SUV Not Starting/Intake Question

[whitedragon551]

Drove my SUV today. Has 138,000 on it.

Ran fine when we went to my daughters school.

Ran fine on the way to grab lunch at the same time and ran fine until we got home.

Parked the SUV for about an hour and went inside to eat. Left and it started up fine.

I start backing out of my parking space and it stutters and quits.

I try to start it again and it doesnt start. I pop the hood and look in the engine bay.

Everything looks fine. Fluids are good, belts on. No visible issues I can see until I see smoke coming from the air intake tubing. Tonight I took everything apart in the intake tubing to see if there was a rats nest in there and nothing. Looked spotless.

I did find this in the intake tubing:





Not sure if thats supposed to be there. Im guessing not. Appears to be some sort of make shift tornado air as seen on TV specials.

In the mean time. I have a full tank of gas. No Service Engine Light. No leaking fluids. It wont start. It tries to roll over, but does not catch with or without touching the gas. I think my next step is ether to see if I can get it started that way. Am I correct in my assumption?

[zach7685]

Yes. From there i would go have someone turn the key from the off to the on position and with the fuel cap off listing for humming from the fuel pump.

[whitedragon551]

Yes. From there i would go have someone turn the key from the off to the on position and with the fuel cap off listing for humming from the fuel pump.

Ok. Is that metal piece supposed to be in the air intake tubing?

[zach7685]

I highly doubt it

[Towncivilian]

That thing should definitely not be there. I have no idea what its possible purpose could be.

[whitedragon551]

That thing should definitely not be there. I have no idea what its possible purpose could be.

Pretty sure its a home made Tornado Air: http://tornadoair.com/

Is it safe to assume fuel pump if it starts with starting fluid?

[Towncivilian]

Do you hear the fuel pump whine when you turn the ignition to "ON" without starting the engine?

Try replacing your fuel pump relay with another one of the same color (fog light relay, for instance). It might just be a faulty relay.

[whitedragon551]

Do you hear the fuel pump whine when you turn the ignition to "ON" without starting the engine?

Try replacing your fuel pump relay with another one of the same color (fog light relay, for instance). It might just be a faulty relay.

I am trying that tonight.

I was in the relay box and noticed there was no fuse for the Radiator Fan. Is this normal for that fuse to be missing or does it run off another fuse? Ill try to snap a picture when I get back.

[Towncivilian]

The radiator fan is mechanically driven.

[whitedragon551]

All fuses and relays are good. Can smell fuel when you try to start it and can hear the pump turn on. If you take off the gas cap you can feel the pressure.

It is backfiring now about every other time you try to start it. Had a little spark on the plug wires, but not alot. Not sure how much to expect here.

[Towncivilian]

Check for significant dust or debris build up under your distributor cap, blow it out with compressed air. See if the rotor still looks good and isn't burnt from arcing.

[whitedragon551]

Check for significant dust or debris build up under your distributor cap, blow it out with compressed air. See if the rotor still looks good and isn't burnt from arcing.

Where is the distributor cap located and the rotor? We pulled the top off of where the spark plug wires connect to on top of the engine. We used a small file to make sure contacts were cleaned on both the metal contacts on the cap and the metal edge on the trapezoidal piece on the bottom part of where the plug wires connect.

[Towncivilian]

This topic shows the distributor's location.

[whitedragon551]

This topic shows the distributor's location.

Thats what we did. We filled down the connections on those. There was a little bit of corrosion, but nothing bad. We did the 6 metal connections on the cap and the edge of the rotor.

[skiski329]

maybe something broke off that tornado thing, sucked it in and it's not getting air.

[whitedragon551]

maybe something broke off that tornado thing, sucked it in and it's not getting air.

Doesnt appear to be. I matched up the plastic piece to the metal and it all lines up. Everything appears to be there. I thought about that as well. That piece looks fairly new. Is there a screen anywhere in there past the throttle body? I would think with the running temp of the engine that piece plastic crap would just burn up and disappear if it were to get in there.

Im thinking something electrical. The spark seemed like it was pretty weak coming from the plug wire when it was grounded.

[Towncivilian]

Were your spark plugs replaced around 105k miles?

[whitedragon551]

Were your spark plugs replaced around 105k miles?

Not sure. Didnt own it. I do have some records. I will take a look and see if they were.

[whitedragon551]

Alright I figured I might as well look into this issue. When I unlock the SUV and get in the security light is blinking. When I try to start it the security light goes off. Is this normal? I tried both keys and neither worked.

[Towncivilian]

Yes, the security light is supposed to turn off when cranking unless there is a problem.

[whitedragon551]

Cap and rotor are good. Rotor turns. Just cleaned the mass air flow sensor. Checked EGR valve for free play and cleaned that.

I think the part with the green here is supposed to be the Intake Air Control valve? The green circle shows the corrosion. The red circle is the shaft of the pin Im referring to that does not move in or out.

[whitedragon551]

I left the battery unhooked over night to see if it was throwing a SES code that would prevent it from starting. Never came back on. Talked to a mechanic I know and he said asian cars are likely to flood. They dont know why, but if you keep the gas pedal to the floor when you start it it will dry the engine out and run fine. I attempted said fix and got it to kick on for a small second long enough to watch the RPM's jump up to 5-800RPMS and not fully catch.

That metal piece I pulled out of the intake had some type of plastic coating on one side. It melts easily with a lighter and just burns and disappears. If a piece of that were to get into the engine where would i likely find it? Perhaps its restricting air flow?

[whitedragon551]

Well mechanic got here. No codes.

Had a few testing tools. Injectors are getting signal. No spark from cap where the plugs plug into.

What is the part number for the distributor/rotor piece?

[Towncivilian]

Provide your VIN and I can look up the exact part number.

[whitedragon551]

Got the SUV running, but definitely not right. Changed plugs with some OEM spec AC Delco's, Cap, and Rotor. Now it runs and stumbles a little bit. RPM's fluctuate. It ran long enough to set off a service engine light.