Couple SR startup issues

[BuudWeizErr]

So my buddy finally got around to first startup, now that he got his harness back.

Anyway, we go to start it today, and the first time, it catches fine, runs for about 15 seconds, then starts struggling, then dies. Start it again, runs fine for about 15 seconds, starts struggling then dies. So we try a third time for good luck, and it starts fine, and seems to run fine. Starts at about 1500rpm, and then drops down to 1300 in about 15 seconds. So we let it run for a little while, and my friend said he saw smoke coming up through the gap between the exhaust manifold heat shield, and the head. He said it was a whitish gray, and didn't really have much of a smell, kinda like how your heater smells when you first turn it on.

We changed his turbo gasket, and he has a 3" downpipe, catco cat and apex N1.

Any ideas what this is? He hasn't tried driving it yet, so we can't find out if there is oil coming out of his BOV, indicative of bad turbo seals...

Any thoughts or ideas?

[the_invisible]

where did he get his motor from?

smells like heater? That it's the smell of coolant, which could indicate a blown headgasket. It's just my guess. I hope its not as bad.

[BuudWeizErr]

he got the motor from phase2.

I don't think he said it smelled like burning coolant.. more like the musty smell that your heater makes if it hasn't been run for a while.

[BuudWeizErr]

My best guest is

1) he has a leak somewhere in his ic piping causing the stuttering

2) he has p/s fluid spilled somewhere on his manifold and it will burn off.

can anyone confirm/deny my hypothesis?

[Honda Hick]

I would just let it run for a bit, it should be fine as long as its full of all the fluids. Whenever you put in a new motor especially a JDM thats been sitting for awhile there's all kinds of crazy smells coming from there. It probably is just some residue on there. Just watch closely for any fluids dripping after its running for a bit.

[I H8 UR DSM]

:jawdrop: post was tooo long, ill have to read it later and try to help : )

[BuudWeizErr]

C'mon Jesse, gimme some ideas, I know you know your SR's

Honda... I thought the same thing, it wouldn't start smoking until the manifold started warming up, but he doesn't want to take any chances.

[I H8 UR DSM]

i dont know, checking for the blown headgasket is semi easy, so maybe start by checking that out...

From there, i'd let it run for a while and see if it stops smoking...if not, being its coming from that area, i would Assume (yes i know what assuming does : ) ) that it would most likely be the turbo seals, but thats a wild wild wild guess because it seems like a lot of the other stuff has been dispelled....ya know, only so many options : )

(no leaks under the car or anything? It could even be condensation inside the turbo or motor from sitting too long burning off??)

[martin]

You said you changedteh turbo gasket. The smoke is probably just burning oil and stuff from your hands off the turbo manifold. the swap I just did we changed the turbo and it smoked like a biatch for a while, then nothing next time we started it.

Probably won't happen next time you start it. If it does it will go away quickly. It wouldn't be turbo seals because that smoke would go out the tail pipe. Same if it was a head gasket.

-Martin.

[n.o.b.]

got to be there to help you out for sureI can make numbers of solutions.sorrie buddyIf you are local to So CalMaybe i can take a look at itand help you out.

e-mail me[email protected]

check it out http://www.camp1320.com

~Joe~

[BuudWeizErr]

nob,the car is in my friends house, which is in West Hills.. probably like a half hour or so from LA. I'll him to email you today.

I'm going to Redondo Beach tomorrow, so I might stop by and look at his car. Not really on the way, but it's in the general vicinity.

[NY S13 SR]

If it smells like a heater that hasn't been run in a while, that is probably dust and dirt burning off. Almost all fresh swaps do this at first, it should go away eventually. It is hopefully nothing to worry about, just watch for leaks.

Jeff HHeavy Throttle

[Nils]

Yeah,more than likely it is residue left from the engine sitting at the yard and oil from the installation. It should burn off after a while. Start it more often and let it idle for a while, let all old gasoline burn up and let the oils circulate.

Should be fine. My car smoked quite a bit when first starting it up... no problems at all.

nils

[godspeed]

did he call phase 2, if so what did they say?

[Samabra]

Yeah I'll just agree with everyone here, espically cause I take Auto classes at the local community college, and we just finished putting an engine back into a car, and when we first started it up, it smoked like a cheap cigar, but it was only the oil and everything we spilled, and you tend to worry for two reasons

1) It's your engine that you've spent lots of time and money on 2) You don't remember spilling anything on it I'd say just warm it up, check your gauges and make sure your not overheating, and your getting oil pressure, and you'll be fine

Oh and about the trouble you had starting it, I'd say that's normal, you shouldn't have any problems after you've gotten it started and let it warm up, if everything is right then you won't have any problem, just learn from me TAKE IT SLOW! Trust me, you don't want to rush the driving, just drive it around the block first, then a little farther, etc Chris

[BuudWeizErr]

Sorry.. i forgot about this thread. The smoke went away, and it stopped dying, but the idle was rough, so he drove it down to phase2 to have them check everything over and see if we could figure out the idle. It was a boost leak, but not where I would have expected it. The fuel rail was bent on the #3 injector and boost was coming out of the injector seat. So Wayne went and got another fuel rail, replaced it on the spot and all was well. The car runs great. yay.