Help! Installed injectors, now car won't start

[djradam]

Hello, hopefully someone can provide direction....

car: 95 240sx, ka24de

To start off, I was taking my injectors out of my engine just to clean them. well, i popped them out and 3 of the 4 pintle caps decided to break. i couldn't find the caps, so i sent them into deatsch werks to have them serviced. So, while they were out of the engine, i had paper towel sit in the openings on the fuel rail so nothing got in there...

anyway, about a week and a half later (yesterday) i got the injectors back. their basic report shows everything looks good. so i put the injectors in and plug everything, then the car won't start!

it sounds like it's trying to crank over, but then it sounds like the engine just freezes. i talked to a mechanic buddy of mine and he says that i could have flooded the engine, but that it's hard to do on a fuel injected motor. he also suggested to check if i'm getting spark which i'll have to do this weekend. everything was fine before this and i had new spark plugs changed a couple months ago

so there are two things that worry me ....1) maybe leaving the injectors out dried up the engine? or whatever area is exposed for that (i think that's the area right outside the cylinder)

2) i said earlier the pintle cap broke .... part of it MIGHT have landed in said area in 1) . so my friend said a piece could have gotten in and could bend the valve, but i should expect a little backfire .....

here's what i tested so far.- i tried starting the car this morning. starts to turn over then just STOPs, like it's freezing up, so i don't think i flooded it

- last night i started to loosen one of the injectors, and then gas started spraying everywhere. so i know the fuel pump is working.

- i THINK everything is sealing up, but the promplem is i smelled some gas this morning. i didn't get any spray when i was trying to start, and there IS fuel at the injectors, so maybe i have a VERY VERY tiny leak that allows a small amount of gas to leak out ?

- i would like to assume (but i know that can kick you in the butt) that the injectors work because they were just serviced, and that the spark plugs work because they were working fine a couple weeks ago

- some info ... i did NOT take off the fuel rail when i put these in or took them out, i just popped them in/out from there. i loosened the fuel rail when installing, so i guess there could be a small leak if the seals aren't lining up, but i'm pretty sure they are

again, the car sounds like it's starting over, or it starts to turn over, then a loud clank and won't get further than that.

any suggestions??? or guidance is very much appreciated. i don't know if i've posted here, i'm usually on club240.

thank you!-Robert

[s13redtaz]

hmmm check the pignose clips that clip into the FI? did you mess with any of the wiring?

[djradam]

hmmm check the pignose clips that clip into the FI? did you mess with any of the wiring?

i'll be testing that after work, but i'm pretty sure i didn't touch any of that, as far as I remember I just unclipped the FI and some other thing, but Iplugged them back in. I don't think I took out any fuse. so I'm hoping it's something easy like that.... thanks!

[rotorimp]

Check your plus to see if they are dry--then jump start it/charge the battery--sounds like it is not cranking over fast enough--I'm sure it will fire.

[djradam]

Check your plus to see if they are dry--then jump start it/charge the battery--sounds like it is not cranking over fast enough--I'm sure it will fire.

you meant plugs, right? do you mean dry as in physically dry or dry as in out of power? i forgot to mention that i was also trying to start the 240 with jumpers while my other car was running, so there should have been good power there, plus i checked my battery and it was 12+ V. i think when you get to 10.5 V your battery is pretty much dead...

... IF you mean physically dry, what do i do to correct that?

Thanks!

[rotorimp]

Yes--Plugs----spay some carb cleaner or air on them--clean and check the gap while your at it. if the plugs are soaked it will not start.

[TougeMS13]

So its cranking over then just stops cranking all the sudden? Not slowing down like its low on power but just stops?

[djradam]

So its cranking over then just stops cranking all the sudden? Not slowing down like its low on power but just stops?

yeah, it doesn't die away. i've held it for like 10-15 second and i get a constant cranking. BUT, sometimes, like this morning, it'll crank er-er-er-er-er-CLUNK. it'll stop like the engine locks up, but i can crank again and let it go on and on and on...

