some of you may have seen my post in the new members section, if not i recently purchased my mothers 1980 fiat spider FI 2000, she's the 2nd owner and the car has 57,000 miles on it.. it used to run like a champ but has been sitting for the past 5 years.

so here's what we've done, drained and cleaned the gas tank, cleaned out all of the fuel lines except for the hard gas line ( which will be checked tomorrow for clogs), changed the fuel pump,changed the oil/oil filter, changed the spark plugs/ wires..

and here's our problem; we spray starting fluid into the throttle body, start her up and she dies after only a couple seconds.. sometimes longer depending on how much fluid we use. so its obvious she's only running off of the fluid, so the problem lies in the the fuel injection system or the fuse's ( we think)

we pulled the fuel line after the pump to make sure it was working , and it pumped;

and something we found odd, was when we used a test light on cylinder #1's injector the light came on when testing the plugs neg. and pos.


so any help on diagnosing the problem would be great.

are you trying to run the car with the big black hose disconected?

BEEK wrote:are you trying to run the car with the big black hose disconected?

by black hose do you mean the black air intake.. and yeah we slip it on after spraying starting fluid, but there is a slit in it and it broke where the sensor plugs in, so we shuve it in the best we can

I suspect the injectors themselves might be gummed up.(sitting for 5 years) There is a post/thred somewhere about running a 12 V current through them to see if they will break free. Failing that have them cleaned and flow tested.

BUT before all that... check to see if they are flowing fuel by sticking them in a can and while the car is turning over see if fuel is being sprayed out. Carefull around the alt and starter, fire extuingisher nearby is a good idea as then you won't need it.

If the plasic intake pipe is split, you will have nothing but grief in getting the car to run properly. Air introduced after the AFM screws up the fuel air mixture. See if a sound used one is available or a new one from one of the vendors is in order.
Chris

thanks for the info, i will check if the injectors are spraying fuel, and clean out the injector lines at the cylinder head,

as far as the intake, i dont have many fiat parts place nearby, so would a build it yourself intake work from autozone..

also has anyone had this problem be a fuse? because when we test light the injector plug, the light turns on when testing the power as well as the ground.

keep the information rolling, and hopefully we can get her running soon,

There are two ground wires that are atteched to the bolts on the intake plenum. Take a look on drivers side rear on the plenum. There should be two separate wires attached/grounded. These have to have a good conection as well or the injectors will not work.

The injectors get constant power, they pulse by having the ground side of the circuit Interrupted by the ECU. The fuse in the system is an inline one, behind the main fuse panel. It's on a line going to the dual relay, but it's for the fuel pump, not the injectors. The injectors need to be checked with the engine turning over, key on or in start position. I didn't have much luck checking injector pulse with a test light, the flicker is too weak. A noid light plugged into the injector connector is the best way to check.
Ron

IF you have the other injectors plugged in and you test #1 you will get power on both the positive and the neg. What you are seeing on the neg is flowing thru the other injector's windings.

so i slightly removed injecter #1 from the cylinder hed to see if there was any gas flow while turning her over, and nothing came out.. i knmow there's fuel all the way to the fuel rod, cause we cleared the lines and tested the fuel pump..

so whats my next move guys?

and how would I run 12v of current through them, since ive seen another post where that cleared the injectors thus fixing the starting problem

rlux4 wrote:The injectors get constant power, they pulse by having the ground side of the circuit Interrupted by the ECU. The fuse in the system is an inline one, behind the main fuse panel. It's on a line going to the dual relay, but it's for the fuel pump, not the injectors. The injectors need to be checked with the engine turning over, key on or in start position. I didn't have much luck checking injector pulse with a test light, the flicker is too weak. A noid light plugged into the injector connector is the best way to check.
Ron

wht color are the wires connecting to the inline fuse? should be brown/white and red/black according to a diagram i found

The inline fuse supplies power to the dual relay for the fuel pump circuit. It has nothing to do with injectors. It brings power in when the ignition switch is on and this 12V is relayed to the green with black strie wire going to the fuel pump when the contact in the AFM is closed as the flap opens. It is on a brown wire with a white stripe, and it stays the same color start to end. The dual relay has three other 12V inputs; large brown wire (like on your ignition switch) direct from the battery, pink with black from fuse #1, red with black from the igniton switch. The large brown wire is unfused.
Ron

As to your big, black intake piece, you can get a tube of Shoe-goo at a hardware store, and repair any/all cracks or cuts in the rubber.

Once you get past issues with the injectors, if you have air leaking in where it's not supposed to, you will have all sorts of problems getting the car to run well. Best to check all these cheap, or basically free, fixes, like checking electrical grounds, general diagnostics, etc.

alright so i pulled the fuel rail up so i can work on it and remove the injectors, ( only injector #1 was squirting gas, other 3 were dry) so i cleaned each one out using a bosch FI connection, momentary switch/ alligator leads and my battery.

i was able to get each one squirting fuel, installed the fuel rail/ injectors.. sprayed some starting fluid and she ran for a good 5- 10 seconds ( which is the longest we've had her going)

so im thinking i have to re clean the injectors,,

any input would help.