I think we've all guessed at the timing, but if that's dead on I'm still saying a weak coil could be the problem!

 

fastmax familiar with ponce inlet corvette club? if you do or not look up a man named skip wagner he can help you out

 

Ok time to back up and punt.
I am at least making progress now.
Checked all the things we talked about again.
Cleaned and regapped all the plugs.
No Change.
Decided to repeat an earlier test that apparently failed me but in a slightly different manner.
I am now 100% sure it is a fuel delivery problem.
I Soaked a rag in gasoline and stuffed it in the mouth of the throttle body.
Bang, it lit right off and ran like a champ for about 15 sec until the rag ran out.
So.....The only thing that is different now than was before is that the injectors in the car are out of the 87 that I have. They ran fine in the 87. The injectors previously in this 89 were LT1 injectors that I decided to put back on the 87 along with the big intake, runners, etc. that I took off of this 89.
You see what I have done is returned the stock arrangement to the 89 that is giving me the grief and the Hot Rod stuff has gone to the 87.
Agent, Great idea on the weak ground theory to switch the leads. Much easier than my plan. Unfortunately it didnt make any difference, it is still #7 that runs. I also seem to get a little heat on #5 now.
So.....is there any reason why the injectors would work in the 87 and not the 89? They all ohm out correctly and I have a pulse. Plus I would think since it is batch fire if one is getting the signal they all are.
Back up for suggestions.
BTW pretty sure I am going to be 10 cents richer!
Roy

 

I do know those guys. If I cant figure it out I will give them a holler.
Thanks
Roy

 

I dont know as much as all the others on here but this sounds like an ECM problem to me
Have you put a noid light on the injector leads to check pulse?

 

And here is more info that may or may not be helpful. Remember in the beginning of this post when I thought it was a TPS problem. Well when cranking it my scanner says the injector pulse is 16.7ms. and the TPS seems normal. Unless...I plug in the RPM activated switch lead to the TPS harness. This reads the TPS and turns on the NOS at a pre-specified RPM. When I do this I lose the TPS and injector pulse readings on the scanner. Which keeps taking me back to a ground problem. I think.
But RPM swithc plugged in or not plugged in, the car acts the same.
Roy

 

I dont have a noid light, I used a standard test light and it flashes when you crank it. Perhaps I need to buy a noid light to get a more accurate reading?
Roy

 

In post #1 you have fuel pressure, compression, spark. and injector pulses. In post #6, it doesn't fire on starting fluid. Now in post #23With no reported changes, it has gone from not running on starting fluid, which tends to rule out a fuel delivery cause, now to this. It is awfully hard to aim at a moving target, especially by remote control.

I maintain that it was something you did. The injector change, assuming they are good, would not cause the problem. I don't buy the coil failing while the engine was being worked on. The same for the fuel pump or any of the rest of the fuel system. Do you still have fuel pressure? Good luck.

RACE ON!!!

 

Yep still a bit of egg around the cheeks I am trying to get off.
Still have fuel pressure, spark, compression, and injector pulses(at least according to a test light and my scanner).
I felt my first test with the starting fluid may have been flawed which is why I repeated it in a different manner. Lets just say the starting fluid had been around a while and with the amount I could get in there, then the time to button it back up and go around to crank it, I think it just wasnt enough. This time my wife cranked it while I held a really fuel soaked rag in the throttle body so there was a lot more fuel available to it. It kicked right off. So I really think the problem has been the same all the time, I just didnt get enough in the plenum the first time to get it to kick. It will definitely fire on a fuel soaked rag , otherwise I get the #7 hot behavior.
Roy

 

I feel like I have a handle on this now, but I still dont know why it wont run.
It will start everytime with a gas soaked rag in the TB and run like a champ on all 8 for about 15 seconds. Every header pipe runs hot this way and the motor sounds good.
I have fuel pressure about 50 lbs.
I pulled my gauge, hooked up a piece of hose and had my wife crank it over. While she cranks it it pours a steady stream of fuel out of the hose. So I have fuel volume.
According to agents FSM this also means that the ECM is recieving the signal from the distributor otherwise it would be turning the fuel pump off after a few seconds correct?
I checked all 8 injector wires for fuel pulse and found it on every one. I used my test light, none of the local stealers had a noid light in stock.
Pretty funny 2 of 3 didnt even know what I was asking for.
I ohmed all the injectors again and they all read OK. Just in case there was a bad one for some reason I pulled the injector wires one at a time and tried to start it but it wont.
I also tried to test the poor ground theory again by pulling all of the injector wires except #1, figuring if the ground was only good enough to fire one injector it would change from #7 to #1 then. But nope, #1 stayed cold that way.
So I have Pressure at the injectors, I have pulse, the computer has a signal. Unless the injectors are not opening when the computer tells them to I dont know why it wont run. I also dont know what to try next other than to put the old injectors back in. But why these would work fine in the other car and not in this one is beyond my comprehension. As apparently is the rest of this whole thing.
I guess I could try the Hand grenade fix.
Or maybe I will just push the SOB out under the carport and work on the other one for a while.
Roy

 

Well the mystery is solved. Although it is still a bit of a mystery to me.
I pulled the fuel rail and discovered that only one of the 8 injectors was actually working. The other 7 were not spraying anything. Keep in mind that I had taken these injectors out of a car that was running fine only 2 weeks before.
So here is my Hypothesis.
The car I took these out of was one I saved out of an impound. The fuel tank had a ton of water in it, the fuel filter was nearly plugged, and the car barely ran. I cleaned out the tank and changed out the filter, flushed out the system and the car fired up and ran perfectly smooth. I was able to move it around on my property with no trouble. But my theory is that the damage was already done to the injectors, much like a ship sitting in water for years, and when I pulled them out and they sat exposed to the air for 2 weeks they froze up inside. Its the only possible thing I can come up with as to why 7 of 8 went from working to dead in such a short time. They still OHM out just fine, but when you put power to them, nothing happens.
So now I can sleep at night again.
86, I am going to let you slide on the dime since you tried so hard to help me.
Thanks to all who tried to help with such a perplexing problem.
Roy

 

Roy, thanks for posting the followup solution. It's helpful for those of us who were thinking about the symptoms and possible causes


Gary

 

My GF just got back from Vegas, so I actually have an american dime. Send me postage and I will mail it off ASAP.