Spinnaker Posted December 29, 2007 Share Posted December 29, 2007 Hello everyone, I have searched and followed many of the recommendations in many of there posts. Well here is the the info. I have an 88 GL SPFI Wagon with 155K on the clock. It has NEW NGK plugs, Cap & rotor, fuel filter, PCV valve, and some questionable fuel hosing. The problem is that the car will not start. Every once and a while it will catch and fire up but it usually dies just as quickly. Before this issue popped up, to start the car you had to hold the pedal to the floor to get it to fire (it would smell really rich when it would fire). I checked the timing belts and they are ok. They are not missing any teeth. I am getting spark. I am getting fuel, I think it may be too much fuel. U-check and D-check both repeat 5 blinks, I assume that means no codes are present. I have read about the CTS and I think that I checked it. It was green with corrosion. I added diealectric grease to the terminal but that is it. What would you guys suggest that I do next?:-\ I really appreaciate you help!! Thanks, Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted December 29, 2007 Share Posted December 29, 2007 Hi Tim Sure sounds classic FI Coolant sensor problem. (or a tottal plugged up air filter, or a huge vacuum leak) Also sounds like you cleaned the coolant sensor for the dash gauge not the one for the fuel injection sysytem. Did you have to take apart a barrel shaped connector? This is the sensor you want. The sensor that the wire connects directly to is the dash gauge sensor. You can test the FI CTS with a multimeter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted December 29, 2007 Share Posted December 29, 2007 Yes - it does sound rich. Pedal to the floor while cranking puts the computer in "flood clear mode" and cuts off fuel flow. I second the CTS possibility. Clean the contacts first. GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinnaker Posted December 29, 2007 Author Share Posted December 29, 2007 Ok, the air filter is new too. I also cleaned the MAF housing and elements. I think that I was working with the sensor from the dash gauge. I will go back and look for the CTS. I also will check for any vacuum leaks. Thanks for the help! I'll let you know what I find. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted December 29, 2007 Share Posted December 29, 2007 If the other good tips don't prove to be the problem I suggest you check the fuel pressure regulator to see if it may be bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinnaker Posted December 29, 2007 Author Share Posted December 29, 2007 Ok, so I played with the CTS that is mounted to the radiator. I cleaned it and applied some dielectric grease. It made no difference. So I started double checking everything. I found that I have fuel coming through the filter and upto what I believe is the throttle body. When we turn the key on there is a spurt of fuel... So the fuel pump is priming... Then, if we crank it over we get a stream of fuel... so that must mean that the fuel system is ok up to this point. With the fuel lines reinstalled we try to start the car. Now, with the throttle body exposed, as we crank I see no fuel entering into the engine. If I manual add fuel down the intake I can get the car to start. So this leads me to believe that it IS the pressure regulator. Is there a good way to inspect the reg? Or have we now established that it is the problem? Is there a 'catch screen' that I may need to clean? Thank you guys so much for you help! Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted December 29, 2007 Share Posted December 29, 2007 The FI CTS is not mounted in the radiator that is the switch for the electric fan Look below the upper rad hose connection on the engine. Close to the dash gauge sensor but has wires directly connected to the sensor, not a spade like the dash gauge sensor. Do you have a multimeter to check the sensor? (I'll see if I can find a picture of the location in the service manual) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted December 29, 2007 Share Posted December 29, 2007 Cougar makes a very valid point about the FPR but if the ECU is confused and does not know the engine is cold it will not tell the injector to open as if it were cold. . Since the CTS is a very easy to test sensor and the FPR requires a fuel pressure gauge to check..well Good luck, nice to see someone apply the advise given and not give up - congrats to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinnaker Posted December 30, 2007 Author Share Posted December 30, 2007 Ok, So here we go. I went to the JY and grabbed another FPR to swap in. It made no difference. I pulled the CTS connector apart and cleaned the contacts and add the dielectric grease here too. I was not able to get a ohm reading with my fluke meter. This leads me to believe that I may have a bad CTS... Is it common at all for CTS to go out? And if so, do they slowly get progressively worse? Would that explain why it was hard to start prior to this no-start issue? What would you recommend that I do from this point? Thanks again! Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 I think the CTS sensor for the ECU has two leads rather than one lead as for the dash gauge. Are you working on the correct one? There should be a resistance reading between the two leads though I am not sure how much it should be. It may be around 400 ohms when cold and go lower when warmed up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinnaker Posted December 31, 2007 Author Share Posted December 31, 2007 Yeah, I am working with the correct CTS now. It is the one with two leads that go into a greenish barrel/weather pack connector. I was getting a ohm reading of 400 but the manual I have said that I should have been getting something closer to 5-11.5K cold. But I may be wrong. I think that I'm going to have to pull the CTS and try to test it in different temp waters to check its operation. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted December 31, 2007 Share Posted December 31, 2007 Looking at some info I have it looks like you are correct. The reading will be between 7-11.5k ohms when the temp is around 14 degrees. At 68deg F. it should be 2-3k ohms. At 122deg it should be 700-1000 ohms. It appears the sensor is bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinnaker Posted December 31, 2007 Author Share Posted December 31, 2007 Ok, good to know that I am on the correct track. I guess that I will go to the JY and pull a few to see if I can get a good one. There is a real nice GL with only 60k on it.... Maybe there is a good one on the one. Thanks for the help! Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinnaker Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 Ok.... Now I feel like a dumb a$$! It was the CTS....:-\ I finally took my mutimeter to the JY to check on a CTS that was in a similar GL that they had. It appeared to be good so I grabbed it and a couple others so I had a spare or four... Now I just have to deal with the damn striped header stud holes! Thanks for all the help guys! Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted January 4, 2008 Share Posted January 4, 2008 Hi Tim, glad you got it fixed. I promised to look it up and I did create a post for it http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=83667&highlight=SPFI Good luck on the other problem, you will find many many threads on a fix. One of the best one I saw was retapping them to SAE 7/16" fine and replacing the studs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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