I have a pretty weird problem with my car and just did a last ditch search fully not expecting to find anything... but I have found that theWeezL had/has a very similar strange problem... which I have linked to below:
http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35773
The problem is similar... but not the same.
Here is the background of my car and what might be related to the problem:
The previous owner was a mechanic and had a few supras, but was like a lot of our car's previous owners in the way that all the work was done kind of half-heartedly, the wiring harness is pretty hacked up, and there are dozens of nuts and bolts missing from under the hood.
Ever since I took this car for a test drive 4 years ago with the owner, I learned that every once in a while the car would just crank and crank and crank without starting... as if it was flooded. This actually happened during the test drive and the owner got out of the car and showed me that the only way to fix it was to get out of the car and unplug the clips on fuel injectors #5 and #6, get back in the car and crank it until it started sputtering a little bit and to give it a little gas for a few seconds and slowly drop it back down until it would stay steady enough so that you would be able to get out of the car and plug the fuel injectors back in and hear it purr like a kitten.
This summer I have been driving this car alot lately and haven't had this ongoing problem very often at all... until this past week, where it's happening 4 out of 5 times I go to start it.
My list of mods that might be causing the problem:
- My car has been into the shop on 3 separate occasions for not starting - The first time the starter was "rebuilt", the second time the starter was "rebuilt" again and the wiring was "repaired" and the third time I brought it in they "repaired" the wiring on the fuel pump relay. The reason the work is quoted is because I don't really trust any of the work that was done... mostly because now that I am doing almost everything myself I have been able to inspect it and it doesn't look as if to great of a job was done.
- About a year ago, my car started to make that dreaded clicking sound AGAIN when I went to turn the key 99% of the time. I finally got sick of it and modded my coin holder to house a little red rocker switch that is wired directly to my starter and battery. However, after absorbing some of jetjock's wisdom on WeezL's thread, It has come to my attention that I might be bypassing some important stuff by starting my car this way.
- I have discarded the little CPS male and female connectors and just wired them straight together, so I don't think that it is the CPS wiring.
Here are my some of my car's main quirks to help aid in diagnosis:
- My car use to have a problem with after I would get on it pretty good the RPMs would drop so low that it would shut off. This problem has not happened at all this summer but used to happen pretty frequently.
- Whenever I drive my car hard I can always smell fuel when I get off the gas.
- My power mirrors haven't worked for a while and while playing with them in the car the other day I sadly found out that if it is in either the left or right position and any of the four directional buttons are pressed my stereo will physically power off and will stay powered off until you release the button. I realize this is a big problem and it is something that might be considered here but will have to be delved into later more fully.
- There is a black w/ yellow wire that is grounded out on the top left side of my engine compartment. It is right above my turbo and underneath the wiring harness with the thick loom. This wire is grounded out to the car but is about 20" long and has about 8" of insulation stripped off of it at the end and it’s just dangling there. This might not be related but I would love some input as to whether or not it is stock (I think it is) and what it is supposed to be grounding.
What happens when I try to start it:
- There does not seem to be a pattern with what happens with regards to whether it is a cold start, warm start, or hot start.
- When I first get in the car I try to start with turning the key as it will sometimes work. During this past week it has only started like that one time, but for the entire summer excluding this past week it has worked almost every time. ALSO: Over this entire summer, when the car cranks with the key it has started 100% of the time.
- When I get the clicking sound from the starter when I turn the key, I will flip up the coin holder and flick the red rocker switch that is wired directly to the starter and the battery. When I flick that switch the starter will crank continuously 100% of the time until I flick the switch off. This step use to have a very good success rate of about 90 to 95%. However, in this past week that success rate has dropped to around 15 or 20%. When this method is not successful, the red rocker switch will almost always get the engine to turn over or atleast sputter but sometimes the engine will immediately die.
- Once the engine has died after an attempt with all 6 fuel injectors plugged in, I can crank and crank that starter all day long and the engine won’t sputter at all. the way I have ALMOST always had success(except for twice) is to get out of the car and unplug fuel injectors #5 and #6 and go flip the rocker switch again. When I flip the rocker switch the starter will crank for about 3 seconds until the engine starts to sputter at all, then for another two or three seconds the sputter gets stronger and stronger until I can give it a little gas and get the engine above 1K RPMs, at which time I will flip the rocker switch off and drive away.
- As a said, twice all three steps have failed. The first time I was in Corpus Christi for the weekend and when I went to flip the rocker switch on and start it, I forgot to flip the rocker switch off and it died. So I tried the fuel injector thing and the car would sputter just a little bit but not enough to let me give it enough gas to fully start it. I tried different variations of the fuel injector method for about 25 minutes and right before I was about to give up hope I was somehow able to get it started with fuel injectors number 5 and 6 disconnected. When it finally started there was a huge cloud of white smoke that came out of the exhaust and everything immediately smelt like fuel. The second time that this happened was last night, except this time I didn’t mess up. The only thing different in this occurrence was that the car did not even try to sputter with all 6 injectors plugged in. I never actually got it started up… luckily I was at home this time so I just took my other car.
Well, I’m sorry for such a ridiculously long article but I just really wanted to give as much information that I could think of off-hand that could help in diagnosis.
I really would like this problem taken care of and am willing to do almost anything it takes. I have nothing to do for a few weeks except work on my car so I have plenty of time, just not as much knowledge as some of you guys have. I have a multi-meter that I really don’t know how to use yet, a bunch of tools, a disregard for getting dirty and a desire to get this car fixed.
Anyone at all can chime in with ANY ideas or questions. I can’t tell you how much this forum has helped me directly and indirectly in the past and I truly appreciate this MKIII Community.
