eggy

long story, my 98 sti which was standing for 1 1/2 years, now when its started and gets up to temp , theres water or fuel spiting out the back, i think its water, others have said its over-fueling .
have changed lamba, maf,injectors,
pulled engine out ,done leakdown test (nothing)

when i take lid of exspansion tank and let her tick over the water will slowly build up and overflow...

is there anything else that would make her run very rich like this .or do you think gaskets.

thanks

Splitpin

Why are you relying on guesswork or what others say? Does this liquid smell and feel like petrol, or like water? If you soak some of it up with a tissue and put a match to it, does it burn?

Was your car overfuelling before you stored it? If it wasn't then, it's not overly likely to have suddenly started now, unless you've got something like a jammed injector. However it would be perfectly normal to see a load of condensation buildup chucked out the tailpipe of a car that had been stored for a while. As above it's easy to determine the difference between unburnt fuel and water.

When you say "expansion tank", are you talking about the expansion tank separator next to the battery or the header tank bolted to the inlet manifold? If you take the header tank pressure cap off and run the engine, it is perfectly normal to see the water level build up - that's why it has a pressure cap on it in the first place. If you are seeing constant air bubbling then that can be a symptom of head gasket failure but it's impossible to determine whether what you're seeing is normal or not based on your description.

Given what you've said so far it seems eminently possible that there's nothing wrong with your car and you're getting wound up about nothing. It's also possible that it is both running rich and your head gaskets have gone, or that there's another explanation altogether, but on the information you've given so far it is impossible for any of us to tell.

Try and work out what that liquid exiting your exhaust is. If it's water, see if it clears up once the engine's well warmed through. Also top your coolant header tank up to the brim (when it's cold) and check it (again, when it's cold) and see if the level maintains or not.

Or have someone local who knows check your car over. Bottom line is that if there was nothing wrong with it before you put it into storage, there shouldn't be anything major wrong with it now. Although as a matter of course, it'd be worth changing oil/filter/brake fluid/etc. Don't drive it hard on any fuel that was remaining in the tank either - it will have degraded.

eggy

thanks mate, its hard to explain , it looked like water to me in the exhust but the tailpipe was sooty, and plugs were pretty black also,
i bought the car as a project so cant be sure what it was like before.
as the engine is now out, i will do the gaskets to be sure.

i have changed the lamba/ maf/ and injectors, is there anything else that would make her so rich

what about reseting the ECU

thanks

Splitpin

It may well be, but what you tell us is all we have to go on, so if you want help here you're going to have to find a way to do so. I've tried to help you in my previous post by posing a range of questions for you to answer that will hopefully assist us in working out what you've done.

They were pretty black before or after you tried to start it after 18 months laid up? Impreza tailpipes are always sooty so this, again, may be nothing to worry about.

You said just now that you thought the liquid emerging from the tailpipe was water, and don't seem to know for certain. Therefore you don't seem to know at this point whether it was rich or not. It's also obvious that starting the engine from cold will give you a load of cold start enrichment. Did you drive the car at all and get it up to temp before deciding it was "rich"?

What prompted you to change the sensors and injectors? Did you exchange them for the correct sort? When doing so did you drain the fuel rail before removing them by disconnecting the fuel pump and running the engine to stall? If not you'll have dumped a load of fuel from the rail into at least one of the cylinders, possibly giving the impression that it was rich. Did you ensure that the lower seals were in good nick and therefore unable to drip fuel into the cylinders?

Again given what you've written it is still far from clear that it was running rich at all. From here it is impossible to tell whether this is what you think it is, or whether it's a perfectly healthy engine being started for the first time in a year and a half on old fuel, and spewing out a load of condensation - even you thought it was water.

Moot point if the engine has been taken out of the car isn't it? Was the battery disconnected while the car was in store? If so the ECU effectively will have been reset due to the power disruption.

With the best will in the world, the way this thread reads, it is impossible for us to work out what, if anything, is up here. May well be you're putting 2 and 2 together and making 22. If you hadn't already pulled the engine I'd suggest you get it looked at by someone who knows the car so you can be certain of where you are before moving forward. As things stand you could do worse than get it running again and do exactly that.

eggy

yes mate , i understand what youre saying, i now think i was a bit quick to pull the engine out. i will stick it in again (2hrs work)
and send the car to someone with more knowledge than me .....

thanks for your help.