Engine rebuild, plugged cats

ruswin

Registered User
I just finished installing a rebuilt motor in my 93 5-speed. The only mistake I made was not filling the oil pump with petroleum jelly. Once I figured that out, oil pressure came up and it started OK. When it started, huge amounts of white smoke was coming out both exhausts and puddles of antifreeze collected under the tailpipes. This must be leftover from the blown headgaskets which caused me to do the rebuild. Since I have only put water in the rad to begin with, I am sure the fluid was trapped in the exhaust. Now that it ran for about 5 minutes, I cannot get it to start again. Have fuel pressure, spark and the UP shift light is OFF when cranking.
When it was running it was pretty rough. I am begining to suspect that the radiator fluid plugged the cats? I was planning on dropping the cats from the manifold and trying it with open pipes? Any other ideas?
 
Did you install new O2 sensors with the rebuild? If not I would expect that to be part of the problem.
 
No I did not replace them. They looked pretty good for what thats worth. What would the symptoms be if they were N/G? They wouldn't stop it from starting would it? With the amount of coolant that has since come out of the exhaust, I fear I'm looking at bad cats. The cats have 165,000 miles on them to begin with. I was trying to save a few bucks but... :(
 
ruswin said:
I just finished installing a rebuilt motor in my 93 5-speed. The only mistake I made was not filling the oil pump with petroleum jelly. Once I figured that out, oil pressure came up and it started OK. When it started, huge amounts of white smoke was coming out both exhausts and puddles of antifreeze collected under the tailpipes. This must be leftover from the blown headgaskets which caused me to do the rebuild. Since I have only put water in the rad to begin with, I am sure the fluid was trapped in the exhaust. Now that it ran for about 5 minutes, I cannot get it to start again. Have fuel pressure, spark and the UP shift light is OFF when cranking.
When it was running it was pretty rough. I am begining to suspect that the radiator fluid plugged the cats? I was planning on dropping the cats from the manifold and trying it with open pipes? Any other ideas?


crank sensor.
 
check your firing order, you may have a crossed plug wire. You can put hi flow cats on for a fair price. I had mine replaced for around $200. about 100 for the cats and another 100 to have them installed. If you have stock exhaust now is the time to think about upgrading it.


Your crank sensor should be okay if the upshift arrow is out during cranking. But it can be damaged by antifreeze.
 
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Dropped cats with no improvement. Double-checked UP shift light goes OFF while cranking. Verified spark on at least two plugs. Fuel pressure seems OK, smell raw fuel after cranking for a few seconds. Balancer bolt is in place and the pulley turns with no wobble. I am stumped.
She cranks fine but will not fire up. What else could be the problem? How can I be sure that the timing is correct, fuel entering cylinders at correct time? :confused:
 
Recheck your cam sensor timing. Make sure you understand the setting procedure and that it is correct.
 
Besides removing the front cover, I didn't mess with the position of the cam sensor. I installed a new one, but did not remove the distributor assembly from the front cover. The second answer to your question is no... I do not know how to check the timing, I don't have a timing light. I thought that the motor would start after three tries even if the cam sensor was N/G? Are you suggesting that the timing is slightly off causing it not to start?
Remember it did run for about 5 minutes when I first started it, during that time white smoke and rad fluid was pouring out the exhaust. When I shut it off and then tried to restart it, it cranks but won't fire. WTF? :mad:
 
In order to rebuild the engine you had to remove the cam sensor drive and you had to re-time it after reassembly. Just because it started doesn't mean it's right. Most likely you've fouled the plugs now and that is why it won't start, but if the cam sensor is off, then it will continue to foul plugs and run like crap.

The "try it 3 times" only works if the cam sensor is disconnected or failed completely. If it is out of time then the EEC will try to use the information from it which is almost assuredly all wrong if you didn't go through the setup proceedure. You don't check timing with a timing light. Do a search for the easy way to set the cam sensor.
 
Disconnecting the cam sensor did allow it to start after 3 tries. Runs pretty rough but at least it starts. When I disassembled the front cover, I made sure that I did not move the syncro shaft, what I mean is that I did not loosen the locking screw and turn the entire assembly. However, I did not pay attention to the internal syncro position. I think I understand what needs to be done. Since I did not verify the syncro shaft when installing the front cover, the syncro shaft could be rotated out of position? If that is the case, I assume I will have to remove the syncro assembly and reposition it properly. Is there an easy way to do that and what needs to be removed in order to get it out?
 
Wezar. Thanks, that link was great. The sensor was off by 180 degrees. Once it was positioned properly, it started right up. I was surprised that the problem was the sensor because previously, I had to replace the timing chain on my other SC a 95. When I did that, I did not set the cam position, but it ran OK. Once I fixed the 93, I also decided it was a good idea to check the 95. When I did, I found that it was off by about 90 degrees... but it was running? I drove it at least 1200 miles like that. Why would it run at all?
Anyways, to set the syncro, the superchager DOES NOT have to be removed. Remove the belts and top radiator hose and pull the wiring harness out of the way. Disconnect and remove the cam sensor. You can then use a socket with tamper-proof bit to loosen and remove the hold-down screw. Then the syncro can be lifted high enough to rotate it into the proper position. ;)
 
rebuilt motor

did you rebuild/have rebuilt the original or did you order a rebuilt? If bought it what brand and how much was it?
My '93 is getting up there in hard miles and don't want to mod it to much when she's tired. That seems to be asking for a meltdown.
Am looking to rebuild or get a rebuilt to put in her while I BUILD her old tikker.
Mike H
 
Talonhead, I see that you are in Ct. I actually had the original block rebuilt here in Phoenix. Cost me about $1200. I called about 5 people for pricing and picked the middle price, one place I found online wanted $1850, lowball price was $1050. The only thing I did not like about the job they did was they broke a tap off in the front of the drivers head so that I can only get two large bolts from the accesories brkt into the head. Also they did not clean out ALL of the tapped holes so be prepared to fully final inspect the block before reassembly. Now that I have replaced a motor in the SC, I know that these cars must be a love-hate thing. When it's running... I love it. When it's broke, you get the idea. :cool:
 
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