casem

As you may have read in my previous threads, I bought this '86 4kq a few months ago. Car had sat for 5 years. Owner tried to replace some air hoses up top and couldn't get it to start again (dunno if thats a lie or not).

So after I bought it, I put some gas in it, put a new fuel pump and filter on it and it still won't start.

Here's what all I've checked/tested:
It's getting fuel to the dizzy.
It's getting spark on all 5.
I can't really find any obvious vacuum leaks. Compression is good.
The "spare fuse" is good.
Car WILL RUN if I spray starting fluid in the intake.
My only concern: even though it's clearly getting fuel to the distributor, the fuel pump doesn't begin to pump until I literally start the car. It doesn't prime for a few seconds first. (This is not remedied by jumping the fp relay.)

So I'm either not getting fuel from the dizzy to the engine OR there is a vacuum problem somewhere thats preventing this.

Anyone have any ideas? I'm almost stumped on this one.

87 4ks

I'd check and make sure the plunger isn't stuck in the fuel distributor. I once had to remove the fuel distributor on a 4000 that sat for a while and take the plunger out and clean it and the distributor.

casem

Ah I meant to also say, the plunger on the fuel dizzy was stuck. I didnt know you could take just the plunger out so I bought an entire working dizzy/plunger/plate/etc from someone on here.


I'm out here in front of the car now- I took the big intake boot off and the car will try to start if I pull up the air plate. It will easily start if I spray starting fluid in it.
So I put everything back together and made sure everything was sealed, and now it won't even catch.

87 4ks

Make sure you are getting power to the CIS fuse. The aforementioned 4000 developed a no-start situation at one time. Everything checked out, including the fuse. My friend had given up and had the car on trailer when I checked things one more time. When I pulled the fuse again I noticed that one of terminals had fallen out of the fuse box. Pulled the fuse box up, pushed the terminal back in and it was good to go. That one is a long shot but easy to miss.

Another thing would be to verify both the cam timing and ignition timing. Sounds like the cam timing could be off.

casem

just checked the cis fuse and the spare fuse, both get power when I begin cranking the car.
The cold start valve on the intake also has power going to it when I'm cranking it.

I haven't thought about the timing though. I'm just puzzled that it would try to start w/o all the hoses/etc hooked up and now it won't.

Blewtoon

sounds like you've got spark & compression, and timing is ok if it'll run on starter fluid. so either there isn't enough vaccume to work the fuel dizzy, it's stuck or, the fuel lines/injectors are gummed up

casem

I hope.

The cold start valve did have power going to it, and fuel. So I took it off and held it in a bucket while starting it and NO fuel came through it. So I sprayed starting fluid down in the hole and it started right up.

So I think this should be the problem. I'll update as soon as I know for sure. Thanks everyone for the help.

Blewtoon

In this weather it should start without it. If the engine fires up with starter fluid & then dies your injectors arn't delivering fuel. The most likly causes are a vacume leak or stuck air flow sensor plate. Take off the rubber boot & check if it can move freely. If you lift the plate while cranking the motor there should be a spray of gas from the injectors.

casem

The plate moves up and down, up with some resistance. When I lift the plate while cranking, it tries to start.

casem

The plunger was stuck/hard to move.
I'm letting it soak in some PB Blaster right now.

Maybe this will fix it