My latest antics- Not a fan of this car

[MudPuppy]

Hiya all. Still around though can't ever seem to find the time to get back to my Eagle *sigh* maybe 1 day.

Got sidetracked with a couple of Nissan's which I still have and still enjoy the heck out of the "little" one. The "big" 1 I got the engine swapped and pretty much all the kinks worked out of it, now we're down to cosmetics but then this came along....




It's old, it's ugly & it's not mine. My girl wanted her 1st car & at 1st she had high expectations (as most do I guess), then she got desperate. She didn't care what it looked like or what it was. She had been saving her own $$ (not a lot) and was actually able to purchase this thing with her own $$ (was proud of her for that) with a little to spare for parts, paint, etc.

Now about the car:
it is a 1992 Plymouth Acclaim (same as the Dodge Spirit, so some AMCness there if ya want to count that lol) with the Mitsubishi 3.0 V6, 3spd auto.
Has 264k mi on it (scary, I know) but it ran & shifted great.

So (at first) we replaced a few bulbs, fuses, wipers, rerouted the ridiculous air intake system and of course painted the ugly thing.
The engine "before" pic & its ridiculous air intake routing...


And after some sanding...




The hood is done in chalkboard.
Picked a color that didn't blend in, so people can't say they didn't see her... plus her car would be easy to spot if ever it needed to be





After tearing into the engine, painting more as we reassembled...


Then hit the junkyards- picked up some clear front turn signals, better doors (lower hinges were broken off & rewelded) that aren't on it yet, and a trunk with a lock that isn't on it yet either, and a Dodge Spirit grill (looks better than the Chrysler grill) that's not on it yet either.
And because none of that is on it yet is because it started getting harder to start, then no start (cranks but no start).
This was suppose to be a Christmas present to her & now we're on a serious deadline.

Checked and it's got spark, fuel, air & some sort of compression (don't have a tester).
Did a lot of things & checking:
-New fuel pump relay (it did go out).
-New CTS.
-New battery terminals (had them on hand, so why not).
-battery's decent but even with a jump & changing out to a good battery = still the same thing.
-has spark.
-gapped sparkplugs.
-clean air filter.
-fuel pump works & it's getting fuel (has pressure).
-timing belt intact & is moving.
-disconnected MAP with same results.
-tried starting in Neutral with same results.
-oil looks/smells good and as it should.
-coolant looks as it should.
-IACV & PCV cleaned
-MAP & TPS connections has been checked & cleaned
-does have compression pulses (at the end of the header, since cat is off for now)
-checked ALL sparkplugs again, they all have spark.
-can smell gas when plugs are removed after cranking for awhile.
-sparkplugs did have fuel on them.
-have tried everytime (past & present) flooring the gas pedal (per during starting will actually shut off the fuel).
-distributor cap & rotor look fine (no cracks, no discoloration or corrosion).
-when cranking it doesn't sound any different from before (when it would start).
-tapped distributor (since CPS is inside it) while cranking with no change.
-tapped starter & solenoid while cranking with no change.
-added some extra ground (neg terminal to body, from body to ignition coil)


I have checked CEL codes & it's only throwing 12 = "battery has been disconnected within the last 50 key cycles" (back when it was getting hard to start).
But since it's not running now I don't know if it is possible for it to throw any other codes.
Have dropped the gas tank (it was clean), checked the fuel pump (works), and fixed the float while in there.
Have also added (when it was running) Seafoam to the engine & via the brake booster line, Lucas Transmission Fix, Lucas upper cylinder lubricant & Injector cleaner & engine Restore with a fresh oil change (Castrol high mileage 10w40 w/Bosch Premium filter after the Seafoam of course).
Took Cat off (in case it was clogged) and it does have an oily goo substance in it.

