Startup issues - Hydrolocking??

[rockskullz]

I've had this issue off and on for years just always dealt with it. Sometimes at startup whether the engine is cold or warm it will crank a second then sound like its hydrolocking. I let off and try again and it starts up. The engines has always started right away, faster than most new cars. Any thoughts on why its doing this? Seems to me that the injectors are pushing to much fuel while its cranking but I don't know how to fix that. Maybe my starter is getting tired...

Thanks for any advice.

[Cheromaniac]

Pull the plugs and see if you find one that's soaked in fuel.

[JeepsAndGuns]

You sure its not hitting compression? On older carbed engines, if you have the timing adjusted too far advanced, it would crank till a cylinder hit then kinda stop or make the starter work super hard. Basically the air fuel mix was igniting before the piston was all the way up, then the starter was trying to compress the burning air fuel mix.
I would find it hard for a injector to fill up a cylinder to the point of hydrolocking the engine in the few seconds it takes to crank one.

[rockskullz]

I'll check the plugs and report back

As for hitting compression, that's very possible, I never thought of that. How do I adjust the timing, Clock the distributor? Which direction? This is an obd1 fuel injected motor.

Thanks

[BADASYJ]

Timing is cpu controlled. No way to adjust other then tamper with the crank sensor and you don't get much out of that. Ive had this issue before while cranking my heep and it was timing related. My distributor was off by a tooth r two. Don't think it even ran or if it did it was real rough. It definitly let me know something wasn't right though.

If its running smooth and strong i would see what happens with a new starter. If that doesn't fix the problem then Im guessing that maybe your cam was installed with some advance or retard and your distributor is off by a tooth.
If you were hydrolocking the motor with fuel your crankcase would fill up with a gas/oil mixture pretty quick.

[bigal389]

I had a similar problem about a year ago and it ended up being the starter.
Al

[rockskullz]

Finally had time to take a look at things. I tried replacing the starter with a spare I had, same results so I pulled the plugs, all looked pretty good with the exception of the #1 & #5 which had a small amount of wetness near the threads.

Next I set the pulley at 0 TDC and pulled the distributor cap. It appeared to be pointed at the #1 terminal but after making a window in a spare distributor cap I discovered the rotors leading edge was into the #1 post not just before like I've read. I also checked the distance between the cam sensor slot and rotor center point and it was less than 3.0cm (1.18 inches). So I pulled the distributor and reinstalled it according to anglefire link everyone refers too. Once reset it confirmed I was a tooth off, the leading edge of the rotor is now positioned just before the #1 post. I put everything back together and it started right up over and over again this time never doing the hydrolocking feeling.

I took it for a test drive hoping it would have even more power but it don't feel anything noticeable. At least it's starting perfect now. It's always ran pretty strong just had the start up issue occasionally.

Should I reset the ecm to let it re learn after making this adjustment?

[rockskullz]

Also I noticed when I pulled the air filter tube off inside of the intake manifold was rather wet, is that normal? I don't remember seeing that before

[Cheromaniac]

So I pulled the distributor and reinstalled it according to anglefire link everyone refers too. Once reset it confirmed I was a tooth off, the leading edge of the rotor is now positioned just before the #1 post. I put everything back together and it started right up over and over again this time never doing the hydrolocking feeling.

I took it for a test drive hoping it would have even more power but it don't feel anything noticeable. At least it's starting perfect now. It's always ran pretty strong just had the start up issue occasionally.

Glad my distributor indexing link worked for you.
There's no need to reset the ECU. After about 100 miles it'll have adapted to the new sensor inputs.

Also I noticed when I pulled the air filter tube off inside of the intake manifold was rather wet, is that normal? I don't remember seeing that before

Looks like a film of oil that came from the crankcase breather hose on the back of the valve cover. It's normal.