Wow weird problems/Just put engine back together

Bumpysbro · Post by **Bumpysbro** » June 22nd, 2006, 2:28 am

started it up and bam seems to run like s---. engine ticking, finally got all that smoke out of the tail pipe but runs like s---, sounds like the HLA's. and just seems to run poorly. any ideas? how long should i be going easy on my engine, and is this normal hearing weird sounds and sputtering? i just turned it on for the first day today. hope it normal thnx
Jon

Shades · Post by **Shades** » June 22nd, 2006, 2:32 am

I'm assuming you fixed the timing.

Now that it's all together make sure you have the spark plug wires in the right order on the distributor... that's a common mistake made when putting it back together.

Hopefully you didn't bend any valves when you had the timing off... that would make it run like shat. Try do a compression test, just to make sure.

Bumpysbro · Post by **Bumpysbro** » June 22nd, 2006, 3:18 am

well we never started the car with the timing all weird, i checked compression and it seemed good for a engine that we just put together 6 hours ago. 165 per cylinder. could the ticking be caused by bad or crappy oil? i think my throttle sensor is completely off and im not sure if my MAF sensor still works well but see what happens. thnx for the quick reply i appreciate it

atlantamx3 · Post by **atlantamx3** » June 22nd, 2006, 8:49 am

When my engine ran poorly after my swap, I realized that I had switched the sparkplug wires on the distributor and two were in the wrong place.

Once I fixed that small mistake, the engine just purred.

I installed them like this:

1
4 2
3

and they are supposed to be installed like this:

1
3 2
4

Check your plug wire order. What you describe sounds EXACTLY like mine did. The car ran, but ran like crap and was stumbling and had no power and HLA tick everywhere.

atlantamx3 · Post by **atlantamx3** » June 22nd, 2006, 8:51 am

Shades wrote: Hopefully you didn't bend any valves when you had the timing off...

Its a non-interference motor. Impossible to bend the valves.

Shades · Post by **Shades** » June 22nd, 2006, 9:48 am

atlantamx3 wrote:
Shades wrote: Hopefully you didn't bend any valves when you had the timing off...

Its a non-interference motor. Impossible to bend the valves.

I thought it was only the BP... but I guess same design on the B6.

Post by **Custommx3** » June 22nd, 2006, 10:15 am

Check your codes.. could have a sensor unplugged. If the knock sensors are not plugged in, it will run rough.

When you did this rebuild, did you use new plugs? wires? rotor? cap?

Check your plug gap too..

hobbypete · Post by **hobbypete** » June 22nd, 2006, 2:01 pm

I suggest you take the time to verify that the timing belt is correctly installed. Put it wrong by one cog and that's what you'll get - for a while. Of course the plug wires and timing must be correct too.

Bumpysbro · Post by **Bumpysbro** » June 23rd, 2006, 4:39 pm

i am not being flashed a code but could it still be unhooked without a CEL light coming on?an i bought new plug wires, plugs, rotor and cap about 5k miles ago and they look in good shape. we also have a bigg coolant leak. just sprays out where it goes to the heater core, i think its crack so we are just gonna re rout it so i wont have a heater for a while but oh well its 105 outside lol...we also have 2 oil leaks, one on the valve cover for some reason right by the distributor. and another one on the flexplate where the tranny and block connect. that kinda worries me, could be a rear seal or somethin i dunno. i will check these things when i get home and i will tell you guys whats up k. thnx everyone
Jon

WingleBeast · Post by **WingleBeast** » June 23rd, 2006, 4:54 pm

when you break in an engine, dont just take it easy, you need to rev that sucker up!

what i was told to do is get going pretty fast, then drop the gears. like 70 mph in 5th gear, then drop it into fourth so its revving high, let it slow down then drop it into 3rd so its revving high, and so on down the road till your almost idleing in 1st gear

Limegreen mx-3 · Post by **Limegreen mx-3** » June 23rd, 2006, 5:33 pm

who the hell told u that i never do that on a new or rebuild engine. ur just asking for another.

