Strange engine problem.

[michael everson]

I finally got my engine fired up this weekend. Ran into a strange problem though. the left side of the engine is not doing anything. It is completely cold even after idling for several minutes. Car runs terrible. If I unplug both left side coil packs, nothing changes. I think that side of the engine is dead. here is what I have checked so far.

Coil packs fire plugs when removed from the engine.

Injector pulse is good and I can hear the injectors opening with a stethoscope.

Injector wiring is good all the way back to the ECU.

Coil pack wiring is good back to the ECU

removed injectors and fired them with a battery. They are not clogged.

Injectors and coil packs have 12 volts and good ground with key on.

fuel is present in the rail but I don't know how much pressure there is.

Compression is 160 at both cylinders.

Any ideas? I have fuel (I think) spark and compression.

Thanks Mike

[RM1SepEx]

timing... I just had a similar problem with a Miata, the timing jumped a gear and broke off the pin that holds it in place... was a mystery that took a while to figure out. BTW it was caused by a new, OEM Mazda spring loaded tensioner pulley failure within 30 miles of the repair... engine just chugged and stopped after an autocross run...

[michael everson]

Should have mentioned that the engine ran perfect when removed from the donor. never opened it up. Not even a timing belt.
Mike

[metalmaker12]

I am surprised you have not started it yet. Check your timing marks, sounds like somehow it jumped timing, which is pretty hard ( impossible) if you did not run it. If compression is good and timing is good, than something electrical is wrong, loose connector, loose coil packs,wiring etc

[michael everson]

I am going to try pinching off the return fuel line and see if that improves things. Maybe I have a bad fuel pressure regulator.
Mike

[Hindsight]

I read in several places (including the factory repair manual) that if the crankshaft pulley is rotated backwards on the Subaru engines, that the timing belt is likely to jump a tooth. However, I think I read somewhere that this isn't a problem on any of the turbo motors as they have some sort of mechanism in place to prevent this from happening (which the NA motors don't have). What engine are you using?

[longislandwrx]

I'm also guessing fuel issue. do you have a full tank/ enough voltage/good ground at the fuel pump? Did you mix up your fuel lines?

[Quiny]

Mike check polarity at the fuel pump, you may even want to lift the pump out and make sure the in tank wiring is correct. I have seen a backward running pump do very strange things.

[Mechie3]

Jumping a single tooth isn't a problem. I've autocrossed with a single tooth off and while my AFR's were a little different, it wasn't a completely different animal.

Are the spark plug wires in the right direction? I did something once and flipped the wires. There are two clips, a white and a black. This isn't meant to be rascist, but a history lesson. In the 1960's, white rode on the front of the bus, black rode on the back of the bus. Same thing with the clips. White in front, black in back. When I flipped them, the car ran really rough (spark was 180deg off), smelled like raw fuel, and popped and banged when revved.

[michael everson]

coil plugs are in the proper place. I will remove the pump and check, but its getting at least some fuel because it runs but only on the right side of the motor. I ran it for several minutes like that. No real gas smell out the exhaust though.
Strange that the driver side wouldnt get fuel but the passenger side does. It starts at the driver side rail.
Mike

[michael everson]

Also, the engine does not respond to any throttle movement.
Mike

[Mechie3]

Is it a DBW setup?

[skullandbones]

Mike,

Do you have a pic of your rails and how they are plumbed? I blew air through each hole and passage on my new system to make sure I was not occluding any part of the rail system (either fitting or foreign object). It does sound odd that the side that is fed first is the problem.

WEK.

[Quiny]

Mike how is it running now? Is off idle ok or does it hesitate? Let me know if you still want to rescale the MAF sensor.

[michael everson]

Ok the engine runs pretty good now. Not really sure what the issue was. I suspect that my drivers side coils were not getting a good ground. Will still need some tuning, but at least it runs on its own. Quiny. Yes I will still need your assistance.
Mike