Working to get my e30 out of storage this spring as it hasn't been driven regularly since 2015, and seems to be giving me issues left and right.
Here's some background on what has been replaced since its been parked, my car is located in Iowa and I live in Colorado now so I've been going home periodically to replace parts with the hope to get driving reliably again.
New Battery - (Summer 2020, when I first tried getting it running again, charges fine as of last week.)
New Fuel pump/filter - (Summer 2020)
New Fuel Pressure Regulator - (March 2023)
Re-manufactured M20 Injectors from Catuned - (March 2023)
New Bosch Spark Plugs - (March)
New Dist Cap and Rotor - (March)
Coil and Spark wires are only a few years old
New Crank Position Sensor - (Old one had frayed wiring and didn't seem to be working, replaced Summer 2022)
Timing Belt , WP, Tension-er - (Summer 2022)
*Rewired/Replaced C191 Plug - (March) Replaced with a "Weatherpak" style connector as 3 of the old pins were corroded heavily.
New Fuel and Main Relays - (Oct 2022)
Here's were things get confusing for me, the story is as follows:
I replaced the CPS as my car wouldn't start at all ( hard cranks but no turning over), and I could tell it had some fraying, this was done while I put a fresh Timing Belt Kit in. Reinstalled everything and still couldn't turn the car over. Found out that the replacement CPS was out of spec range and was reading way too high of resistance. Relays gave us some strange readings with the multi meter as well but I couldn't source any locally and was flying out the next day, so I decided to order another bundle of parts and plan another trip back home in the fall.
Returned in the fall to replace relays, another new CPS, and get fresh gas, as we felt that the car wasn't getting fuel due to the bad relays/CPS not communicating to the ecu and/ or bad gas in the tank. At this time we found that the engine was testing well for power at the coil/ plugs. Still nothing, though the car would run very briefly if we sprayed starter fluid into the intake, so I assumed it was still not getting fuel INTO the engine. Fuel pump and relays all checked out good at this time, though the C191 was found to be corroded heavily on 3 of the male pins. Time to plan another trip home and try again.
I just returned from Iowa last week having spent the entire weekend wrenching on the car. New FPR installed thinking that the bad gas may have clogged the older one along with re-manufactured injectors from Catuned as the ones installed were the original ones as far as I knew. Rewired the C191 with a weatherpak style connector, now I fully admit to not having much in the way of wiring skills though I did read/ watch every video and thread about the C191 over the last few months. At this point I installed the new spark plugs as we were able to get the car to start and idle, I was afraid to install them earlier as I didn't want to foul the brand new plugs while trying to crank the engine over again and again.
The engine now cranks over and starts faster than it ever has before (no more hard start cranking) but seems to be only running on 3 cylinders. I'm tentatively thinking that I could of done something wrong here with the C191 BUT whats confusing is the engine is running on cylinders 2, 3, & 6.. We pulled the spark plug wires at idle and found that cylinders 1, 4, 5 didn't cause any change in engine performance. At this point I installed the new Dist Cap and Rotor that I had been holding on to since the previous visit, the unit I removed did show signs of arcing on a few of the contact points so we hoped the fresh unit would solve our problems, though it did not..
Am I correct in understanding that the C191 as one wire for the even number cylinder injectors and one for the odds? That seems to conflict with the idea that engine is running on 2,3,6 cylinders right? Some even cylinders and one odd? Is it possible that I screwed up one of the wires for the coolant temp sensor, resulting in a bad reading from that sensor and telling the ECU to go into some strange 3 cylinder " Limp Mode" ? Also seems very strange that the engine no longer has the hard start issues that plagued it years passed though now it wont run on all 6 cylinders. I should note that the O2 sensor code did get thrown once during the weekend, though it went away after disconnecting the battery and it never came back, I know a bad O2 can effect the way the engine runs, I just want to try troubleshoot a bit before I order a new one. All fuses check out as well, is there something else that's obvious I may be missing?
Now that I'm back home, I'm planning to have family haul my e30 out here to Colorado in the coming weeks. So at this point I'm hoping to do some mental troubleshooting prior to getting my hands on the car again.
TLDR: Cars been siting since 2015, lots of new parts installed listed above, starts quickly and idles but runs on 3 cyclinders #2,3,6. Where should I look next?
