Excuses? I’ve got a few.
OK, so I walked away from it in disgust for a couple of weeks. Then came thanksgiving, then came slipping three discs in my back which laid me up, holidays, becoming a grandfather, fixing bathroom for the daughter who made me a grandfather etc. etc.
Yes I suck.
So I finally cleared some of the crap off the car for a quick look and fired it up again. First per Geoff’s suggestions I tried pulling the vacuum line of the FPR, of course it just snapped off, so I connected the broken end back to the FPR using some clear tube so I could see if gas was being sucked through the regulator when running. I managed to keep it running for 3-4 mins, but to do so I had to constantly blip the throttle to wide open. It ran like shit, but would occasionally feel too clear before going super rough again. More smoke out the back and after a while what smelled like wood smoke coming from under the car. I couldn’t check what that was or the tailpipe while it was running as it wanted to die if I wasn’t blipping it. So once it stalled I looked around. On the whole I think it’s the best news I can expect. First I didn’t see any more oil around the turbo flanges. Second I could see anything amiss by looking under the middle of the car where I what smelt like wood smoke was coming from. Then I looked at the tail pipe and at first my heart sank. This is what I found.
But on wiping it up and closer inspection, what I thought was oil coming out of the tail pipe was liquidy / watery soot. I think this is good news as I think it corroborates Geoff’s theory that it could be fuel pressure. I guess it’s way way way pig rich and constantly trying to foul itself up. I assume I need to be at WOT as even though that puts even more gas into the engine, at least some air car get in as well. So, let’s go back to Geoff’s post.
Geoff wrote:That white smoke looks like fuel. Two potential causes I've experienced:
1) Catalytic converter flooded with fuel from all the cranking/non-start issues (usually works it's way out)
2) Bad fuel pressure regulator. - Remove the vacuum line from it and see if it's full of gas. Attach a syringe for mighty-vac to the regulator vacuum line, it should hold vacuum
My guess is #2 since it wouldn't start a third time.
I don't think it's 1. After sitting for a month and a half I would think any gas in the cat would have evaporated or seeped away.
As per above I think it's 2, but I'm not sure what you mean me to do with the syringe to the regulator. Do I pull the syringe out to create a vacuum? Should I let go, surely it would just suck the plunger back in? I'm not sure what you mean.
I guess I should pull the plugs now and change them, wires, oil, coolant etc. and sort out the fuel pressure. Off to Rock auto to look for replacement regulators.
BTW low single digits and a wide open garage plus failing light and the car still buried under a mountain of stuff is my excuse for quitting the other day.