Mr. 9Frank

I while back I went about cleaning the engine bay with a pressure washer, being very tedious to which parts I sprayed but unfortunately all hell broke loose lol. For a month now Ive been hunting down the culprit.

As of now the car is very hard starting and idles around 300 rpms with absolutely no response to throttle. Vacuum is atmospheric (0 on the boost gauge, 1 on the bar needle). Ive replaced my MAF with an OE AFM with no changes in the limp idle. Inspected practically every vacuum line on the vehicle and made sure all plugs connections and such are dry. Im unsure of the condition of the DME relay but without it, the engine makes no attempt at firing.

The vicinity of the DME and KLR area showed no signs of getting wet when I initially checked. I hunted under the hood for nearly a month before I decided to completely remove the DME and open it up.

Is this board nasty or what. Slight hint of rust around many of of the solders and a sandy dirt like residue over much of the circuit connections (corrosion I guess). Water damage in my book all day! Whats you-all's take on this...

Rogue_Ant

Nothing visually wrong with the DME. The "rust" is simply old flux that has oxidized, turning brownish in color (instead of its original clear).

Cosmatics951

Just a FYI, I had a hell of a time tracking a no start issue awhile back, ended up being something bad in my DME. Upon inspection, the board looked perfect, and I had that bitch under a very large magnifying table my blind grandma uses! Lol.

I got a rebuilt from DME docs and it has been perfect for almost a year now.

Ben951S

It idles at 300rpm? Really? it doesn't stall out? Fuel pressure? That vacuum seems to be a big problem... Pressure test the intake or smoke test it/

Mr. 9Frank

Yep. Will stall often but will idle for a min or two if you try enough. Today ill be using a jumper to bypass my DME relay. Continue down my check list. Thanks for the correction guys.

StoogeMoe

Yeah, DME looks good to me. I you want, you can clean off that flux splatter with a cotton ball and some isopropyl alcohol while it's apart. Check the connector pins before hooking it back up. They can bend real easy.

Did you take off the cap and clean that out? Maybe moisture got in there. You might want to check the DME temp sensor too. It may have been disturbed by the bath.

Mr. 9Frank

Replaced the cap and rotor with a new one, no change. Plugs have about 50 miles on them (NGK IX iridium). 2 of my wireset boots are slightly torn around the plugs (from removing them) but they are making a full connection with the plug tip.

Mr. 9Frank

OK, heres what Ive come upon today. The engine is running ONLY on cylinder #3. With the wires of cylinder # 1,2, and 4 disconnected, the engine runs exactly as its been for the last month. (300 rpm, no throttle response)
Removed the fuel rail with all the injector connected and all injectors are spraying fuel.
Removed all spark plugs from the head with the wires from the cap still attached and all are sparking to a ground. (one at a time of course)
Im going bald over this one guys.

J Berk

Unless you have both fuel and spark but just not at the right time.....I can't see how you can have both and not run/fire.

Have you made sure the ref. sensor is in it's proper place and not buggered up? IIRC the connection plugs are notorious for corrosion.

Maybe that's causing spark not to happen when fuel is there or the opposite?

J Berk

You should eyeball the clarks garage website...

http://clarks-garage.com/

here are few things it says about the speed and reference sensors:

Mr. 9Frank

I dont believe im getting tach bounce. It moves very slightly as im attempting to crank but no bounce higher than the first notch of course.

J Berk

You may have fubared the gap on the reference sensor by blasting it with the pressure washer.

Check it !

Mr. 9Frank

Looking at it closer, it does bounce, just like the volt gauge in sequence with the cranking sound. to about half way to the first notch.

Rogue_Ant

If you are getting fuel and spark, then the S&R sensors are not the problem...

It is possible the DME/KLR is bad - try swapping out with known good units.

Is the ignition rotor loose?

ECU Doctors

It's definitely a strange problem.

While you check the gap of the Sensors, make sure that they are clean and that the insulation isn't broken. See 3:12 here http://youtu.be/zeFOOcLSk60