Here's some background on what has been replaced since its been parked, my car is located in Iowa and I live in Colorado now so I've been going home periodically to replace parts with the hope to get driving reliably again.
New Battery - (Summer 2020, when I first tried getting it running again, charges fine as of last week.)
New Fuel pump/filter - (Summer 2020)
New Fuel Pressure Regulator - (March 2023)
Re-manufactured M20 Injectors from Catuned - (March 2023)
New Bosch Spark Plugs - (March)
New Dist Cap and Rotor - (March)
Coil and Spark wires are only a few years old
New Crank Position Sensor - (Old one had frayed wiring and didn't seem to be working, replaced Summer 2022)
Timing Belt , WP, Tension-er - (Summer 2022)
*Rewired/Replaced C191 Plug - (March) Replaced with a "Weatherpak" style connector as 3 of the old pins were corroded heavily.
New Fuel and Main Relays - (Oct 2022)
Here's were things get confusing for me, the story is as follows:
I replaced the CPS as my car wouldn't start at all ( hard cranks but no turning over), and I could tell it had some fraying, this was done while I put a fresh Timing Belt Kit in. Reinstalled everything and still couldn't turn the car over. Found out that the replacement CPS was out of spec range and was reading way too high of resistance. Relays gave us some strange readings with the multi meter as well but I couldn't source any locally and was flying out the next day, so I decided to order another bundle of parts and plan another trip back home in the fall.
Returned in the fall to replace relays, another new CPS, and get fresh gas, as we felt that the car wasn't getting fuel due to the bad relays/CPS not communicating to the ecu and/ or bad gas in the tank. At this time we found that the engine was testing well for power at the coil/ plugs. Still nothing, though the car would run very briefly if we sprayed starter fluid into the intake, so I assumed it was still not getting fuel INTO the engine. Fuel pump and relays all checked out good at this time, though the C191 was found to be corroded heavily on 3 of the male pins. Time to plan another trip home and try again.
I just returned from Iowa last week having spent the entire weekend wrenching on the car. New FPR installed thinking that the bad gas may have clogged the older one along with re-manufactured injectors from Catuned as the ones installed were the original ones as far as I knew. Rewired the C191 with a weatherpak style connector, now I fully admit to not having much in the way of wiring skills though I did read/ watch every video and thread about the C191 over the last few months. At this point I installed the new spark plugs as we were able to get the car to start and idle, I was afraid to install them earlier as I didn't want to foul the brand new plugs while trying to crank the engine over again and again.
The engine now cranks over and starts faster than it ever has before (no more hard start cranking) but seems to be only running on 3 cylinders. I'm tentatively thinking that I could of done something wrong here with the C191 BUT whats confusing is the engine is running on cylinders 2, 3, & 6.. We pulled the spark plug wires at idle and found that cylinders 1, 4, 5 didn't cause any change in engine performance. At this point I installed the new Dist Cap and Rotor that I had been holding on to since the previous visit, the unit I removed did show signs of arcing on a few of the contact points so we hoped the fresh unit would solve our problems, though it did not..
Am I correct in understanding that the C191 as one wire for the even number cylinder injectors and one for the odds? That seems to conflict with the idea that engine is running on 2,3,6 cylinders right? Some even cylinders and one odd? Is it possible that I screwed up one of the wires for the coolant temp sensor, resulting in a bad reading from that sensor and telling the ECU to go into some strange 3 cylinder " Limp Mode" ? Also seems very strange that the engine no longer has the hard start issues that plagued it years passed though now it wont run on all 6 cylinders. I should note that the O2 sensor code did get thrown once during the weekend, though it went away after disconnecting the battery and it never came back, I know a bad O2 can effect the way the engine runs, I just want to try troubleshoot a bit before I order a new one. All fuses check out as well, is there something else that's obvious I may be missing?
Now that I'm back home, I'm planning to have family haul my e30 out here to Colorado in the coming weeks. So at this point I'm hoping to do some mental troubleshooting prior to getting my hands on the car again.
TLDR: Cars been siting since 2015, lots of new parts installed listed above, starts quickly and idles but runs on 3 cyclinders #2,3,6. Where should I look next?
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