Hi all,

This morning I got myself some Wynns Fuel injection & carb cleaner to clean out the throttle body on my mk4 (1.4 8v), so I followed the instructions and sprayed a very small amount into the throttle body as the engine was idling. After I did this, the engine spluttered a little, as i expected it to, however then i cut out- so i immediatley turned it of and tried to restart it.

Now all that is happening is it is turning over but not firing, similar to cold morning starts but in the case it will always fire up after 4/5 seconds.

I've tried cleaning any excess from the tb, giving it a little gas whilst trying to start it, now I'm not quite sure what to do. I've left it for an hour or so but still it just wont fire.

I need the car asap and any help will be much appreciated!

Thanks

Sorry to bump so soon, need any help i can get... Anyone?

You dont recommend it,then? :grin: You could've just used petrol.. You still can. Get some in a fine-spray bottle (make sure its fully empty of any window cleaner etc),and spray it into the throttle body as someone else turns the engine over. You were best raising the revs with the Wynns,and using a lower dosage,as you probably drowned out the fuel mixture.

Right, fair enough, i was on my own and the descriptions from people from here aren't to instructive as what NOT to do

In drowning out the fuel mixture, is it therefore recoverable with your petrol technique? Thanks

Petrol technique didint do anything. Except put petrol in the tb.

Any other ideas i can try before the battery goes flat from trying to turn it over a million times?

Get on the email to Wynns,i should imagine. Unless you've knocked a plug or something,i can see no reason why that wouldnt work. You've got air (its gotta be sucking air in),fuel (from a fine mist spray gun),and a spark. Unless the Wynns is such a thick insulative coating that its covered the plugs and stopping them from sparking. And thats impossible. They must have some form of customer support.

I've used that stuff loads, never while on the car though, and shit will get dragged into the chambers then, I've allways taken off the TBs and cleaned them. did you disconnect any wires?

Nope, no wires disconnected. A mechanic friend suggested that, whilst mikeymk says otherwise, it may have drowned the plugs, so its worth taking them out giving them a clean/replacing and then trying. If that doesnt work I'm screwed for a while!

Out of interest, why would it be impossible to drown out the plugs with wynns?

to me it sounds like its done something to the plugs...

get the plugs out and give them a good stiff bruish with a wire brush or some kind of scouring pad, but be careful not to change the gap so be gentle, but rough(if you get what i mean), then blow them out and try again.....

I've never heard of a system you use whilst the car is running, as it could have sucked any of crap in whilst u was doing it

pull out the fuel pump relay so no petrol gets put into the engine, crank it over for a minute or two then put the relay back in ??

Thats what i fear. To be safe i changed all the plugs for new ones, and it still doesnt work. In retrospect thinking about it doing it whilst the engine was running wasnt the best idea, but it was "exactly what it says on the tin..."

I've now tried jumping it, resetting the ECU, changing the plugs, checking all connections and plugs/wires etc, and nothing works. Its just not firing at all. Could it be a problem with the fuel jets being blocked or something?

The cars increacingly beggining to smell of petrol :S

do what foxie says.

/\/\ Didnt see foxie's post when I wrote the last post- where exactly is the fuel pump relay? :S

As a little update i've cranked it without the plugs in to try to blast whatever might be around there out through the plug holes, nothing really happened. All this might have to wait until tomorrow as I think the battery is almost flat and i dont have the jump leads anymore.

sounds like somethings blocked....fuel injectors are a possability...just find out if theres fuel getting into the cylinder.

did it vent owt out when you had plugs out?

does it actually say on the tin to do it as its idoling? i used it the other week but itook the tb off

take the plugs out again, disconnect the coil pack and the fuel pump relay or the injector plugs and spin the engine over, this should push any excess fuel out of the cylinders, dry the plugs off and just leave it to air for a while

when youve put it all back together and you try to start it, hold the throttle wide open, dont pump it or leave it closed..

its possible that its flooded the manifold with fuel, so leave it to dry out for atleast an hour

if it still wont go, youve gotta start checking for spark, fuel etc..

sounds like youve got fuel cos you said you can smell it, so if you have a spare spark plug, pull one of the leads off and put the plug in the end, clamp a jump lead to the spark plug and any earth point on the body or engine, just to earth it, then crank it for a few secs to watch for a spark.

have you got an alarm/immobiliser?

I Think it has the standard immobiliser, from factory. Where is the fuel pump relay as the above few posts seem the things i need to try now. Nothing came out the plug holes when i cranked it over, that was with the ignition pack disconnected only. A fella from next door checked for a spark but he couldnt immediatley see one when i turned it over, what would this mean?

thanks for all your help so far all

I think all of this may be entirely coincidental. I think its very unlikely that using the injector cleaner while the car was running has caused your problem. Was the car fine before or was it dying hence why you were using throttle body cleaner?

I'd start by checking you have a spark. Take a plug out, touch it against the head and see if you get a nice blue spark. If not its a problem with your ignition system. I strongly suspect it is an ignition problem, if you get a tablespoon of fuel and pour it down the TB your car should start, then cut out seconds later (I'm not suggesting you do that). It sounds like you have plenty of fuel.

I'm betting that this will be something daft, like the dizzy cap being unclipped and subsequently knocked out of place.

i'd do what adeg40 said to do, take plugs out, unplug coil, remove fuel pump relay, and turn the car over a few times and then air it.

give plugs a good clean and check spacings, then check for spark.

if it dont fire then id be suprised.

The car was "running" fine before I used the wynns, but it was becuase of the dirty TB etc that i used it.

The Dizzy cap is on, checked all that. All HT leads are connected, they were only replaced a couple months ago.

The only reason i cant understand how it would be coincidental, is becuase when i sprayed the wynns it instantly died and i hadnt done anything else. Will try all ingintion and fuel related solutions on monday, away from the car today.

Thanks again for your hope so far...

I just can't see how it could possibly have caused your car to break. Even if it had got onto your plugs it would have evaporated in a very short space of time. Temporary flooding problems just don't cause your car not to run like this, it has to be something else.

Okay, It might be co-incidental. Before I tried any of the fuel related possibilities, Checked the plugs earlier as i managed to get back for 5 mins but no spark at all. Nothing from the HT leads either.

So personally I think it has to be something to do with the iginition coil, So I might whip a mates coil off and see if it works with that perhaps.

Could the spark problem be anything other from the ignition coil?

I'm hoping its JUST co-incidental and something to do with the ignition, not that and something else like the fuel injectors.

Will post up any solutions if one is reached as you've all been so helpful so far!

Well its not necessarily the coil, though it could be. It could be pretty much any part of your ignition system. Coils usually fail through excess heat though and tend to break down before they totally fail. If I had to guess I'd put it down to a failed hall sensor. If you have a mate with a mk4 then swap the dizzy off it and see if your car runs. If it does and you need a new dizzy I think I should have one that you can have for cheap. Injectors generally don't "fail" and even if they do, they go one at a time. Your car would still start if an injector popped its clogs (albeit it would run horrifically on 3 cylinders).

unless its single point to check your getting fuel, pull out a plug or all 4 of them, dry them off, and clean. THen crank for a few seconds, pull them out and they should be wet with petrol if it doesnt fire.