I will be on here several times a day until this problem is fixed and my car starts like a champ every time.
http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35773
The problem is similar... but not the same.
Here is the background of my car and what might be related to the problem:
The previous owner was a mechanic and had a few supras, but was like a lot of our car's previous owners in the way that all the work was done kind of half-heartedly, the wiring harness is pretty hacked up, and there are dozens of nuts and bolts missing from under the hood.
Ever since I took this car for a test drive 4 years ago with the owner, I learned that every once in a while the car would just crank and crank and crank without starting... as if it was flooded. This actually happened during the test drive and the owner got out of the car and showed me that the only way to fix it was to get out of the car and unplug the clips on fuel injectors #5 and #6, get back in the car and crank it until it started sputtering a little bit and to give it a little gas for a few seconds and slowly drop it back down until it would stay steady enough so that you would be able to get out of the car and plug the fuel injectors back in and hear it purr like a kitten.
This summer I have been driving this car alot lately and haven't had this ongoing problem very often at all... until this past week, where it's happening 4 out of 5 times I go to start it.
My list of mods that might be causing the problem:
- My car has been into the shop on 3 separate occasions for not starting - The first time the starter was "rebuilt", the second time the starter was "rebuilt" again and the wiring was "repaired" and the third time I brought it in they "repaired" the wiring on the fuel pump relay. The reason the work is quoted is because I don't really trust any of the work that was done... mostly because now that I am doing almost everything myself I have been able to inspect it and it doesn't look as if to great of a job was done.
- About a year ago, my car started to make that dreaded clicking sound AGAIN when I went to turn the key 99% of the time. I finally got sick of it and modded my coin holder to house a little red rocker switch that is wired directly to my starter and battery. However, after absorbing some of jetjock's wisdom on WeezL's thread, It has come to my attention that I might be bypassing some important stuff by starting my car this way.
- I have discarded the little CPS male and female connectors and just wired them straight together, so I don't think that it is the CPS wiring.
Here are my some of my car's main quirks to help aid in diagnosis:
- My car use to have a problem with after I would get on it pretty good the RPMs would drop so low that it would shut off. This problem has not happened at all this summer but used to happen pretty frequently.
- Whenever I drive my car hard I can always smell fuel when I get off the gas.
- My power mirrors haven't worked for a while and while playing with them in the car the other day I sadly found out that if it is in either the left or right position and any of the four directional buttons are pressed my stereo will physically power off and will stay powered off until you release the button. I realize this is a big problem and it is something that might be considered here but will have to be delved into later more fully.
- There is a black w/ yellow wire that is grounded out on the top left side of my engine compartment. It is right above my turbo and underneath the wiring harness with the thick loom. This wire is grounded out to the car but is about 20" long and has about 8" of insulation stripped off of it at the end and it’s just dangling there. This might not be related but I would love some input as to whether or not it is stock (I think it is) and what it is supposed to be grounding.
What happens when I try to start it:
- There does not seem to be a pattern with what happens with regards to whether it is a cold start, warm start, or hot start.
- When I first get in the car I try to start with turning the key as it will sometimes work. During this past week it has only started like that one time, but for the entire summer excluding this past week it has worked almost every time. ALSO: Over this entire summer, when the car cranks with the key it has started 100% of the time.
- When I get the clicking sound from the starter when I turn the key, I will flip up the coin holder and flick the red rocker switch that is wired directly to the starter and the battery. When I flick that switch the starter will crank continuously 100% of the time until I flick the switch off. This step use to have a very good success rate of about 90 to 95%. However, in this past week that success rate has dropped to around 15 or 20%. When this method is not successful, the red rocker switch will almost always get the engine to turn over or atleast sputter but sometimes the engine will immediately die.
- Once the engine has died after an attempt with all 6 fuel injectors plugged in, I can crank and crank that starter all day long and the engine won’t sputter at all. the way I have ALMOST always had success(except for twice) is to get out of the car and unplug fuel injectors #5 and #6 and go flip the rocker switch again. When I flip the rocker switch the starter will crank for about 3 seconds until the engine starts to sputter at all, then for another two or three seconds the sputter gets stronger and stronger until I can give it a little gas and get the engine above 1K RPMs, at which time I will flip the rocker switch off and drive away.
- As a said, twice all three steps have failed. The first time I was in Corpus Christi for the weekend and when I went to flip the rocker switch on and start it, I forgot to flip the rocker switch off and it died. So I tried the fuel injector thing and the car would sputter just a little bit but not enough to let me give it enough gas to fully start it. I tried different variations of the fuel injector method for about 25 minutes and right before I was about to give up hope I was somehow able to get it started with fuel injectors number 5 and 6 disconnected. When it finally started there was a huge cloud of white smoke that came out of the exhaust and everything immediately smelt like fuel. The second time that this happened was last night, except this time I didn’t mess up. The only thing different in this occurrence was that the car did not even try to sputter with all 6 injectors plugged in. I never actually got it started up… luckily I was at home this time so I just took my other car.
Well, I’m sorry for such a ridiculously long article but I just really wanted to give as much information that I could think of off-hand that could help in diagnosis.
I really would like this problem taken care of and am willing to do almost anything it takes. I have nothing to do for a few weeks except work on my car so I have plenty of time, just not as much knowledge as some of you guys have. I have a multi-meter that I really don’t know how to use yet, a bunch of tools, a disregard for getting dirty and a desire to get this car fixed.
Anyone at all can chime in with ANY ideas or questions. I can’t tell you how much this forum has helped me directly and indirectly in the past and I truly appreciate this MKIII Community.
I will be on here several times a day until this problem is fixed and my car starts like a champ every time.