Geo Tracker spewing fuel

[scotts90ranger]

'94 Geo Tracker, 16 valve 1.6L I4 injected

Drove the thing to work just fine today, got in to go to Wells Fargo to avoid the $15/month thing they were trying to do and the thing was stumbling pretty good, looked out the side mirror and there was a white cloud out the exhaust pipe, stank like raw fuel. Parked at the bank, pulled the vacuum line off the regulator and no gas there, got it back to work and pulled injector wires one at a time, 1 2 and 4 almost made the engine stall while #3 only made a slight difference, #3 spark plug was wet and black. A week ago I changed the plugs and wires. I unplugged the MAF sensor while it was idling and it made a difference, didn't try the O2 sensor but the same cloud was there cold or semi warmed up.

I'm 90% sure it's the #3 injector stuck open for whatever reason but wanted some more opinions. I got the injectors out after I got towed home (one coworker has a Dodge with a cummins, another with a car trailer stored at work... handy as hell ) and put the air gun (tank probably at 50psi) up to the in side and didn't feel any air out the back but hard to tell.

There's a semi local injector cleaning place that charges $25/injector to clean and test and has refurbished injectors for $45-75 each while new is ~$150 each

The CEL is on, need to find the fuel pump relay or fuse (since the fuel rail is open) in the morning and see if I can pull the codes, it's been on since I got the thing (there's a nag light function that turns on every ~40K miles apparently, attributed it to that so far), I'll update more later. I also meant to pull the pressure regulator and make sure it isn't gummed up causing high fuel pressure, I'd test the fuel pressure but I don't see a schrader valve

I'm a member of a Suzuki board but TRS seems to have a better knowledge base...

 

[scotts90ranger]

it was a stuck injector, got 3 cleaned and checked, one replaced with a checked used one ($45 versus $135), went and got gas, 100' from the house another is stuck open... ripping into the fuel system to see what the heck is going on tomorrow...

 

[Mark_88]

Hmmmm...I read this when you first posted and cracked open my user manual (Haynes) and found nothing of value to you...as in location of the FPR...

Only thing I know about the FI system on these is that you can empty your tank by pulling the return fuel line and turn on the key...you don't suppose the gas is dirty or fuel filter is bypassing?

The fuel filters are designed to by-pass if they are plugged...I have a brand new one sitting in a box that I never got to install on mine (due to the crazy way they are installed and not wanting to have to hack lines)...if you pull the return line can you check the pressure on the system or is that just a release type line?

 

[scotts90ranger]

hmm, if the filter bypasses when it's plugged I bet that's the problem... I didn't see a way to check the pressure but I don't think it's the problem, I'm going to take everything apart this time though, might clean the EGR while it's apart, meant to last time but wanted to save gas money (15 versus 27 is a big difference) so I rushed reassembly

 

[Mark_88]

I don't know how true that is about the fuel filters...the guy at the Suzuki dealership stated that when I asked what happens if they plug up...forget what the problem was when I went in...the dealership wanted something like $100 for the fuel filter...found one at NAPA for about $40...so I bought it...

Taking it apart might help if the injectors are plugged...

I remember getting a CEL one time and took it to the shop...they said I had some lines on the emission controls (the little box with 3 or 4 hoses attached just near the front of the engine on the passenger side) but I'd never even touched that since owning the truck (3 years at that point)...but if you remove the top hose (I think) and let it run for a bit it actually cleared the CEL on mine...and it also helped to make it run better...I have no idea why...

Only other thing I remember is there is a small vacuum line at the back of the head that if removed will make it feel like the transmission is trashed...it's part of the shift mechanism and without that attached it won't shift properly...not that this will help you...lol...but it was something I learned about them accidentally...

 

[scotts90ranger]

not an injector this time, or at least if it is it's not doing the same thing... going to pull codes tomorrow, I'm hoping it's just the coolant temp sender or the MAF or something... I'm tired of throwing money at this thing, and it needs tires...

 

[scotts90ranger]

it's the #3 cylinder again, WTF!!!

 

[Mark_88]

Are you sure it's the injector stuck open (i thought they just sprayed fuel after being signaled by the timing sensor or whatever signals it)...but I guess that would require open/close situation...hmmmm...

You just changed the wires not too long ago...did you check that the #3 wire is working? Maybe the connector is too high in the boot or it is otherwise simply not connecting/working to make #3 plug fire...maybe test the spark or swap out # 3 with # 4 (they're about the same length from what I recall)...

 

[scotts90ranger]

I know the plug wire is working, it arcs like heck when I pull it off while running. I'm thinking it's a short in the signal wire to the injector, apparently there's a guy on the suzuki forums that has had the same issue on a #3 injector before... I'll pull the upper intake tomorrow and look into things... The injectors are fired sequentially from rpm signals from a combination of the crank and cam sensors along with load readings from the MAF and a couple other little tweaks it makes from the list of other sensors...

 

[Mark_88]

Any progress?

 

[scotts90ranger]

nope, left on wednesday for a wheeling trip, just got back at 5pm tonight, didn't have energy to rip into it... I'll get to it tuesday since it's supposed to rain tomorrow...

well, actually I did figure out the problem, I just haven't found where it is... the #3 injector signal wire is grounded out causing the injector to be open all the time, I borrowed a noid light from work and it was on constantly while running (a noid light is a little light with an injector type plug that you can plug in place of an injector to see if the signal is pulsing like it's supposed to). I thought I posted that I found it but apparently not

 

[Mark_88]

Good to know you've got at least something to look for on it...never heard of a noid lights but that would make me less annoyed knowing how to fix it...

 

[scotts90ranger]

um, drove it to work for the first time in April today, worked fine... Tuesday I put the noid light on again and it flashed like it was supposed to, did a compression test and every cylinder was reasonable except #2 which I believe is the valve adjustment as the #2 intake valves look a bit loose, will deal with that later... took it for a test drive just before dark and it had a bad misfire still, so gave up. Yesterday I was going to adjust the valves, got the valve cover off and saw that #4 injector was unplugged (doh) but that injector is IMPOSSIBLE to see with the thing assembled, so I put it back together and went for a drive and it was good! I made sure to shake all wires under the dash good before I drove to work just for good measure, don't want that short coming back...

 

[Mark_88]

Cool...

Don't feel bad about leaving #4 unplugged...I've done that with various wires including the coil wire...couldn't figure out what I did and took me a few minutes to see the coil wire hanging down...also left my gas cap off a few times...and lost a few oil caps...

I know for me it's a matter of getting distracted by something and not being able to get back to what I was doing...now I know why my Dad used to get annoyed when he was working in the garage and I'd come out and poke around asking questions...lol

 

[scotts90ranger]

got gas friday night and it was 25mpg, a big improvement over the 15mpg my truck gets on the same drive... After the thing learns in a bit more it should go back up to 27mpg or so, might get a little better if I get the EGR working again, I'm getting the code for that.