SeaFoamed it, now it won't start

alex22

alex22

NAXJA Forum User
Location
CT: waterbury area
I put 1/3 to 1/2 of the can into the throttle body of my 96 and it continued to idle fine, turned it off and 5 mins later it started for maybe 10 seconds with an awful idle then sputtered out. now it just doesn't want to start. It might fire once or twice then stop.

So far I have put the Seafoam in, turned it off for 5 mins, started (it sputtered out), tried a few more times, no start, removed all the plugs, checked the gap(35 to 40), cleaned the plugs, looked in the cylinders and saw just some light carbon ontop of the piston and clean boars with stock cross hatch showing (160K miles), turned it over a few times with no plugs, put the plugs back in and hooked up the wires, it tried to run for a few seconds then died out.
I just put a block on the gas pedal to hold the TB open because I think there is liquid still in the manifold and it is being pulled into the chambers. Any suggestions on what else could be the reason for this not starting?

~Alex
 
Try removing the plugs and turning it over for a couple of seconds to evac the cylinders. Might have saturated the cylinders with seafoam, but if that is what happened be thankful the motor didn't hydraulic.
 
all the ones I have done would die out once or twice during the treatment. I would hold the throttle open and keep trying to start it, it catches eventually runs poorly for a moment or two, then picks up and runs better. I have never had it give me trouble for more than a few tries, and it clears right up after you clear it and the carbon particles out.

give it a medium amount of throttle while trying to start it. That way once it catches it can get past the seafoam quicker.
 
I've used Seafoam a few times in this before and have not had this problem. I pulled the plugs again and they were fowled up with carbon. I used some fine sandpaper to clean them and regapped to .035. Gonna try it again.

~Alex
 
Sounds like the sea foam is working:laugh3:, lots of loose carbon fouling plugs now!
 
Its times like this I'm glad I went with a high cranking amp battery. Still no start, I gave it a small shot of starting fluid and it fired a few times but then died again.

~Alex
 
Is it possbile that when I tried to start it and it blew lots of nasty stuff out that the reading from the O2 sensor confused the computer and now its not giving it enough fuel?

~Alex
 
I've been doing that for a few minuts of cranking time. I just tried puting a small amount of gas directly into the T-body and it started up and ran for a few seconds until it ran out of gas in there, and I have 1/3 tank of gas.
 
i've been trying some more things with no luck. when it does fire up from the gas in the manifold it feels like its not running on all cylinders. i'm going to pull the plugs and check them again.
 
just detonates with similar results to the gas in the TB. I just used a pice of brake line to shoot carb clean directly into the cylinders through the spark plug holes then used an extended blow tip blow gun to blow all the gunk out of the cylinders. I'm going to clean up the plugs and try it again.
 
alex22 said:
Is it possbile that when I tried to start it and it blew lots of nasty stuff out that the reading from the O2 sensor confused the computer and now its not giving it enough fuel?

~Alex
Click to expand...

if the carbon built up on the O2 then it would more likely read a "lean condition" and pour fuel into the system, but that would be when the ECM goes to open loop. As far as I know, upon start up the ECM is on closed loop effectively deleting the O2 and some of the other sensors.

But if you want to check that, take the O2 out and start the XJ. If it is working, it will sense the 21% atmospheric oxygen and should richen the mixture.

Other than the obvious problems you are listing, is it doing anything else strange that might indicate another problem that decided to rear it's head coincidentally at the same time as the treament?
 
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Still not running. the cylinders were clean, the manifold had been blown out, plugs cleaned. It will fire a few times when i shoot it with starter fluid or put a little gas in the TB but thats it. Is there a chance my fuel pump happened to go bad at this exact time? I did check the fuel hoses and lines to make sure they were not crushed or anything.

~Alex
 
I can't remember, but when the key is in the "run" position should the fuel pump be on and pressurising the fuel rail?

~Alex
 
I bled the fuel rail and it did not pressureize. I cant seem to find which fuse to look for in either the FSM or the little manual that came with the jeep. do you happen to know the fuse location? or does it rely on the PCM and the relay only?

~Alex
 
Not off of the top of my head (I'm not where I can look at my manuals). But if someone hasn't answered by the time I can get to it, I will be glad to check it out.

As a side note, there is a plug next to the fuel filter that you can unplug to check if there is juice going to the fuel pump.

I'll check back a little later..
 
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