Help! Dead cylinder, glowing exhaust manifold, hard to start

[NeedHelp]

So here's the deal. I bought a 1980 Fiat Spider 2000 FI from a old mechanic last year. It was in pretty good shape, had a lot of new parts on it, the price was right, yada yada yada. Anyway, the engine was original, and so were all the gaskets, so naturally it was filthy and was leaking oil everywhere. I pulled the engine out and cleaned the engine bay, sprayed down the block and cleaned it off, then painted everything. In the process I replaced every top-end gasket I could think of, including the head gasket. I used the torque specs I found in the Fiat repair manual on mirafiori.com (very helpful site). Anyway, I got everything back together and set the inital timing with the two cam gears lined up to the raised notches on the cam housings, aux gear at 1 o clock, and the crank at 10 deg BTDC on the #4 cylinder. I tried firing it, it wouldn't start. I replaced the fuel filter and replaced the old rusty gas with new stuff, and replaced the fuel pressure regulator. It fired, but it's really hard to start and it has a really bad misfire. I've checked and re-checked the timing, and I've put a timing light on it to make sure it's at 10deg BTDC. Practically all the sensors are new, and so are the spark plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and pickup wire. I can start it and get it to run after a few tries, but it sputters and won't stay running below 1500rpm. I've also checked valve clearance, and each is at least .5mm when cold, so it's not a stuck valve. Any help would be appreciated... I'm running low on ideas and installation fluid.

[narfire]

Hmmm.... well to start make sure the instalation fluid level does not get below critical

Sounds like you have done everything any other would do with a FI (I have one). A couple of things.. the injector grounds on the intake plenum are nice and snug.. ie all four injectors are firing. The plastic intake hose is sound, the smallest crack can make the conditions you are describing. You do not want any secondary air introduced between the air flow meter and intake plenum except at the aux air valve. That(aux valve) could be an issue if the thing does not close when the engine warms up. Check that by putting the thing in the freezer for a bit, look through and the opening should be noticable. when warm this should close up.
All the sensors are snug, the one on the water "T" can come loose if it contacts the hood liner (should be on the bottom of the T anyway) The thermotime under the intake plenum conected well?
Once sorted, the FI system should be relatively reliable.
Chris

[Daniel]

a glowing exhaust manifold would mean gas is burning in the manifold so late ignition timing or to rich maybe
both .

[kilrwail]

When you installed the timing belt, the crankshaft should have been at TDC, not 10 BTDC. You then adjust to 10 BTDC with the distributor. When you think you have the belt in the right place, rotate the engine several times and keep checking your marks. It can be tricky to get all four lined up. Good luck!

[coise]

Yep, that´s exactly what I´m thinking too, Kilrwail. TDC when you install the timing belt.

[BEEK]

if you removed the cam pullies, are you sure you put them back on the correct cams? A= intake S= exhaust

[124JOE]

go thru your plugs and wires one by one.
look into both ends of the wire.ill bet you wont like what you find.

[So Cal Mark]

all good thoughts about re-doing the cam timing. I'd also bet the injectors are stuck with varnish in them.

[NeedHelp]

OK, sorry it's been a while since my last correspondence; I have been quite busy with Christmas shopping, work, girlfriend, etc.. Thank you all for taking the time to respond. These are all excellent ideas. However, I did make an error in my last communication. What I meant to say was that I had set the initial timing to 0BTDC, and once it was running, adjusted it by moving the distributor to 10BTDC when at idle. And yes, I made sure to keep the cam gears with the appropriate cams when I disassembled the engine.

If you recall, I mentioned that a while ago that I had tested to see if all the cylinders were firing by starting the car and removing the spark plug wires one by one and listening for a difference in the idle. When I removed the #3 wire, it didn't seem to make much of a difference, so I assumed it was an issue with the #3 cylinder not firing. The plugs are fine (brand new, gapped correctly), there's nothing wrong with the wires, the valves are all good (none stuck or leaky, gapped correctly), ad compression is good, so it had to be a fuel issue. Today I swapped out the injectors in the #1 and #3 cylinders, and started it up. It was very hard to start (thinking maybe cold start injector, will check later), but once it was running I performed the same test again (removed plug wires one by one). All of the cylinders seemed to be firing just fine this time. This seemed odd, but it did seem to run better than before. For posterity, I ran another compression test. While cold, it has ~150psi plus or minus 3-5psi in each cylinder. When hot, it has ~100psi, plus or minus 5psi in each cylinder. I checked and re-checked each of the following: auxiliary air regulator (working, open when cold, closed tight when hot), set idle speed (according to method described in Bradley Artigue's manual found at mirafiori.com), adjusted TPS, checked all coolant sesors with ohmmeter, checked for vacuum leaks by spraying carb cleaner on/around intake and all vacuum lines, checked AFM metering plate and harness, and adjusted air bypass adjustment screw on AFM.

I am really at a loss for ideas. I read in the manual that you're supposed to set the idle at 750-800RPM with the transmission in Drive, so I did, but when I put in Park or Neutral, the idle jumps up to ~1450-1500RPM. This seems very high to me, but I don't know Fiat's very well. I am going to try testing the o2 sensor tomorrow, and see if that could be causing a problem. I also wonder if perhaps there's a vacuum line loose on the transmission. There is a line that goes from the intake down towards the transmission, and it doesn't kick down like it should when you hit the throttle while driving it. It doesn't seem to run rich, but it does run rough. Perhaps I can take another video soon so you can see how it behaves now. Anyway, thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedules to help me out on this. I appreciate all the help I can get at this point.

Thanks! And Merry Christmas!

-TJ

[So Cal Mark]

are you able to isolate which cylinder isn't firing? If 3 didn't make much difference before, does it affect idle now? If your vacuum line to the modulator is leaking, upshifts will be late and harsh

[NeedHelp]

Thanks for the quick reply Mark.

All 4 cylinders seem to be firing now. When I pull each of the plug wires off, it causes the engine to bog down.

Well, then, maybe the modulator isn't the issue. The car shifts up smooth enough while driving, but won't kick down at all when you give it full throttle at any speed.

[So Cal Mark]

the kickdown cable must be connected between the trans and throttle linkage, if not the trans will fail rather quickly since the pressure will be too low

[124JOE]

my thoughts

if the hose to the tranz is rubber try pinching the hose to see if the idle gets better
and the cold start valve needs replacing