hello i have been working on my 92 rs for a while and i am having issues. it is a l03 with rebuilt heads, header back exhaust, edelbrock intake, bigger injectoers and custom chip from a friend to account for the removal of the egr and the larger injectors. here is my problem.. i can not get it to start witout staying on the gas pedel. once i stop giving it throttle she dies. i had it running for a few days but i had a coolant leak from the rear of the intake. i took the intake off put new gaskets on and started her up. it ran but no ideal. i figured it was timing. i put a light on it and it said i was 55 degrees off. i pulled the distributor and reset everything to tdc and put the dist. back in. since then i have not been able to get it running i have had multiple people check and double check im doing everything right. i have spark and i have fuel. i have a flashing ses light which i dont really know what that means but i read that it could mean my ecm was fried. so i purchased another one and tried it and it still flashes and still wont start. it turns over great just wont fire. i am running out of ideas. if anyone could please help it would be much appreciated. thank you

 

Did you put it at TDC on the compression stroke, or the exhaust stroke? You might just be 180 degrees off on the timing.

 

everytime i do it i put my finger over the #1 spark plug hole until i feel the air comin out then i set it to 0 and drop in the dist to line up with #1 plug post. i will pull my valve cover and watch my rocker arm to confirm wether im 180 off. thanks

 

It sounds like its tdc on the compression stroke to me. If youre getting spark, fuel, crank and the timing is right, theres no reason why it shouldnt start. Are you 100% sure youre getting spark and fuel?

 

i have fuel pressure, i can see fuel being injected into the tb and the plugs have fuel on them because im runnin a bit rich. i pulled my plugs individually and watched them spark. is there any possibility my distributor could be bad?

 

Unless its sparking in the wrong order, if youre getting spark the dizzy is fine. Are you sure the firing order is 18436572 going clockwise?

 

Or maybe its flooding out, have you tried holding the throttle half open when cranking?

 

just went and double checked and thats all correct. im lost. could the flashing ses have anything to with it?

 

if i give it any throttle she runs. pretty rough and throws mean smoke but runs. i have a wideband in it and i was running rich when it was running. i was in the 12s. ill try turning down my fuel pressure. i was unaware that that could prevent it from running altogether.

 

If its getting too much fuel it will make it run like crap, and hard to start. Thats probably your problem.

 

Does your exhause have headers, or manifolds?

 

headers. with 2.5 y and 3 rest of the way

 

Were do you have your o2 sensor mounted, and is it a heated o2? Ive heard that you need a heated o2 if the sensor is further away from the exhaust than if it where mounted in a manifold. The single wire o2 sensors dont get hot enough when too far away to give an accurate reading.

 

could be the security system on it. may need a new ignition switch or need bypassed.

 

VATS doesnt flash the ses light, just the security light.

 

the o2 sensor is heated and its mounted at the colector of the header. the vats has been cancled out by the chip.

 

Have you adjusted the fuel? i still think youre dumping too much in, causing it to flood and die when you let off the throttle. You said its smoking bad, is it black or white smoke? Black smoke suggest unburned fuel or oil in the cylinders. White suggests blown head gasket, or internal block damage allowing water into the cylinders.

 

i havnt adjusted the fuel yet. its not the white smoke of burning water and its not black like its burning oil its just thick blue-ish gray smoke. i know its not head damage or gasket bc thats why i ripped it apart, i had a blown head gasket. i sent the heads out and had them tested and rebuilt at a reputable place. my cylinder walls were good when i ripped it apart too. the car only has 95000 miles on it. the engine had no visible signs of block damage but i realize that doesnt mean much. i am going to adjust my fuel pressure tomorrow and see what happens.

 

Easiest way to see if your getting water in the oil is to run the car till its warm, then pull off a valve cover and check the underside. If its black its fine, if its got a white foam, youre getting water in your oil, which could account for the smoke.

 

after having the car running using the gas pedel to keep it running ive checked and drained my oil checking for water or anything. and there were no signs of water no foam or anything. but i have never stayed on the gas and kept it running long enough to get it hot.

 

I think it was to be warm to make the foam. But if you drained it and didnt see any water youre probably safe.

 

i'm having the same problem. My '92 was hard to start and need alittle gas to start. Now i keep on blowing coil packs, went through 3. Everytime i install the new pack it start beautifully. i get 1 or 2 starts before it blows. I also have the SES on. Just sounds like I'm going through same thing hoping for some help.

 

The hard to start issue could just be a mis-adjusted choke. Blowing coils on the other hand, I have no idea. Is it hard to start after the engine has been warmed up?

 

we noticed it on cold starts

 

Its the stock motor? I dont know if the fuel injected motors use some sort of choke, or if they just allow more air until the engine is warm.

 

stock

 

If I were you, Id start your own thread in the general engine forum. Youll get better help.

 

 

so i turned my fuel pressure down and it didnt help. still at the point of a liittle throttle keeps it running but dies right away. i am installing a fuel pressure guage to see what im at. i was going through everything and noticed that my map sensor vac line is broken. im gonna fix that and see what happens. thank you for the help. i greatly appreciate it

 

An open vac line will cause the problem too. Its letting in extra air at idle so its leaning out. And the blueish gray smoke your car is pouring out is oil. You probably have a bad valve stem seal. Easy way to check if its the vac line, plug it and start the car.

 

so got a new vac line fired rite up. she doesnt smoke anymore and runs pretty good. gotta adjust the valve lash and timing a bit but it runs for the first time in months. running 13.9-14.3 on wide band. thank you very much for all the input and help

 

Its always something simple and overlooked. Glad to hear its runnin.