I want to get my engine started

[joebreck117]

We all know efi engines are much more complex than carb'd, seeing as you can start a carbed engine without too much involved.
What all needs to be plugged in in order to start my efi b3?
Or better yet, what doesn't need to be plugged in?
Is it ok for the lights, radio, A/C / heater, seat belts...to be unplugged?
how about the cluster?

[joebreck117]

Guys. 28 hits, and no responses?I just want to know how much I can take off and still work on getting the engine running. It was a great engine before all this.

Joe

[skeeters_keeper]

Well I'll give a quick shot at it... keep in mind I haven't actually tried to run the engine w/ it stripped to bare minimums.

As you well know for carb'd or FI to run you need: air, fuel, spark. For your FI engine to run (albeit perhaps poorly) you will need the VAF to measure air flow, your disty+ coil setup to take care of ignition, and your injector harness to take care of fuel delivery (and of course fuel pressure supplied by a fuel pump somewhere). If you can take care of those things you should be able to get the engine to run w/o it in the car.

You should not need coolant temp sensor, oil pressure sensor, TPS, o2 sensor, seat belts (lol), instrument cluster, etc in order for the engine to run... keep in mind this is run, NOT drive, and probobly not idle real well.

any of the extra engine sensors/controls you can hook up won't hurt but their not necessary. Does that answer your question?

One more thing - if the engine is in the car there is a clutch safety switch to keep the engine from cranking if the clutch isn't pushed in, if thats not connected you may need to bypass it or just crank the starter directly from the battery. As far as i know the only other switch inside the car that actually could affect the starting/running of the engine (excluding ignition of course), is the inertia switch for the fuel pump.

let us know how it works out!

[joebreck117]

What happens when oil gets into a cylinder. Does it not let it turn over?
Better yet, 4 cylinders.

[skeeters_keeper]

if the cylinder(s) are full of oil, it will not turn over... trying to do so may cause damage. If it is only a little oil it'll be fine.

If you let it sit for a while the oil will run down past the rings; it shouldn't stay in the combustion chamber.

one question... what have you done?? lol.

[joebreck117]

nothing yet. the car is too far away right now...
when it rolled, i know that oil went up through the intake manifold, through the throttle body and into the intake tube. sitting there, a lot of oil came out of the tube via the VAF and spots where the tube disassembles...

i would imagine, like you said, any oil that got into the cylinders would have seeped back down passed the rings...but it wouldn't turn over.

lets see...the day of the accident, we flipped the car back over and i climbed in through the window, to try to start it. no go, no go, then it start ran for a little bit then stopped suddenly. something had shorted causing my fog lights to stay on, which killed the battery. i tried to start it a week later, jumping it with my stepdad's tacoma and ... lets see, i can't write this noise....
basically it sounded like a drained battery. it didn't have the power to turn over. and the lights on the tacoma dimmed every time i tried to start it.

i think i might get another battery next time i go up there...
btw, thanks for the help, keeper of skeeter.

Joe.

Edit: I forgot to say...the sudden stop was sort of a jolt, like when you get off the clutch pedal and you're gear, while you're sitting still. Now, there was a lot going on, and i honestly don't remember if the car killed on it's own or by me letting out the clutch.
Maybe I'll try to push start it...

[skeeters_keeper]

Sounds like perhaps something shorted out in the engine harness, hard to say though. Check the fuel pump shutoff switch on the drivers side rear strut tower, it has as little red button on top... it should be down. since you say it ran for a little I doubt this was tripped, though it should have been.

I've been in two fairly serious accidents and it has never gone off; I don't think they go off as easily as they should.

well, let us know how it goes!

[joebreck117]

that would be the inertia switch you're talking about...but actually i was surprised to find that it had not been tripped...guess i'll have to sit and think

[yblock]

I had this happen. car sat for two weeks. oil did not leave the cylinders. pull the spark plugs an don't have any thing within 15 feet of the front of the car an spin it over.

[Damkid]

what i would do is check for fuel and spark, if either one isn't working then trace it back til you find the problem, I.E. if there's no fuel pressure, check if the fuel pump is working etc.