flooding and cylinder wash?

[acooper198201]

Hello, I am new to the forum, but I now have 2 Festivas, a 90 and a 93.I just picked up the 93 a few days ago. My problem is that initially it is hard to start(I believe due to low compression caused by fuel washing the cylinder walls) but once started it runs smooth but rich. Then, when it has been running for awhile and you shut it off, it will not restart and I believe it is flooding out. I pulled the dipstick and can smell gas on it. I have never dealt with this on an injected vehicle before. Question is, would it more likely be an injector issue, regulator, or ECM?

thank you.

[ryanprins13]

Hello, I am new to the forum, but I now have 2 Festivas, a 90 and a 93.I just picked up the 93 a few days ago. My problem is that initially it is hard to start(I believe due to low compression caused by fuel washing the cylinder walls) but once started it runs smooth but rich. Then, when it has been running for awhile and you shut it off, it will not restart and I believe it is flooding out. I pulled the dipstick and can smell gas on it. I have never dealt with this on an injected vehicle before. Question is, would it more likely be an injector issue, regulator, or ECM?

thank you.

Welcome!
With your new 93 is it turning over fast and not wanting to start right away or turning over a little slow?
Fuel washing like that, with fuel in the oil can also happen from excessive idling, especially when the rings are already worn.
Does it run rough?
My suggestion would be to change the oil and filter, remove all the spark plugs and set the gap to 0.035-0.040, if they are copper and the centre electrode is a little rounded file it flat, check the spark plug and coil wires for age/cracks and pull the cap off and check for corrosion inside it. Unburnt fuel can be from intermittant spark as well.
Then take it for a half hour to hour long highway drive at speeds above 55mph. If the car sat for a long time or was only used to putt around town that may help.
Do you know how old the gas is thats in it? If its more than 2 years old that could be the cause of your starting issue as well.

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[acooper198201]

Thank you.
It turns over fine, will start and die several times before you can keep it running. Once you get it to stay running for about 20 seconds, it runs almost perfectly, I say "almost" because it seems to have a fast idle. The guy I bought it from says it has been sitting for a couple of months, so the gas shouldn't be too old. I drove it home from where I bought it(about 55 miles) at highway speed(got 70mph out of it), when I got home, I shut it off and immediately restarted it just fine. Five minutes later, it wouldn't start. The next morning, started just like it did when I bought it and then ran great. I pulled one plug and it looks good and gaps correctly. Checked spark and got a good, consistent spark, even when it wouldn't start.

[bolokid]

O2 sensor?

[Studebaker]

O2 is the first thing I would check. Then injector cleaning

[ryanprins13]

O2 sensor?

O2 is the first thing I would check. Then injector cleaning

Thank you.
It turns over fine, will start and die several times before you can keep it running. Once you get it to stay running for about 20 seconds, it runs almost perfectly, I say "almost" because it seems to have a fast idle. The guy I bought it from says it has been sitting for a couple of months, so the gas shouldn't be too old. I drove it home from where I bought it(about 55 miles) at highway speed(got 70mph out of it), when I got home, I shut it off and immediately restarted it just fine. Five minutes later, it wouldn't start. The next morning, started just like it did when I bought it and then ran great. I pulled one plug and it looks good and gaps correctly. Checked spark and got a good, consistent spark, even when it wouldn't start.

The first time my 02 sensor went bad i bought either a denso or bosch replacement. Dont remember which but it had 4 wires. Hooked it up the correct way and i lost 17 metric mpg iirc compared to before the sensor went bad. I took one from a junkyard and was back to normal. However even then i dont recall smelling fuel and i for sure did not have an issue with starting. The 02 sensor doesnt turn on until it warms up. It runs off a setting in the ecu until then.

Turning over fine means your battery is good.
Do you have enough power? If you lack a fair bit of power the timing belt may be off a tooth or 2.

But before that i would pull all the plugs and compare them to a spark plug colour chart like this photo. Could be just one cylinder thats bad/one fuek injector stuck open. Could also just be one bad spark plug. You never know what other people do. 17yr old me used junk yard spark plugs and at one point i had spark plugs out of 3 different cars in my festiva. I also had it just last year that after reinstalling my spark plugs one came loose the next day. Im sure i used a torque wrench on all 4 but one did come loose.

And with the gas- i personally dont put much trust in what a seller says when im buying a car. Even normal, good people can get a little weird when selling a car. The gas in the tank could be 5yrs old but they took it around the block a few times a couple months ago. Maybe it was almost out and they had a gerry can of old gas they threw in last minute so the tank would look fuller. Maybe it wasnt actually even driven a few months ago. Anyhow, if it was me i would pull the plug, drain the gas and save it for my lawn mower. Put fresh gas from a top tier station in and some fuel injector cleaner. If the gas comes out with rust or other junk pull the fuel filter and see if you can blow through it. Maybe its plugged.

When i got my first festiva i used the cleaner in this photo. Worked real well. Cleaned everything right up and i started burning a pile of oil. I would never use it again but it cleans good! Lol.
Also make sure the pcv valve is clean and your intake tubing and air fikter are free of oil. That blow-by oil typically smells of fuel.



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