Well, some better news on the Spirit. After getting all motovated earlier by fixing the oil leak on the Horizon, and then getting off work a little earlier tonite.. i decided to dig into the spirit and see what the deal was. I was just going to compression check the other 3 cyls to see where they're at, then pull the cam and check for leakdown. I pumped up the other 3 cyls and they were kosher. Just for shits and giggles i did #4 again only to see it pump up to 130.

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Um, ok. Whatever the fuck happened before? All I know now is that I have compression. Did someone return my piston??

I put the spark plug back in and fire it up just to see. Same deal, #4 is still dead. Hmm.. I have dad out with me this time so we go back thru the troubleshooting. Check the plug, wire, check for spark. That's all good. Take off the injector plug again and put the noid light in.. we got injector signal. It almost HAS to be a fuel issue. I put a little bit of gas into the spark plug hole and put the plug in and fire it up.. couldnt really hear if it ran on all 4 at first. Pulled the plug out and it was wet. (I forgot to mention that every time i would run the engine and pull the plug, it was black and dry). Put the plug back in, ran some more (maybe 30 secs), took the plug out and it was dry again. Ran it with the plug out and it really wasnt puffing much out of the hole at all. We're pretty much convinced that either the injector is fried or plugged up damn good. This is shitty because I dont have any extra +40s laying around. I get out the ohm meter and measure a good injector.. then the +40 and they measure the same... Ok, i guess the injector is good.

While just brainstorming ideas with turbo dodge guys on AIM, i stumble upon something with potential. My friend just happened to say that if the FP is too low with the +40s, they dont work. And that #4 would stop first because it's farthest from the FPR. I blew that idea out of the water thinking that the pressure had to be right since i took the whole intake/injectors/AFPR/TB off Larry's engine and put it on mine. I made an effort not to touch anything so it would be already set for me to work off of. They all worked fine on Larry's car, so the FP must be right since i didnt touch it... right? Then the light bulb came on... Larry was running a 2.2... I'm running a 2.5! 2.5s suck quite a bit more fuel than 2.2s do. Well, at WOT at least. I'm not sure about at idle.

Thats where my stopping point was for tonite. I was actually relieved that it WASNT the injector since i didnt want to pull the intake to change it, and to buy a new one on top of that. Tomorrow I'll start it up and crank up the fuel pressure to see what happens. That may be all that's wrong!!! If that doesnt do it, i guess I need to clean the injector and try again. Cross your fingers for me that it's just too low of fuel pressure!!!!!

 

you sure you got spark? swap plug wires. Or even yet if you do get to th einjectors to pull em, swap them around also, see if the prob follows the linjector or not. a 2.5 is only roughyl 13 percent bigger than a 2.2. I really dont think it would casue a problem at idle. Hopefully in your case it does but.............Also start/crank the engine over with the valve cover off, You could have a "slow" valve, meaning it isnt following the cam correctly (partially sticking) causing a loss in Compression when it runs. Just a couple of ideas. I imagine you will keep us posted.

 

I'm sure about the spark.. checked it a few times. Even put in a new plug in case this one was fouling. Whatever the cause it, there's no fuel b/c the plug is always dry when i pull it. I'll do the FP first b/c its the easiest. I dont know about the valves.. because compression is right there with the rest of them. But I'll check if my other ideas dont find a solution. It still doesnt explain why the plug is bone dry. I'm waiting to see what the weather is going to do.. it's dark and gloomy out.

RAIN OR CLEAR UP DAMMIT!!!!!

 

its a weird one. Compression as in a cranking compression test or just pumping air in?

 

compression test.. put the gauge on, 5 hits, you know

I was just out playing again.. raised the FP to 35-40psi still dead hole. Plug was black powdery & dry. Put in a new plug, instantly turned powdery & dry when ran. Checked cam timing again, right on the mark. Checked codes, none. Ran car and wiggled injector plug all over, no change. Unplugged ECU to clear memory, started up, same deal.

<sigh>

 

swap injectors around mang. Think thats all that is left swapping hard parts, or maybe slightly sticking valves. Did you do the compressed air trick. Hook up the cylinder to an air compressor. You can use the hose from the comp checker. Been there done that. Try holding the plug out the hole and visually look at the spark. Should be a bright blue, not dull orange. Just a couple more ideas

 

finally got a new injector harness and put it on. Swapped #1 & #4 injectors.

STILL A FUCKING MISS IN #4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

we also put the air compressor hose to #4. We could hear a little airflow.. but rings leak at 150psi slightly. No air noise coming out the tailpipe or the intake.

 

yep. any ideas what to check next?