SCSaint

Hi ClubLexus! I hope you guys can give me some more insight. I've been browsing the forums, searching through my problems and now I've hit a wall.

Around a month or two ago, my dad gave me his '93 SC300 w/ 275K miles that had sat for quite a bit. In the Winter, it'd stall when cold and when going to park it, but would otherwise run fine. Recently, it started to run rough and shake badly, blowing whitish-blue smoke out of the back. A little before replacing the valve cover gaskets, the engine wouldn't crank over with a single *CLICK* or sort of *THUD* from around the engine bay.

(The noise from the engine bay.)

Finding this article (https://www.clublexus.com/forums/mai...s-it-mean.html), I decided to change the valve cover gaskets, spark plugs and wires while I was at it, since oil had pooled into the spark plug valley. All-in-all, I ended up replacing the valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, wires and the PCV valve and grommet. I used this tutorial to help me take everything apart.
While I had the spark plugs out, I cranked it over and a fair amount of fuel shot out from the spark plug holes. I also decided to do a compression test on all of the cylinders, results below:

FRONT OF ENGINE

180
170
190
100 (210 after adding oil to cylinder)
200
90 (270? after adding oil to cylinder)

After putting the car together, it still ran rough and blew thicker smoke out of the back, which I assumed was because of the added oil. Replacing the IACV made the car run better, but since I was low on gas at that point, I shut the car off.

Coming back to it with a full tank of gas, I was greeted by a single *CLICK* or sort of *THUD* from around the engine bay in the same fashion as before. The dash and interior lights would dim while the key was turned. I pulled the starter and had it tested at Advance Auto, where they said that it didn't draw any current. After replacing it, I was greeted with the same, dreaded click. Putting a clamp meter on the positive terminal, 300A was drawn when the key was turned, so I assume that the starter was good.

Finally, I decided to try and turn the crankshaft by hand and it wouldn't budge. Trying to rule out a blown head gasket; I drained the oil and found no coolant. There's a few other symptoms which didn't seem to contribute to the problem at the time.

Prior to replacing the valve cover gaskets, it seems like gas entered into the catch underneath the air intake.


And there's an intermittent ticking coming from this point between my fingers.

SCSaint

Update; I removed the air cleaner assembly, throttle body and intake manifold and discovered that the air cleaner is filled with gas, so the cylinders are also probably the same way.

SCSaint

Update #2; pulled it all apart again, cylinders were indeed flooded and the starter gave out. I'll be looking into the ECU for any blown capacitors and the fuel injectors to see if they're leaking fuel into the cylinders.

SC400slide

iTrader: (11)

How long was the car sitting unused for? Fuel can usually last a good year, but any longer than that it's gotta go IMO. Bad gas clogs the injectors, then the injectors get stuck open, then flood the cylinders with raw fuel, then dilutes the oil ect ect...my 0.02

SCSaint

Around 2 years, since then it's had a couple of top-offs and driven when it didn't try to quit right off the bat. It would stall right around when I got home, however.