Can't get right.

[k26]

I've been a member for over two years, but this is my first post. I've spent many hours reading mostly in the repair forum while trying to get my Festiva going. I have a 1990 FI manual with no rust at all. I passed by a used car lot one day and saw my Festiva. It was love at first sight. The car wouldn't start and the lot owner said that an employee let it "get hot." I went back that night and found that I could start it with starter fluid & also noted that i did not hear the fuel pump running. Pulled it away from the lot with little invested.

With the help of my Dad and my Boss, I have tinkered with the Festiva off and on over the past two years and have made the following repairs. New fuel pump and filter, remanufactured injectors, plugs and wires, timing and drive belts, remanufactured head (cam,valves,seals,etc.) Prior to installing the head, the car would start and run very rough. When reset, timing would jump 180 degrees causing me to opt for the new head based on the assumption that I had some type of valve issue.

Now it will not start. It hits and fires, but won't keep going. I have adequate pressure on the fuel rail and have checked the injectors electrical signals with borrowed noid lights. Cylinders 1 and 4 build slightly higher pressure that 2 and 3, but all appear adequate. There is plenty of fire.

Any ideas if my problem is electrical or mechanical? It sounds just like a car with a bad fuel pump, but the fuel is there. I LOVE this car, not running is not an option. Any ideas appreciated.

[Seth]

check your intake. the air flow sensor might need tweaked. (its on the filter box) its MAF or VAF. cant remember.

[David88]

^^^ That is a good on to try. Maybe your plug wires got routing got accidentaly switched. It can happen easy enough.

I bought a Festy one time for $100. I hit and mis-fired and backfired some. I ran terrible and with a Bad miss and sounded horrible and a ran little hot. My Brother and My Dad and I were looking at it scratching our heads. We came back from lunch and it hit me. I went and checked the plug wire routing against my running Festy. It was all wrong. Corrected it and it was fine. The plugs were new. So the P.O. must have messed up on the wires and gave up on it.

[k26]

Wires are all in the right spot, but I don't have any of the air intake from the filter even hooked up to the throttle body. Would this keep the car from starting? I'm not at all familiar with how the air flow sensor would effect starting.

[David88]

Yes it definatly would. When I bought my yellow car it was wrecked and the air filter box and sensor was stored in the back hatch area. The car actualy started, but if you touched the gas pedal the engine would immediatly stall. I t sounds like thats the issue. Try plugging that in and see how it does. Also after the second wreck the car ran rough. It took me a while to find that the tube from the throttle body to the filter box was cracked. I sealed it with silicon caulk a it ran smooth.

[SIBladerunner]

^^^^yes it needs that sensor in order for the fuel pump to run. MAF is actually a VAF. Called a Vane Air Flow meter, when air moves through it the vanes move along a resistor and this allows the ECU to know how much fuel to put into the engine. There is also a switch inside the VAF that runs the fuel pump in order to keep the engine running. I have never seen a MAF on a Festy. All the ones I've seen are VAF. I have an extra one left over from my swap let me know if you need a new one. I can sell it to you cheap.

[Dave G]

Wires are all in the right spot, but I don't have any of the air intake from the filter even hooked up to the throttle body.

That's the problem right there (as others have said :-)).

[Seth]

on my car sometimes it would start and stall out, and sometimes it wouldnt start at all without it hooked up.

[k26]

I'll try these remedies later this week and post back. Also plan to dump the fuel and start over. Smells old. Thanks for all the tips, hope to be rollin on my 12's soon.

[jglutz]

All of the above sound like a great start.
IF all elese fails...assume the timming belt is off by a tooth...mark the distributor body to the head then loosen it an swing it either full colockwise or counter clockwise...if the car starts the timing belt is off. This is not hard to do on a festiva.

[FestYboy]

off one tooth would still start (in either direction, i tried it) i'm saying VAF as well

[JoDan]

Even if the timing was off, without the VAF hooked up it won't start. I found that out when i was changing my belts and unhooked the VAF for better access and tried to start it up without installing and it would just start and stall.

[k26]

OK. Hooked up the air flow sensor and all the associated duct work. It now starts & runs. Problem is, it smokes like a mosquito sprayer. If I tear it back down and replace the rings/bearings will it solve the problem. That job is over my head, but so was replacing the head. I have some great friends with mechanical skill who are willing to help. Do you think this will solve the problem now?

[FestYboy]

did you replace the valve guide seals when the head was off? does the smoke go away after 5 min?

[k26]

I put in a remanufactured head with cam. All seals were new as it was all reworked. I let it idle for a couple of minutes and then drove it once around the yard. No more than five minutes total, but it never got better.