did the vandals screw up my motor??

[Kevin - Blown 95 TA]

Hey Craig, at this point, i would scan the pcm for codes to see if you have a bad temp sensor or tps sensor. Your car is 10 years old, and if you usually park oputside you could have a bad or corroded connection in your wiring harness also.

BTW, where do you live?

[fastTa]

Sounds like maybe your idle air control valve may be sticking. This is located on the bottom of your throttle body.

Here is one of Rob's pics from his website.



Can you describe the metal to metal sound you here while starting in a little more detail. Sounds like it could be your bendix on the starter going weak.

[Craig 94 TA GT]

Ok, I have a short video on what it does...here's the link - it's in mpeg format. Beware, it is almost 6.7 megs.
http://s94938520.onlinehome.us/movies/starting.mpg

The first time I start it, it seems to idle horribly for a small amount of time...then it seems to get back up to normal. Imagine that horrible idle all the time - and a few hundred RPMs lower...that's what it did to me yesterday. The second time I start it up, it seems to start and idle fine. Please let me know your thoughts, and thanks for the previous replies; I will look into them.
By the way, Kevin Blown TA, I live in the Bay area CA, where temps in the winter get to 40s for a low (once in a while 30s), 60s for a high in the winter...summer is much warmer.

[Craig 94 TA GT]

Here's another one...the idle still isn't normal at first...then it somehow corrects itself.
http://s94938520.onlinehome.us/movies/starting2.mpg

[Craig 94 TA GT]

Just checked the fuel pressure...it took 2 charges to get the pressure in the on but not started position to get to 42 psi. The first charge went only to 25 psi. I could have sworn that when I checked it before, it needed only one charge to get to 42. When I started it, it was roughly 35-36 psi. However, during this time, it started up and idled fine. Could my problem be related to the fuel pressure regulator? I will try to check the pressure out later when it starts and idles badly.

[Craig 94 TA GT]

I just noticed...my motor oil smells like gas. I hope it's nothing major....

[tabahr]

I'd remove the throttle body and clean it up really well. They get a black gunk on them over the years and that could be messing up the IAC. Take it all apart, clean everything really well and put it back togather.


Let the metal parts soak overnight in carb cleaner, and then scrub like heck.

After you know the TB is clean, start looking at other possibilities.

I put a little lip balm on my TB gasket to keep it moist, and prevent it from sticking. It works great. My TB heat lines are bypassed, so I dont care about that gasket on the bottom.

[TimeLord]

If I were you I would bring the car to a good local speed shop,we tried the evident and that wasn't it.

Before breaking something and running $$$ repairs have a pro look at it,this hit and miss stuff could get expensive.

[Craig 94 TA GT]

I agree...it could be the IAC, but it's only a possibility. It could be the injectors or fuel pressure regulator, but again, a possiblity. I think I'm gonna take it in then...but just to recap, here's a small list of what is happening...
1) Every start in which it hasn't been run for > 30 minutes, it starts to idle funny as the videos above show. However, the problem clears itself up after a few moments.
2) My motor oil smells like gas.
3) I am seeing white smoke (kinda like breathing from your mouth on a cold day) coming out of the exhaust. So far, I've only checked it when the temp is at 160-170 degrees, not fully warmed up. But it is 60 degrees outside and I don't recall ever seeing this much white smoke out the back. Again, it kind of looks like when you start and run the car on a cold day - but it's not cold outside. This white smoke does NOT smell like coolant, I am not experiencing coolant loss, and it is not overheating - which is why I've ruled out a blown head gasket.
4) I just checked the fuel pressure when the car is off to see if there are any leaks over time. Here are the results:
3:50 pm: 39 psi
4:00 pm: 40 psi - it went up????
4:45 pm: 29 psi
6:00 pm: 15 psi
6:15 pm: 14 psi
Is this normal, or is there a leak in the FPR or injectors? I know that would cause the gas to get into the oil, make it run rich, and possibly flood it initially because of an injector dropping fuel into the cylinder - which is maybe the cause of it starting so awfully when it hasn't been run in a while.
BTW, I have had the intake manifold leak for quite some time, but it hasn't seemed to affect anything - don't know if it's relevant here. Will check plugs #7 and 8 tomorrow to see if the leak is doing anything to them.

[97CamaroRS]

well, i'm not sure if this is possible or not, but could it be possible that one of your injectors is leaking or sticking open? So when u shut the car off all the gas pools in the cylinder(s), prompting the rough start up and the rich burn? and the smell of gas in your oil?

Since the engine isn't running, the engine would cool and the piston rings wouldn't be be expanded against the cylinder walls, allowing left over pressure in the fuel lines to leak gas through an injector and into the cylinder, then into the oil...?

Just a concept

Hope u can fix things up and i hope u catch those idiots, i had my speakers stolen (2 12" Jensens) out of my car and i got lucky and found out who stole them. a 79' Chevy on 44's and a tow rope attached to various parts of their cars is what they got in return.

[Craig 94 TA GT]

That's exactly what I was thinking...it makes perfect sense.
However, I just checked the plugs to make sure they still looked OK, and found something interesting. Plug #5 was loose...so loose that oil and gunk was seeping out of it into the block! Here's a pictures of the driver's side plugs...you can obviously tell which one was loose.


Now I'm still thinking it could be a leaky injector, but could a really loose plug cause this? BTW, I'm not sure how it loosened up on its own ? Had them for 15k with no problems...unless I didn't tighten it well originally, and it somehow wiggled itself out over time ?

[Craig 94 TA GT]

Well, just for reference, I think I fixed the problem. It starts up fine now and the oil doesn't smell like gas anymore (well, maybe there's a residual trace). I guess a loose plug will do all the symptoms I explained above. I've test driven it once and started it up twice when cold - so I'm 99% sure it's cured. Probably not related to the vandalism, but what a coincidence of the problem happening right after. The only thing I'm worried about is...why does my fuel pressure decrease that fast over time - or is that supposed to me normal?

[alenstein]

Did u check your pressure after the loose plug adjustment, you could've experience drop of pressure and compression due to the loose plug... just my 2 cents

[Craig 94 TA GT]

I haven't checked it after tightening the plug but... it won't even start anymore.
It turns over, catches for a moment - like a sputtering catch - then instantly dies. I'll check the plugs again and if there's nothing else I can see, I'll take it in, as TimeLord suggests. Also when the 6 of 8 plugs were out, I stuffed a rag down each plug hole and pressurized the system. Then I waited until the pressure dropped from 40 to 30, and then checked the rags. All of them were dry - so my guess is the injectors are OK unless the 2 I didn't check are leaking. Also, I checked the FPR vacuum line and there's no trace of gas.

[Craig 94 TA GT]

Hate to continually post and post...but here's another short video of what it's doing now...and at least it actually started.
video

This is as bad as it was on day 1. When the throttle goes up, that's actually me tapping on the gas...which would normally go to 1500-2000 RPM if it were running right. I checked the fuel pressure and its ranging from 40-41 psi when it's idle bad. Not fluctuating a whole lot. All the plugs are also nice and tight.