Mike,
If the plunger is moving freely now and all
injectors spray a nice pattern and are even I can see two
possibilities.
One, there is a huge vacuum leak and incoming air
chooses the path of least resistance, hence the metering flap will not move at
all. You have to check all vacuum connection paying special attention to the one
on the underside of the intake manifold. This is the one that goes to the idle
speed motor. It's hard to reach being underneath the intake manifold but is the
largest and probably the easiest one to dislodge. If this hose is off it will
create a vacuum leak large enough to completely bypass the metering plate. Been
there, done that.
Two, the metering plate doesn't
move a whole lot when cranking or at idle. You can barely see the movement.
Even at full throttle the plate doesn't move all the way down... The movement is
very slight. It's possible that it is actually moving but you don't notice it
expecting a much larger movement. In that case your mixture adjustment is
probably way off and you're not getting enough fuel. In your previous posts you
have mentioned that you did try leaning out the mixture. You will have to
readjust it now. Keep in mind that this is a VERY sensitive adjustment! And I
mean VERY SENSITIVE! When monitoring the lambda cycle with a dwell meter a
quarter of a turn will take you all the way from way too lean to way too rich.
I've heard/read a lot of comments saying that you should go half of a turn
at a time but that is wrong. A quarter of a turn is more than the lambda system
can compensate for. I would say that if you are at the lowest limit of the
system and turn the screw a quarter of a turn you will actually overshoot and go
over the highest limit. If you want to move your mixture by 10% on the dwell
meter you don't actually turn the screw, you just exert some pressure on the
allen key and that is enough. Let me say this again - it is VERY
sensitive.
IF and only IF you are
absolutely sure that you don't have any vacuum leaks you can start adjusting the
mixture. Remember to plug the hole after each and every adjustment. It has to be
blocked for the mixture to be correct. If it's not covered it is considered a
vacuum leak.
Here's what I would do to get
the engine running. Oh, you definitely need a dwell meter connected to the
lambda circuit. Without it you can get the engine running but you will not be
able to get the mixture right. You will probably get it outside of the
capability of the lambda system to compensate or you might get bad RPM
hunting...
Connect your dwell meter. Turn
the screw a quarter of a turn towards rich. Plug the hole! Crank the engine
watching the dwell meter. If it doesn't start do another quarter turn. The dwell
meter will tell you if the system is even trying to adjust the mixture. If the
needle stays in the middle of the range it is not even trying to adjust because
the mixture is too far off. Keep going and at some point you'll see the needle
start moving to one side and the engine should start or at least try to start.
At this point you should move the adjustment screw NO more that 1/10 of a turn
at a time. Remember that you can't really move the screw with the engine
running. By doing so you create a vacuum leak and when inserting the key you
actually move the metering flap down. Make sure your battery is fully
charged!
Keep in mind that with the
engine cold the O2 sensor might not respond at first. Once you get the
engine running the sensor will heat up and you'll start getting some readings
other than the constant 50%.
Once you get the engine running
and it is running fairly well you can let it warm up. You do the final
adjustment with the engine at operating temperature. Here's how to do the final
adjustment.
With the engine at operating
temperature raise the RPM to about 2000-2500 for about 20-30 seconds. Let it
return to idle and watch the dwell meter. At idle it should swing between about
45 and 55% full scale. I mention full scale because dwell
meters usually go up to 90% so the middle point will read 45% instead of
50%. If your dwell scale goes to 90% then you should see the correct swing will
be between 40 and 50% INDICATED which is 45 to 55% actual. Remember that the
longer the engine is at idle the further from the middle the needle might move.
This is because of spark plug fouling and O2 sensor cooling. Raise the idle
again for 20 seconds to get accurate reading. BTW, as you raise the idle you
will see the dwell swing getting faster and smaller. At about 2500 RPM it will
swing no more than 5% very quickly. It might move off of 50% but that is
ok.
If you move the mixture outside
of the lambda system range the needle will return to 50% steady reading. Go back
1/10 of a turn and watch the needle swing. It has to move like a pendulum back
and forth.
With some practice you can do
small adjustments without shutting the engine off. Just make sure you don't
press down with the allen key or you'll kill the engine.
Ok, I think this post is long
enough for now ;). Do the above and report your findings. Don't skip any steps
and make sure you have no vacuum leaks.
You can contact me directly if
you need more help with the adjustments. I've done it so many times I can almost
do it with my eyes closed ;)
PS. I will send you PM about the
rear window glass. Thanks.
Greetings from
Poland!
Tom Niemczewski
Vin 6149 plus 2418, 3633, 5030, 16473,
17086
Google earth: 52°25'17.66"N, 21° 1'58.40"E
www.deloreana.com
Sent: Monday, November 11, 2013 4:18 AM
Subject: [DML] UPDATE TO STARTING PROBLEMS
Okay, here’s the latest on the starting problems I have been having.
As previously noted, the plunger was stuck in the fuel distributor. I
was able to free it up with no damage to the unit. After cleaning, It slid
in and out very easily, so I commenced to putting everything back
together. Double checked and triple checked all connections.
Everything was where it should be.
I had cleaned and tested all the injectors-----all six were opening at 54
to 55 psi with good spray patterns and all shut off at 49 to 50 psi.
All spark plugs were clean and gapped at .026. The idle speed motor and
the frequency valve were both humming. The cold start valve was working as
advertised.
Connected the battery and cranked. No
fire at all. Tried a couple more times, about 10 seconds each and still no
fire. Didn’t notice any fuel smell in the tailpipes so I pulled #3 and #6
plugs----both dry as a bone. I then pulled the injectors for 3 and 6 and
put the in catch cans. Cranked again for about 10 seconds. Injectors
are not opening. Pushed down on the air intake and got resistance but it
went down as predicted. When released, it came right back up. I had
the wife crank the engine while I watched the engine----much to my surprise, the
air intake flapper never moved at all while cranking. Why? Any ideas
out there?
So here’s my question-----How can I go from an
over rich condition with a stuck plunger to a no gas at all when the only
thing I changed was freeing up the plunger in the distributor.
Tom, I saw you post about needing a rear
window. Contact me offline. I have a lead on one.
Mike TPS
1630
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