel filter and let some gas out, then start the car w/out pressing the gas pedal, should start up fine. If this helps then either your fuel lines are bad or fpr mainly fpr though. When i unplug mine i left it unplugged to see if fuel was coming through and started the car up, but found out it was the fpr. you can leave it unplug but gas will shoot out(not recommended).

This is if you have sparks and etc...

Remember stock fpr isnt made to handle the high pressure fuel pumps or "maybe" fuel filter. doubt it could be the z32 fuel filter.

Hope this helps(anyone is welcome to correct me, but this was how i checked)

thanks for the advice, I double checked spark, I have good spark. I also checked for fuel by unplugging teh drain line from the rail and putting the key in the on position and fuel did come out.

the only thing I can think of is the fpr like you said is crapping out on me but I am not sure what would be signs of a crapping out fpr and if it would work when the car is cold but as soon as it warms up not be able to start it again.

[240sxvaj]

Okay now your saying that it wont start after the car warms up, could be other things. Damn i already went through this problem before but i forgot what i replaced. this seems like a common problem with older 240sx.

But to trouble shoot fpr it would start right up if you get some fuel out like how i explained and start it up right away. If it doesnt start up then its something else, but still get an aftermarket fpr and dont let that be a future problem.

also you said you got fuel but when you let some fuel out did it start up fine?

Also, could be coolant temperature sensor(CTS), you can get it at autozone for about $17.

check if your getting spark when the car wont start(after warms up).

[kazuma]

changed the distributor today (someone I know said they had same issue and by changing distributors it fixed it, something to do with a faulty sensor in the dizzy)and it started after I timed it but it didnt really solve the issue.

right now what happens is when I turn the car on when cold it comes on right away but after driving it for a bit and turning it off and on the only way to turn it back on is to pull the fuel pump fuse, crank it till it starts and uses all the fuel then put the fuse back in and start it.

Also I stalled the car(yay to rb20 flywheel with 350z nismo unsprung clutch )on kinda of a angled street(angled so the water goes in the gutter area)and when I tried to start it all i got was white smoke!! I was soo scared that I blew the head gasket or worse but after I did the whole pull the fuel pump fuse and put it back in thing it started up.

my guess like we discussed is one of the following right now:

1. leaky injectors(probably not as they were in my last ka-t and all I did was pull the rail and put it in this one)

2.failing/blown fpr(the rail + fpr are off a s13, is the fuel presure different between a s13 walboro and a s14 one?)

3.leaky headgasket(but if this was the case wouldnt I get some sort of white smoke during drivng?)

[kouki_hmongster]

My bro(mechanic) told me that the dizzy can short out(something like that) when the engine is warmed up not giving any spark to start up. since you already changed it then i think it is the fpr, based on how you explained doing that fuse thing. if i were you i'd make sure to get that fpr and a gauge to monitor fuel pressure. i believe if the injectors were leaking then you should be able to smell fuel by the injectors, and maybe cause a rough idle. but i'm pretty sure it's the fpr based on the situation.

If you decide to get a nismo fpr then make sure to get a type B (not Type A). also an adaptor for the fuel rail. thats just if you decide on nismo one.

i'm not sure about bad headgasket but check your coolant and oil and if it is chocolate milk color then your F**K. I hope its not though.

GL

[kazuma]

did a compression test and I got something like this

135 130 130 120

Iam guessing I did not torque my head down correctly or my cometic headgasket is giving me issues (very small puff of light light blue smoke when my friend was following he said but he wasnt sure).

its really weird though usually blue smoke means burning oil while white smoke means I am burning rad fluid right?

I am away from the house right now so I cant check the oil but I am pretty sure it needs to be changed.

[nissanfanatic]

I had the starting issue and it turned out to be a vacuum leak of all things.

And why would you be guessing you didn't torque your head correctly? Follow the FSM procedure, end of story.

[kazuma]

I had the starting issue and it turned out to be a vacuum leak of all things.

And why would you be guessing you didn't torque your head correctly? Follow the FSM procedure, end of story.

I'll double check for leaks tomorrow but why would I have any sort of smoke when Iam driving the car or the difference in cylinder compression? I did not put the bottom end together(very reputable shop called corners quickly) put it together for me and I know its not their work that is causing the smoking, so the only thing I can think of is my headgasket having issues.

[240sxvaj]

you stated that you have a cometic hg...i heard a lot of bad things about those hg. they either work or dont work, as in if you didnt get the head and block resurface then most like it end up leaking. there are many thread on nico about the hg leaking like crazy. felpro hg is good and will gaurantee to hold up to 500whp, the reason why they are good is because they will seal up imperfections. search about it....

[kazuma]

you stated that you have a cometic hg...i heard a lot of bad things about those hg. they either work or dont work, as in if you didnt get the head and block resurface then most like it end up leaking. there are many thread on nico about the hg leaking like crazy. felpro hg is good and will gaurantee to hold up to 500whp, the reason why they are good is because they will seal up imperfections. search about it....

the head and block were both decked and had no imperfections. THe reason I think it was not torqued right is because of the torque wrench we used, near the end it started skipping and that is why I think it was the issue.

I think if tightening the head doesnt help the situation I will go ahead and replace it with a felpro.

Oh! also when I do my compression test should I have the throttle fully depressed? I did it without depressing it.

[eazye2000]

You said you have a tuned ECU. Who tuned it? Just curious.

[kazuma]

local guy tuned it for my stock block and it worked good(beat the crap out of that motor and still kept on ticking). probably need a new tune as soon as I get it running right so it feels better

[240sxvaj]

i heard w/arp headstuds you should torque it a little over oem spec when using cometic hg to maintain a good seal.

[kazuma]

i heard w/arp headstuds you should torque it a little over oem spec when using cometic hg to maintain a good seal.

yup that is why I am going back in there to re-torque it .