Found a little coolant seepage on firewall side below the head gasket seam.
Valve guides look good. Valve seats & seals look good. And piston rings look good, with tight clearance.
Haven't had it long & haven't drove it much. But never had any overheating issues.
Tore it down to the block, headgaskets had some kind of residue build up on the lower edges & did find a small amount of coolant seeping out inbetween the block & head on the outside. So replaced the headgaskets, along with the plugs & wires. Got it back all together, still crank no start but thinking it's down to timing at this point. I really hope so, cause literal time is not on our side at this point... still have doors & trunk to paint and put on, then wire in speakers, install the grill, and other odds-n-ends stuff to do.

[carnuck]

You're going to hate this, but "someone" may have played gas station with a garden hose. Quick test: Put about a spoonful of fuel down the throttlebody and see if it starts. I had a bad-from-the-factory new ignition rotor short to the shaft under it (just recently)

[MudPuppy]

You're going to hate this, but "someone" may have played gas station with a garden hose. Quick test: Put about a spoonful of fuel down the throttlebody and see if it starts. I had a bad-from-the-factory new ignition rotor short to the shaft under it (just recently)

We have even checked with starter fluid (even though it was getting gas, thinking maybe it was too lean or something) to see if it would start and that was a no-go.
After reassembling the engine, it is now "puttering" here and there and shot a fireball out of the header (still haven't connected the cat) that's why we think it is now timing (I really hope at least).

[carnuck]

Starter fluid can't fire water! If the cams are out of synche it won't make enough compression to run. I had the harmonic balancer eat the keyway on one in a Caravan. Ground cable to the body will mess with spark timing and so will the knock sensor.

[1985amceagle]

If you've had the distributor out, look at the bottom side of the cap, Mitsubishi pulled a fast one, and had the pickups in a different place on the inside of the cap than the outside. I also believe that the cam sensor was a optical system, you may want to check that oil is not on the " windows" or the sensor that it uses to determine where the cam is.

[AMC1]

Man I thought I've had starting problems previously. Just in case its a fuel problem I'd carefully take some gas & put it on the ground & throw a match at it - to see if it will burn. Years ago someone asked me to help get his farm tractor started. What the heck do I know about farm tractors? Anyway I did something I had done previously but he didn't believe could be done. I removed his spark plugs & poured a decent amount of fuel directly into the cylinders. It started right up. Why it kept running after that fuel was burned up I really don't
know. My intention was just to see if it was a fuel feed problem. Also canned Either is a good starting fluid. Good Luck.

[MudPuppy]

Fixed!

If you've had the distributor out, look at the bottom side of the cap, Mitsubishi pulled a fast one, and had the pickups in a different place on the inside of the cap than the outside. I also believe that the cam sensor was a optical system, you may want to check that oil is not on the " windows" or the sensor that it uses to determine where the cam is.

We did notice that lol. Pretty stupid, can't go by the outside you have to see where it routes to on the inside.



New headgaskets and set timing and she fired right up. Dialed the timing in more and running pretty good now.

It was always getting fuel, spark & air. It wasn't even starting with starter fluid, even though we knew that fuel delivery wasn't the issue.

Looks like I'll be getting 'er done just in time for Christmas by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin 

[mo.eagles]

Make sure ALL the vacuum hose are good. I had a dynasty with the same engine and started driving real crappy until I replaced all the hoses . 3 shops could not find the problem .

[MudPuppy]

Tidying up this thread I suppose. And kinda glad this 1 is pretty much over, now I can get back to work on my own cars too.


A few before-after comparisons...



Interior


Pretty clean- no stains, rips/tears, etc. No cracks in the dash or anything.
And the heater is awesome in this thing, not Eagle awesome (don't think anything can compare to an Eagle heater lol) but still better than a lot of other vehicles heaters I've had over the decades.

Easiest wrapping job ever...





 



She loves it!

Though it still has some sort of (timing?) issue, where sometimes it won't start (crank, no start) & you have to move the dizzy around then it'll start right up.
Not sure exactly what it is, but thinking it might just need a whole new dizzy 

[priya]

Attractive comfy looking interior in that car.