Trouble with newly rebuilt engine

[mlautier]

I have finally installed my newly self rebuilt engine and managed to start it . However i have two problems for which i need help.

The first problem comes from the intrument panel . Before i started the engine the first time all was fine . The rev counter used to hop when cranking the engine . The mileage reading works etc. However now after i fire the engine the mileage reading vanishes , the oil pressure guage marks to the very top ( more than its reading marks ) , the rev counter and the temperature readings are dead. I have checked all the fuses and  they were all fine . Ieven tried different ecu but i still have the same problem.

The second and worst problem  is from the engine itself. When i start it, it seems to be working fine . I have a good idle and no excessive smoke. However as soon as it warms up and the cooling fans switch on , the car starts smoking like hell and starts to idle really fast.  It starts smoking so much that in a few seconds you can barely see anything in a four car garage .I cannot figure out what can be connected to the cooling fans to cause the engine to start smoking so badly at that point in time and always happens when the fans come on and never before.


Any idea what could be going or hints for things to check..

[Herblenny]

First check your water temp. If you are using stock ECU, fans kick in past 100C. Thats pretty warm.

Second, Check your grounds. You\'ll be surprised but lack of grounds to the engine could lead to funny symptoms.

Third, you need to double check your work.. There are so many things that could cause smoke and you need to go thru one thing at a time.

Also, make sure what kind of smoke you are getting.. 1. Gas, 2. Oil, and 3. Coolant!.. Just saying smoke, its near impossible for those who\'s not there to tell you what the problem is... If its gas, check your injectors... Oil, Check your sparks, turbos, take the turbos off and check the inside the manifold and exhaust port....  Coolant, Check for watertemp, turbos, water pump, etc..

good luck..

[mlautier]

The car starts  emitting like orange-black smoke from the exhaust. I also noticed some vapours coming out from the top of the turbo manifold and smell of coolant but i dont see coolant anywhere . Might be a small leak from the turbo coolant hoses. Strangely enough both these symptoms take place exactly when the fans kick in and not before. Cannot tell rigt now what the water temperature is cause the instrument panel is not functioning. Have to install an aftermarket gauge to tell what temperature there is.

Car is still in standard form. I have only upgraded completely intakes including piping and intercooler , exhuast and all the vacuum lines but the rest is still original.

[Herblenny]

Its been a while since I had a stock ECU.. but I\'m pretty sure the fans kick in around 100C.

Turn on your heater and blower at full speed. See if the temp goes down. Also, are you having to put coolant into your system or overflowing?

And the smoke from your tail pipe, does it smell like coolant?

And this orange-black smoke you see is only when the fans kick in?? I think you are linking unrelated things together.. Or it could be that when the fans kick in, you are drawing too much current and not able to give full sparks to your ignition system.... Problem here is that you lack many diagnostic tools... This is the reason, I always recommend getting an Apexi PFC. Its a great way to monitor key infos about the car... which help troubleshoot problems.


Also, does the symptom goes away when RPM is increased?? What happens after the fans kick in and the RPM IS raised to 3k-6k?

[arrouk]

are you sure you connected all the plugs nr the ecu, there is one up behind the glove box that feeds all this info to the dash. i would fix this first as it could affect other areas of the car and mayby the cause of your other problems.

i think if it was an engine problem it would always display these issues so it must be related to somthing that changes.

matt

[mlautier]

When i start the engine from cold it works fine. Smokes normally from the exhaust. Heavy smoking occurs when the fans kick in and it doesnt smell of coolant. I cannot really tell what rpm cause nothing is functioning in the intstrument panel.
Was really interested in getting a pfc but  i\'m not quite sure there is anyone who knows how to set them up here in malta. I then got a tuned ecu by panspeed from japan but i still get the same problems with it.

[mlautier]

Actually i have a dangling plug just underneath the glove box but i didn\'t see were it plugs into . Was quite sure there were some plugs over there that were not in use and i never really bothered. Will try to check it out tonight to see if the plugs has somewhere to go to. Hope that this at least solve one of my problems. The strange thing is that before i actually managed to star my engine the instrument panel used to work and i could see the tacho hopping when i cranked the engine. Also right now i get readings of excessive oil pressure which is constant when the engine is on and the mileage reading functions when the engine is off but disappears when i switch on the engine.

[RobbieRX-7]

are you sure you connected all the plugs nr the ecu, there is one up behind the glove box that feeds all this info to the dash. i would fix this first as it could affect other areas of the car and mayby the cause of your other problems.

i think if it was an engine problem it would always display these issues so it must be related to somthing that changes.

matt

Was just about to say this. There is a plug and socket right up behind the glovebox area.

[Herblenny]

I\'m not sure about the wiring and its location as I\'m LHD and not sure about RHD cars.

Regarding PFC, stock base map is good enough for under 14lb boost (around 1 bar). Also, PFC will display your RPM, speed, etc when your stock gauges don\'t work. If PFC reads nothing, then you might have some wires gone bad from the tranny foward.

Another thing you might be experiencing is Stock ECU going into limp mode. I\'m guessing your ECU light doesn\'t light up as your gauge cluster is shorted out. Check all your connectors and see if it makes any difference? And make sure all the pins in the harness are good. Sometimes they could be pushed out or gets jammed.

Since you can\'t see your RPM, just press the gas and see if you could get it into high RPM... See if the engine is breaking up or not.. or see if the smoke clears up or gets worse. Get someone to smell the exhaust or get someone to rev it up and you smell it. You really need to lock it down what the source of smoke is.. Not knowing that, its just dumb luck that will find the solution.

One more thing... How long from cold start to fans kicking in? is it in 2-5 mins or 10-15 mins?

[mlautier]

Managed to find the bloody plug. It had become hidden underneat the dash . now the car seems to be working fine . Just needs a bit of tuning to the idle . Still have a bit of smoke but i realised that the grounds are not working very well cause at one time i put the headlamps on and the revs went so low that the engine almost stalled. Will get this fixed and then we see what happens after that.

I have also ordered a pfc in the weekend but i have a query on ecu\'s . I also own a knightsport EBSIII and would like to know whether this would function properly in conjuction with the pfc. Anybody has a setup like this? Can the pfc be set up to control boost on the standard twins?

[RobbieRX-7]

The pfc is a stand alone unit. You can\'t use another ecu in conjunction with it. It can be used to control boost properley on stock twins even on a decat exhaust system as long as it\'s mapped properley.