ENGINE FULL OF GAS!!
Posted: Tue May 08, 2018 9:28 am
Pay attention to this:
There is a problem with a FEW of the ECU's that short the fuel relay that make the pump run and not shut off. It effect the number 4 injector.
At Daytona this weekend my car would not turn over. It did a weak plug fire when I turned on the ignition switch (!) but the starter would not turn the engine over. It was strange to get a plug to fire by just turning on the ignition switch and not pushing the starter button. I knew something electrical was going on.
So, I charged the battery for 30 min and it still would not turn the engine over. Hummm, now I put in a new starter, battery and master switch. Still, the engine would not turn over. However the ground cable for the battery got really hot and started smoking.
We pushed the car outside and tried to push start it but the rear wheels would not turn when the clutch was released. We did this twice and realized there was something else wrong. The engine was seized!
I notice as we pushed the car back into the garage that there was a fuel leak. Great, another problem...
All the fuel fittings were tight but there was fuel leaking down the back side of the engine. I traced it to the throttle body. Then I noticed another puddle and it was from the breather bottle.
I emptied the breather bottle and it was mostly fuel and some oil. How did fuel get into the bottle....
I removed the spark plugs and looked inside of the cylinders and they were full of fuel. I left the master switch on but the IGNITION SWITCH OFF and turned the engine over with a towel over the cylinder head and tons of fuel came out of the cylinders.
I put the plugs back in a turned on the master switch again and carefully held my finger over the opening of the breather hose into the breather bottle and a stream of fuel was running into the bottle.
Soooooo, with the breather hose high up on the block, I was thinking there is a lot of gas IN the engine. I was correct. When I drained the oil pan, I got over 2 gallons of oil/gas!!!
I changed the relay for the fuel pump but that did not help. Luckily I had a second car there that I was going to do the test day with so I took the ECU from it but that did not cure the problem. I left the spare ECU in the car and got another relay.
That fixed the problem. A new ECU and a new relay.
The original ECU has a couple of shorted wires inside that make the number 4 injector open and the fuel pump run. This was the second event on the car.
After draining the engine, hoses, oil cooler and changed the oil and filter I started the car and it ran fine. I changed the oil and filter again and ran the car in the next test session where it ran fine. I qualified 4th so the car was running OK.
So here is my message, if the car will not turn over and you have a good battery, pull the plugs and look inside of the cylinders and see if there is a puddle of fuel on the pistons. If so, try another ECU and fuel pump relay. And change your oil, clean out the oil cooler and lines and a new oil filter. Probably do the fuel filter also.
The next day, Mike Davies and Kevin from Comprent said it is a problem with a few of the ECU's. It's a problem that we need to know about.
I had help on this issue from Duane Neyer and his crew guy Chris and Mark Eaton. We got it figured out and the car ran great in the races the next day.
There is a problem with a FEW of the ECU's that short the fuel relay that make the pump run and not shut off. It effect the number 4 injector.
At Daytona this weekend my car would not turn over. It did a weak plug fire when I turned on the ignition switch (!) but the starter would not turn the engine over. It was strange to get a plug to fire by just turning on the ignition switch and not pushing the starter button. I knew something electrical was going on.
So, I charged the battery for 30 min and it still would not turn the engine over. Hummm, now I put in a new starter, battery and master switch. Still, the engine would not turn over. However the ground cable for the battery got really hot and started smoking.
We pushed the car outside and tried to push start it but the rear wheels would not turn when the clutch was released. We did this twice and realized there was something else wrong. The engine was seized!
I notice as we pushed the car back into the garage that there was a fuel leak. Great, another problem...
All the fuel fittings were tight but there was fuel leaking down the back side of the engine. I traced it to the throttle body. Then I noticed another puddle and it was from the breather bottle.
I emptied the breather bottle and it was mostly fuel and some oil. How did fuel get into the bottle....
I removed the spark plugs and looked inside of the cylinders and they were full of fuel. I left the master switch on but the IGNITION SWITCH OFF and turned the engine over with a towel over the cylinder head and tons of fuel came out of the cylinders.
I put the plugs back in a turned on the master switch again and carefully held my finger over the opening of the breather hose into the breather bottle and a stream of fuel was running into the bottle.
Soooooo, with the breather hose high up on the block, I was thinking there is a lot of gas IN the engine. I was correct. When I drained the oil pan, I got over 2 gallons of oil/gas!!!
I changed the relay for the fuel pump but that did not help. Luckily I had a second car there that I was going to do the test day with so I took the ECU from it but that did not cure the problem. I left the spare ECU in the car and got another relay.
That fixed the problem. A new ECU and a new relay.
The original ECU has a couple of shorted wires inside that make the number 4 injector open and the fuel pump run. This was the second event on the car.
After draining the engine, hoses, oil cooler and changed the oil and filter I started the car and it ran fine. I changed the oil and filter again and ran the car in the next test session where it ran fine. I qualified 4th so the car was running OK.
So here is my message, if the car will not turn over and you have a good battery, pull the plugs and look inside of the cylinders and see if there is a puddle of fuel on the pistons. If so, try another ECU and fuel pump relay. And change your oil, clean out the oil cooler and lines and a new oil filter. Probably do the fuel filter also.
The next day, Mike Davies and Kevin from Comprent said it is a problem with a few of the ECU's. It's a problem that we need to know about.
I had help on this issue from Duane Neyer and his crew guy Chris and Mark Eaton. We got it figured out and the car ran great in the races the next day.