Hello from sunny Spain!! I am a total novice with Fieros; I bought a 1986 2.8 v6 gt from a seemingly(i believe it!!) honest Guy in Germany. He had owned the car for 10 years, using it only in summer.When I bought the car on EBay, He told me the car was in excellent condition,when put into storage last November. However, on the day I flew to Germany to collect it, He had taken the car out of storage to check all was well....it wasn't!!! It ran like a pig with a sore ear, he told me. I was on my way by then from Spain, and so he changed all the plugs, oil and filter in a desperate effort to restore the car to good performance. To no avail!!He road tested it for 1 hour, when it was still running on 5 cylinders.When he got back home, he found smoke coming from the region of the dipstick tube and also the exhausts.You can imagine my feelings when I arrived at 11:30 pm, contemplating a 1000 mile return journey, only to find I was going to have to fly back to Spain.As a half-hearted attempt to trace the problem(it was dark, and there is not a lot of room for examining the engine without lighting and a Car lift!!) we took off the sparkplug cables one by one, and discovered the plug on the rear(from the back of the car) righthandside was not doing its job...took out the plug to find it was very wet, but when earthed out and the engine turned over it sparked perfectly.Without a compression tester, it is difficult to check for low compression, but the force was so that it blew away my finger when put over the plughole..I now have to get the car back to Spain by transporter,(very expensive!!), and was wondering if one of you Fiero Experts out there could hazard a guess at the problem, and ease my mind!! Thanks in anticipation of your replies!!
What was it wet with? Did it smell like gasoline, or oil? If gasoline, then likely the fuel injector is stuck open on that cylinder. If oil, then possibly the oil ring is stuck on that piston. There are professional-grade injector cleaning kits available that involve connecting up to the fuel rail, I would call around locally and see if there is a shop that can do that service. You can change out to Mobile 1 synthetic oil for a few thousand kilometers to see if it will help free up a stuck ring.
The injector may have stuck open and is dumping fuel into that cylinder. Causing it run flooded in that cylinder and starve the other cylinders for fuel due to lack of fuel PSI due to the faulty injector. Is fuel getting into the oil?? did you smell the oil? Don't run this with out checking for fuel contamination in the oil. This is a starting point that I would start with.
------------------ 85 GT 4spd 2.8 1 yr blk 86 SE 4spd 2.8 2 yr blk 86 GT Auto 2.8 new to me. 87 SE 5spd Project 4.9 6yr
Once again, thanks for your much appreciated expertise:Unfortunately, due to circumstances at the time, I was unable to carry out an extensive examination of the engine; it did strike me that the most logical reason for the misfire was a stuck-open injector flooding that cylinder.But I did think that if unburnt fuel was passing into the exhaust system, it would ignite there and cause serious backfire.However, if it was flooding to that extent, maybe it wouldn't ignite...When I get the car to my garage here in Spain, I shall strip it down and let you know what the problem was!!! I was going to do a rebuild anyway; just very expensive to get it back to Spain other than under its own steam!!Once again, thanks for your expertise and valued advice..
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07:30 PM
Jdlog Member
Posts: 494 From: Coral Springs, FL Registered: Jun 2003
Well. My car still awaits me in Germany....due to the fact that during the summer I work 7 nights a week, and as the season here is only 6 months, can't afford to take time off to go and play with it!!Meanwhile, the old brainbox is ticking over fit to bust, and having spoken to a local injection service centre, I am once more bothered!!He said it is most unlikely that an injector can jam in the open position, because it is spring-loaded;if it was stuck in the closed position, this would obviously not cause a wet plug...also my theory that the wire to the injector might have been disconnected during the changing of plugs can be discounted; it would stay in the shut position.Has anybody come across an injector stuck in open mode??Can it be released, or should I buy a complete set to take with me,and if so, what components will I need to take with me to change the injectors?? I have been reading all the forums and archives on this site; you People are the greatest and most compassionate group of Human Beings I have come across..did FieroMillie get to use her Yellow peril successfully?!!!(Also bought on Ebay!!DON'T DO IT IF IT IS NOT WITHIN REASONABLE DISTANCE!!! I ALWAYS have my cars inspected before selling them, and supply the report to Prospective Buyers..If the car is good, you can recoup the price of the inspection in the price)If it isn't good, don't sell it;fix it first!!Reputation is worth 10000000 times the money spent..
[This message has been edited by fierofetish (edited 07-22-2003).]
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05:08 PM
862M4inCA Member
Posts: 1133 From: Bakersfield, CA Registered: Dec 1999
I'm not TOO familiar with multiport injectors, however I suppose that if a large enough piece of debris was lodged in the injector it could cause the injector to stick open. I would think that this should be noticable if when the fuel system is pressurized (key on, engine off) you will hear the pump cycle on and off, or stay on to maintain the 40 or so PSI required since the stuck injector would continuously bleed the pressure back down. It may also be possible that the one wet spark plug is slightly weaker than the rest as it takes much more energy to create an ark in a compressed atmosphere (such as that in the combustion chamber on the compression stroke) than it does by just checking it by grounding it to the chassis.
You may also want to check the inside of the distributor cap for carbon tracks or other indications that the ignition system is having difficulty firing the #1 plug. Also, bad cables can cause a plug to misfire, especially if the wire is old or had noticable damage to the insulation allowing the spark to jump to ground before it reaches the plug.
Ok Guys! Here is the latest on my gt: the man I bought it from in Germany has taken the car to a Pontiac garage, who have told him the catalyser is defective, and there is a bad valve on the "wet plug" cylinder.They want 1200 euros (about $1100) to fix it.I guess this includes a new cat, but I think it doesn't matter if the cat is taken off??Sounds extrememly expensive to me even with a new cat, but I may be wrong.Any opinions more than welcome!!I could cut my losses and buy another one which is a GT 2.8 5speed manual with removable sunroof for 2000 euros...help me out Guys!! Thanks Nick (fierofetish)
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12:08 PM
Aug 11th, 2003
ImmortalFirefly Member
Posts: 302 From: Northern Utah County, Utah Registered: Apr 2003
Well dude, here's a coupla sents for you. Seems like....if that Pontiac Garage thing only found that wrong, and then it got fixed, it seems like this guy didn't take very good care of it (or whatever) So if I were you take a look at the other GT you were just talking about for 2000 euros. And also make the guy pay for your plane ticket to Germany since he wasted your time/money. I would back out if I were you, but then again that's just me. If he doesn't like the idea of paying back your plane ticket, you can take him to court (if that's how things work out over in Spain....or Germany). I don't know. The car is what 17 years old right (or 16.....forgot the year), and you probably won't find a very nice one for cheap, but it doesn't seem to me that you'd be getting the best deal with the first Fiero since it doesn't seem well taken care of. Just think about it and take a look at the 2nd Fiero and compare to see which one is really worth it....
Thanks Immortal Firefly, and everybody else!!The Gentleman in Germany was proved to be not so honest, and I have got my money and airfare back!! I am now proud owner of a 1987 gt with removable sunroof,airco and everything electric....in other words my dreamcar!! New clutch, ally sport wheels,(new) and now I want to change the colour...black and gold from red, and all leather interior.One advantage with living in Spain:leather is very cheap, and the experts don't charge a lot for excellent workmanship!! I guess being a fiero, she will give me problems, but who cares!! to own the most beautiful 2 seater sportscar ever made(am I completely mad?!! no just obsessed!!)I have the best site in the world with the best people available to advise me, who could ask for more??When I find out how toload pictures, I will show you all my pride and joy!! God Bless you all, and of course AMERICA!!! Fierofetish