Bumpysbro · Post by **Bumpysbro** » June 23rd, 2006, 7:12 pm

hah ya i know, i heard ur supposed to take it easy let it idle, drive through town easily vary the speeds and not to race the hell out of it. but ya i dont want all my money going to waste lol engine sounds better but still leakin a lil oil from the flexplate. and from the valve cover but other then that seems a lil better. ill keep u updated on what happens

Bumpysbro · Post by **Bumpysbro** » June 24th, 2006, 12:06 am

well took it out for its first test drive drove about a mile down the road felt really sluggish clutch is still giving me problems, and i get to the the station fill it up and bam wont start. im like s---! we kant find out the reason theres either no fuel or no spark. and we search around and sum how we get it to start messin with some things and make it home. we check and theres a bracket that hooks onto the head i guess for grounding and that hooks up to the main switch for the distributor and fuel injectors and that was unhooked and bam started right up. weird, was the circuit just cut cuz of this? or is there still a problem. i noticed the Errr sound from my starter stopped when we connected this? wtf my dad said lol i dunno this car is weird but the throttle sensor is messin up but otherwise idles ok. ill keep u guys updated
Jon

atlantamx3 · Post by **atlantamx3** » June 24th, 2006, 12:49 am

Limegreen mx-3 wrote:who the hell told u that i never do that on a new or rebuild engine. ur just asking for another.

To properly seat the rings-- he is right.

It creates very high vacuum in the cylinder chamber which pushes those oil seal rings out.

http://www.flyinmiata.com/tech/breakin.php

All of our engines are shipped dry. Double check the oil drain plug, install a new quality oil filter and fill the engine with approximately four quarts of straight 30 wt detergent oil. We recommend a change of oil and filter after 25-50 miles, again using straight 30 wt. If you plan to switch to synthetic oil, please wait for at least 1,000 miles.

Use all new coolant lines and clamps to avoid leaks.

Mix anti-freeze and water at the minimum concentration to get the freeze protection that you require. Water transfers heat much better than anti-freeze. Not a bad idea to check or replace the radiator cap while you’re at it, as most of the ones we test fail a pressure test miserably. Jacking the nose of the car up while filling with coolant ensures that the fill point is the high point of the system.

Make sure you have all your ground wires hooked up! Missing grounds can make smoke come out of expensive places.

Have your timing light already hooked up before starting the engine and have an assistant watch for leaks while you start the engine for the first time. We pack the oil pump with engine lube, so oil pressure should come up very quickly. Start the car, watch for oil pressure while your assistant looks for leaks of any kind. Fuel leaks can be especially unpleasant.
Once you have verified oil pressure and no leaks (or fixed any leaks), set your ignition timing while the car is warming up.

DO NOT let the car sit and idle for a long time. Once you’ve got timing set, no leaks and everything sounds and looks good, take the car out on the road.

Keep in mind that there really shouldn’t be any metal to metal contact happening within your engine, other than the rings to the cylinder walls. The rings are the ONLY things we are interested in breaking in or seating. What seats rings is cylinder pressure. Rings and pistons are designed so that cylinder pressure sneaks behind the compression rings and forces them out against the newly honed cylinder wall. Why do I mention this? Because I want you to take your warmed up car out on the road, find a nice straight stretch and do a couple of full-throttle runs in third or fourth gear from about 2500-5500 rpm. Each time you hit 5500-6000 rpm, snap your foot off the gas and let the car coast down to 2500 rpm while in gear, to pull high vacuum in the cylinders. Repeat this step about five times and you should have a nicely mated set of rings and cylinders. NOTE: When I say “full throttle”, I am referring to a normally aspirated engine. For a turbo or supercharged car, modulate the throttle to achieve about zero on your boost gauge, rather than full throttle. This would be roughly equivalent to full throttle in a normally aspirated car.

Take it home, recheck for leaks, make sure fans work, etc and then change the oil.

That’s it! Have fun!

WingleBeast · Post by **WingleBeast** » June 24th, 2006, 12:20 pm

if you take it easy during break in your rings will wear wrong. and then you will have problems when you do rev it up later in time.

trust me, during break in you need to hit top end at least once