Some of you have probably seen my "B&B Header Install" write-up on here - now it's taken on an even stranger twist!

After a long and painful header install, the car fired right up and sounded like a million bucks.

There were a few wiring issues I wanted to wrap up (i.e., a few wires too close to the headers and would melt) - so I started it now and then just to put a smile on my face...

A few days later when I started it up it made a "pop" like a slight misfire, and stalled. I started it again and it idled correctly - revved it a few times and held the tach at 2500 rpm for a few seconds and it died.

When I had to move it out of the garage - same deal. Starts great, will rev for only a short while and dies. When I backed up it died quickly. Made absolutely no power when I let out the clutch to move forward and it immediately died - after re-start the engine would only "stay alive" (barely) by vigorously feathering the gas pedal. Driveability is ZERO!

No codes, except for one HVAC (B0367).

Yes, there is gas in the tank.

Coil packs, plugs and wires were removed for install and reinstalled with no issues (although one of the spark plug wires did take a beating and is questionable, possibly...) The airbridge was replaced with old OEM unit instead of the red silicone one I had put in previously.

The only casualty was that the two wires leading to the oil temp sensor down by the oil filter got torn out when they were snagged by the headers coming up from underneath. Also found one ground to the engine block more or less in the same vicinity that isn't connected.

This is really weird! Any thoughts?

Thanks!


Jeff

 

fix the ground wire

 

Make sure you go thru everything and double check again. Where headers torqued correctly? Correct gaskets? Any loose wires around? Any burned? Check starter solinoid area a bunch of wires next to headers.

 

 

Which headers were they ? I heard a pop myself and it ended up being two plug wires had hardened from the heat and cracked. Wasn't noticeable until I took them off and checked them closely. Just a thought.

 

From my experience, Installed Kooks headers many times, I would start by checking all connections to the starter.

 

Once again, many thanks to all who have offered their suggestions and advice!

Here's what happened - the 15mm bolt for the engine ground strap on the driver side was barely hand-tight, and the other wire that shares that location had coiled back and was hidden out of the way.

Connected both (which was a huge pain in the butt since the four header tubes now block everything - and the oil pan bat "wings" all but guarantee that you can't reach up there easily...)

The results were magic! There's still a lot of wires that are too close to the header tubes for my comfort and need wrapping with heat tape - but the initial start-up and spin around the block went beautifully!

Time for me to contribute $$$ to the forum - I've gotten far more back that I've put in...

Thanks again!


Jeff

 

LOL! I just read this post and I LOL reading you're initial post!

I KNEW EXACTLY what happened! Seen it TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MANY times.

SO, I'm adding a couple pictures to this post to HELP someone that may pull this post up for troubleshooting assistance:

Here is the passengers side block main battery to engine ground AND the very small ground wire and eyelet for the electrical module grounds to the engine. Its on that 15mm bolt.
That LITTLE BIDDY wire can and will cause all sorts of hate and discontent if it NOT reconnected and or if it gets connected to the 12 VDC terminal on the starter, the engine will not run! (see below)

OH YEA,,, ,,, Seen it happen too many times!



There is an EXACT same ground mounting bolt in the exact same place on the drivers side of the block!



Here is another engine block ground that gets overlooked when heads are removed or an engine is removed. This one is for the coil packs: