zakats

Its the damndest thing, I will acquire this car depending on the compression test results but I would like to know what is the source of this problem?..

According to the current owner and my former boss (owner of the shop that this guy had his work done), the car ran fine after sitting for several months barring the radiator leak (reason why the car was taken to the shop recently) which was replaced, a "full" tune-up was performed a short while prior to this incident by the aforementioned shop. The guy drives the car for a few miles after leaving the shop and buys some gas, a few minutes later the car runs like *** which brings us to the reason for my creating a lame 'wtf is wrong with my car' thread.

It runs incredibly rich; so rich that the exhaust could probably be ignited to be used as a flame thrower. I recommended to my old boss that he pull the injectors and have them outsourced for a rebuild... he had four of them cleaned by a place that supposedly does good work which resulted in NO difference.

I'm thinking: 1. too much fuel pressure possibly, clogged regulator? or is this a returnless system? 2. stuck/cracked/broken injector(s) leaking fuel if so, recommendations would be welcomed (aside from the obvious 'buy new injectors') 3. the car is possessed by demons

thoughts comments insults ideas proposals?
Thanks,
NOOB Zak

v8soarer91

o2 sensors, blocked return line, increased returnline pressure because of blocked charcoal canister

did you test drive the car before handing back to your customer?

sc-driver

iTrader: (7)

maybe the ignition coil failed.

Easy way to find out. Disconnect one, turn on car. If it turns on then the one still connected is good. Reconnect and disconnect the other one, if it doesn't start, then that's the problem. IF it DOES start, then its not the ignition coils.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

i don't think its injectors. most likely it has something to do with the tune up.
double check the plugs, sometimes mechanics just drop them in without gapping them.
check the coils, rotors, and plugs. any slight ignition issue can do what you are saying and seeing as thats just what they changed, i really doubt one of your injectors just decided to up and bite the dust. if your fuel filter is clogged you would have less pressure.

if the radiator was busted and they were driving around on it, you may want to double check that the thermostat is still good. if it drives fine when cold and drives like carp when warm (very rich), the ecu could be thinking the car is still cold and not entering closed loop operation.

if your mechanic cant figure out why a stock car is running really rich then i suggest you take it to another shop for a second opinion.

zakats

isn't really my customer, I stay in contact with my old boss and visit every now and then which is when he asked me to give it a whirl. just to clarify.
Those are good recommendations, exactly the type of response I'm looking for- the benefit of experience with a particular car. I'll check those things out as soon as I have some free time again.

I'll give that a whirl but would the car run that incredibly rich? I can't say for sure but it seems like the dead/misfiring cyls aren't in any particular pattern. Pardon my ignorance here, I haven't spent enough time under the hood, thinking about the ignition, but how many coils are there? 4? wasted spark setup?

Their new lead mechanic is supposed to be pretty good but I did find one of the injectors not even plugged into its pigtail! I'll give the tune up items a good checking as I'm sure that would be a very good idea and won't cost too much time. I suppose that if they royally cocked something up then it could cause trouble.

I need to amend something I said earlier, the car sat for closer to a year before driving it ~5 miles, replaced the radiator and performed the tune-up, drove it a few miles, got gas, drove for about two miles and the problem began.

The issue persists with the engine cold and warm.
I've been incredibly busy as of late and haven't been able to spend a lot of time with the car yet but I hope to get down and dirty with it soon and test those theories, keep the info coming til then!

I appreciate all the input guys, I really wasn't too confident that a new guy would get this much help.
-zak