jginther1981

Okay, so I found out what the raw gas smell was, I had some leaking injectors. Thought fixing these would fix my staring problem but it did not. The car ranks but will not turn over. I did a complete tune up, (cap, rotor, plugs, wires, pcv valve, air filter,fuel filter) The engine started twice after this and will not start again. I don't know if it is because it is pretty cold outside (21 degrees) or what. I hear my fuel pump come on and everything. I pulled the connector from my cold start injector and saw it was completely corroded. Does anyone know if this would keep my 81 Z from turning over or does anyone have any suggestions as to what else it could be?

NismoPick

A motor needs 3 things to start:
-air
-proper fuel
-proper spark

Are the injectors spraying? Is there spark at each plug?

jginther1981

yes there is spark and fuel. could i have some how thrown the timing off to where it would start in warmer weather but not when it is about 13 degrees colder?

NismoPick

I would say it is your cold start valve then.

jginther1981

what would be good to clean the corrosion with nismo?

NismoPick

For the connector, you could dip it in LimeAway, CLR, or similar household lime / hard water remover, then spray w/ electrical contact cleaner to remove any residue, the dab on some dielectric grease (or as Rogerz says, Corrosion-X and Deoxit).

I also suggest pulling the entire cold start valve and cleaning the spray tip as it's commonly covered in carbon buildup.

jginther1981

thanks nismo

WildmaN

Also it could be your AFM (air flow meter) or CHTS (cylinder head temperature sensor) It either of those are faulty or bad. It will cause your ECU to dump a lot of fuel. Thus drowning out the cylinders. Try checking those also, it helped me in the past. Good luck.

You could also clean the contacts, and connectors with WD-40 and toothbrush. It has worked for me.

FricFrac

A normal pencil eraser is good for cleaning electrical contacts. You want the normal pencil type - not the ink eraser unless you need something abrassive. A normal pencil eraser is good for cleaning even delicate contacts that are gold plated, etc. Unfortunatley in this case its a little tricky getting an eraser inside where the connectors are. Since most of these types of connectors in our cars are bronze and not a plating you can use a piece of emery cloth streched across a thin stiff board like a popsicle stick or a small sloted screw driver tip. Something small enough to get in between the contact and the plastic housing so you can rub the oxide off the connector. You should get a good shiny polished surface. Cramalin or Deoxit are also good contact cleaners. Less is more with these electrical contact cleaners.... use as little as possible for the best contact.

Remember that Dielectric grease means that it's grease that doesn't conduct electricity so where your contact isn't really tight you are going to prevent conduction. Sure you'll keep water out but you're also preventing a proper contact as well. Dielectric grease is really only for the boots on your spark plugs, etc. If you have to use it put it around the connector and avoid getting it on the contact itself. Best solution is to cut off the offending connectors and use a proper water proof connector or clean the contact and use a piece of heat shrink that will water proof the connector with either a hot glue inner lining or meltable inner wall.