Are the fuel injectors supposed to SNAP in place? I tried snapping them in an i couldn't. so, i just put the cap/holder thing and they went down ... after they did, i tried pushing them down more, so i have a feeling they're not supposed to snap in. chiltons says the seat them or install them, something that didin't say snapping in
Modified by djradam at 4:27 PM 12/15/2006

[wankelTII]

check your battery connections again, clean them really well and tighten them. Also check all grounds, these things are way more important than people realize. If that doesnt work then take the battery out and get it tested at advance auto or auto zone or something like that, sounds like the car isnt turning over fast enough like someone already mentioned.

[Afliction523]

Are the fuel injectors supposed to SNAP in place? I tried snapping them in an i couldn't. so, i just put the cap/holder thing and they went down ... after they did, i tried pushing them down more, so i have a feeling they're not supposed to snap in. chiltons says the seat them or install them, something that didin't say snapping in

Modified by djradam at 4:27 PM 12/15/2006

They do snap in place, push very hard...or genlly tap them in with a rubber mallet(I MEAN GENTLY....i used a bock of wood also and taped mine in till they snaped in place....just be really careful) Did you put some oil around the o rings? If not put some oil around them. I bet you have really just flooded the motor since the o rings prob. were not making the right seal. If the lower one does not sit right, fuel will just seep in there and you will be getting way to much gas in your cilinders. Also check your o rings closely. If you see any any ANY small crack or chip in them replace. I had one bad o ring when i put mine back on and it flooded my 2nd cylinder nasty. The motor was shaking like crazy as well just like a missfire. I hope this helps man.

[djradam]

thanks everyone for the replies .... i FINALLY got it started, but some other problems popping up now... i'll write about what happened in case it's helpful for someone in the future...

my friend came over and we took out the spark plugs and cranked the engine. cyl 4 GUSHED out some gas. we did that because it seemed like the engine was flooded. it was bad in 4, then 3 and 1 and 2 were not that bad. so, dired off the plugs and tried starting again. no go. later that night i took the plugs out again and tried. GUSHED from cyl 4 and 3 like before.

i was under the impressiong that since it was not sparking, the injectors were spraying in the cylinder and the fuel was sitting there, but it was odd that it was heavy in 2 of the 4. then it popped in my head that when i removed my injectors, maybe some gas slowly leaked into the cyl while the injectors weren't in. THEN, i thought hey, there isn't a perfect seal around the piston ring, so maybe gas slipped by there, which would end up in the oil pan.

i checked my oil the next day and it was HALFWAY UP THE DIPSTICK. so i called my friend and he said that makes sense ... either because it was so full it won't spark, or that the gas thinned out the oil making no pressure, so no firing. so i did an oil change. what a mesy job. i think maybe 2 or 3 gallons came out of that! i put new oil in and started up, but had a TON of smoke. I think it was white, but then later looked blueish. I think t hat because the gas went into the oil and mixed with that, and then when i went to turn on the car the liquid gas/oil mixture just sloshed into the exhaust, so i think i was pretty much burning oil.

i ran the car for like 10 minutes, then drove to my parents which is about a 15 mnute drive, pouring smoke out the whole way. i had leaving a trail of smoke. kind of funny though .. anyway, when i left my parents i was surprised that the smoke went away completely, so i guess it just burned away while the exhaust was still hot.

only problem is on the way back to my house, after about 10 minutes of driving, my check engine light comes on. so that's the next step in trying to figure this out. i'll have to see if autozone or murray's can check that, or hopefully i can take it to nissan and notget charged to have them read that code.... i'm kind of hoping it's the o2 sensor. i can see that being messed up because if i'm rightabout the gas/oil sloshing out of the exhaust port, then it could have covered that which would affect that sensor.

other problems i'm somewhat worried about.... having that gas/oil is NOT good for seals and stuff, so i'll have to watch that. i'll do another oil change soon so hopefully more gas will be out of that ... i'll probably buy new plugs because they were sitting in that mixture.

now what Afliction was saying, at first my engine kept jumping, like at idle my whole car was shaking. the revs would drop near 0, ALMOSt salling, but not ... so i'll have to see how the seals are on the o-rings. the o-rings were new, and they were lubricated when i installed them. i putthem in as straight as i could because i didn't want to cut it, but you never know.

again, thanks for all the suggestions

[Afliction523]

good luck man