Running a little TOO rich??

[rixGAphx]

At rush hour last evening, I floored my GA to merge into the exit lane, and she responded.
Well, kinda.

The ‘Check Engine’ idiot light started flashing, so I exited immediately and stopped on a side street.
The idiot light was still flashing, and the engine was running rough. No other idiot lights were displayed, and I turned the ignition ‘off’.

I checked the engine, and it was still there.

No loose wires, hoses, or mechanical things, no leaking vapors or liquids.
30 seconds later I cranked the engine, and she fired. But the engine was rough, like a misfire, and the car smelled of raw gasoline. :eek:
I checked all around the car for leaking gasoline. No signs.

I pulled out my OBD-II scanner and it reported “PO302 – Cylinder 2 Misfire”. # 2 wire and plug were secure, and the plugs are only 4 months old.

I turned the engine to ‘start’. I heard/felt the starter engage and give a big ‘Harrumph’ to the engine, but the engine wouldn’t crank. Repeated, with same result.
“Holy Crap!” I thought, “Feels like Hydrolock! Possibly from a blown headgasket??”

I pulled the spark plugs, and they were all clean and dry.

I reconnected the battery and cranked the engine.
“OMG!!!”
While sitting in the driver’s seat and looking under the raised hood, I saw a spray of clear liquid shoot 8 FEET in front of the car!!

Turns out the No. 2 injector was stuck wide open, and the fuel pump FILLED the cylinder with gasoline while the ignition was ‘on’ but engine wasn’t running (for the OBD-II scan).

I was hydralocked, but with GASOLINE!!!
Good thing there was no spark, or I would have been in a fire-breathing GAsaurus!! :blake:

AAA towed me home. I’ll pickup parts and fix this Demon Pontiac tonight.

Wish me luck.
-Rick

[Old Guy]

WOW!!! :wow:

[Colin]

Originally posted by rixGAphx
I checked the engine, and it was still there.
-Rick That's always reassuring . :lol:

[Old Guy]

:funny: How did I miss that????

By the way Colin....the other day you said I was the oldest fossil on the GAOC. I just noticed something......I'm not....It's Rick!!! :old:

[mthegodfather]

WOW i hope everything is ok with the GA.

[Colin]

Originally posted by Old Guy
By the way Colin....the other day you said I was the oldest fossil on the GAOC. I just noticed something......I'm not....It's Rick!!! :old: Yeah , i was hoping you wouldn't notice that . I think he's got 3 yr's on ya . :lol:

[Riley1123d]

Oh man, good luck with the car! that coulda been a very bad situation..

[Gimli]

Holy crap, hydrolocked by fuel, that's the first time I hear that one...

Good luck with the repair, I hope you can make it all it used to be.

[4kQuad]

I would pull the coil wire to what ever cylinder it is Before removing the spark plug and spinning the motor.

Yea, you knew that , but................

shoot stick a siphen hose down there and get a liter or two back. Not sure where it will go if you just spin the motor to get read of it.

GastroLocked never heard of that before, maybe I just made it up.

Good Luck.

[rixGAphx]

Yeah, I'm and old fart :old:

But owning a GA keeps me fit, what with all the pushing, walking, and busriding I have to do. :roll2: :D :D

Originally posted by 4kQuad
I would pull the coil wire to what ever cylinder it is...
Since I suspected hydrolock, I had to pull ALL the plugs to be certain, not just the suspect No. 2.

So, the coil pack was removed to access the @#$% three rear plugs, and that meant disconnecting all plug wires and the low-voltage signal wires to the coil pack.

All basic spark sources were therefore eliminated, and all plugs out, before I even cranked the engine that first time, but ya never know with Delco electrics...



shoot stick a siphon hose down there and get a liter or two back. Not sure where it will go if you just spin the motor to get rid of it.
Yeah, I'm not gonna try spraying the rest of it out!!
Maybe an old turkey baster with a length of vacuum hose will withdraw enough of the residual.

I'm going to give the engine an oil change (or two), since I'm certain some of the gas has seeped past the rings into the crankcase.


GastroLocked never heard of that before, maybe I just made it up.


Good term!! :thumbsup:

I can rebuild a Holley carb in an hour, but this is my first time messing with FI.
I fully expect to foul up at least one thing (or more, if I follow my Chilton's :eek: )

Luck is needed, and appreciated!!

I'll let you all know how it goes this evening/tomorrow.

Thanks,
-Rick

[92CamaroRS]

Originally posted by rixGAphx


I can rebuild a Holley carb in an hour,
-Rick


does it also work properly after being rebuilt? if so i may have a way to make you quite a bit of money as no one around here can rebuild a damn holley carb and have it work right EVER again. usually the rule at the track is you run a holley until it needs to be rebuilt then you go and buy a new one.

[Old Guy]

really??? I've rebuilt more than a few in my time and they always worked fine.

[92CamaroRS]

Originally posted by Old Guy
really??? I've rebuilt more than a few in my time and they always worked fine.

well they can get them to run. but they just never run right ever again. thats why i bought my Edelbrock. can't get much more simpler than that.

[rixGAphx]

Originally posted by 92CamaroRS
well they can get them to run. but they just never run right ever again. thats why i bought my Edelbrock. can't get much more simpler than that.
It's all in the damned jetting, and that's where Edelbrock rocks with the external metering needles.
I think Edelbrock's design also puts less load on the throttle shaft bushings, so things stay tighter and leak-free longer.

The thing with jetting a Holley is that even newly-jetted it's (usually) going back onto an engine with a mechanical distributor that had been modified (weights and springs) for the old, worn jets.
The carb is now fine, but the driver wonders why his 'new' carb isn't worth a shat. He needs to re-curve the distributor to agree with the restored performance of the 'new' carb.

It's a balancing act, and the easiest way is often to return to square 1 on both carb and dist, then tune them together as a system.

That's what the 'puter in a modern FI/Elec Ign engine does.

Have a great weekend.
-Rick

[Colin]

Originally posted by 92CamaroRS
does it also work properly after being rebuilt? if so i may have a way to make you quite a bit of money as no one around here can rebuild a damn holley carb and have it work right EVER again. usually the rule at the track is you run a holley until it needs to be rebuilt then you go and buy a new one. Holleys have a tendency to warp , you have to check the throttle plate and metering plates for flatness . Most times they are warped after awhile and will cause problems no amount of tuning will get rid of . I'll probably get flamed for this , but i never liked them for a street driven vehicle , they are a POS . :P

[HeyDace]

I've had an injector do that before. I had it in my bay and above me is a heater, so when I cranked it over to clear the cylinder the fuel shot up and hit the heater, all I saw was a ball of flame. I went home for the rest of the day.

Holley's are very touchy, I set them up for a couple guys that run 1/4 mile. Helps to have a sniffer.