This is the one I picked up a few months ago on the cheap.  Ran well at the time, I've been getting some body stuff replaced and dealing with the fershlugginer (Simbolz) lock nuts on two of the wheels (they came without a key and are a terrible system).  Thinking now of pressing it into use.

Started yesterday with a little fuss, but it'd been sitting for months and the battery was flat, so no big surprise.  Once it came up it behaved fine.  Today (ambient temperature about 0C) I could barely get it to catch, even with a little shot of ether (something I've never had to do with an EJ22 or EJ25).  I think it's running too lean (i.e. failing to choke) because it was a little backfirey.  Once it caught it idled way too low, like barely alive.  After 30 seconds or so the revs popped up to normal-ish and it seems okay.

Since I'm new to the H6 and have never seen this sort of behaviour on any of the fours, can anyone suggest a cause beyond the usual look-for-vacuum-leaks?  Btw, no CEL.

 

hmmmm, with cool weather, a bad engine temp sensor might explain the symptom of initial lean/poor running with better bahavior after warm-up. Can't signal the ECU for 'choke' injector settings if it thinks it's already a 'warm' engine.

Stands to reason, though it gets better really quickly - as in "within 30 seconds" - and before the engine has had a chance to warm up significantly.

But I'll take a look when I get back from a cross-country drive to NY and report results.

Thanks.

hmmmm....OK, next time it's cold/prone to exhibit failure....try cycling the key several times, from OFF to ON-wait for a 3-4-5count, OFF-ON,wait,OFF-ON,wait, then OFF- Start. If there's leak-down of pressure in the fuel rails, that should correct it and maybe starting will be better?

 

wonder what the plugs are like? proper NGK or some oddball type?

just trying to eliminate some 'problem areas'.

 

any stored codes?

Edited November 3, 20196 yr by 1 Lucky Texan

Good questions all.  I just don't have the answers yet.  Have to embark on a road trip (Calgary -> NY -> Calgary) tomorrow to fetch a boat (unless anyone here is about to head west from Long Island with a vacant trailer hitch...), and as soon as I'm back I'll start fiddling in earnest.

 

Edited November 4, 20196 yr by jonathan909

Plug in a code reader that can read live data. See if you have any stored or current codes (no light does not mean not codes).

Then check the temperature. After sitting overnight, the engine temperature and intake air temp sensors should read almost identical.

On 11/4/2019 at 1:13 AM, jonathan909 said:

Good questions all.  I just don't have the answers yet.  Have to embark on a road trip (Calgary -> NY -> Calgary) tomorrow to fetch a boat (unless anyone here is about to head west from Long Island with a vacant trailer hitch...), and as soon as I'm back I'll start fiddling in earnest.

 

That's a road trip!

Yup, sure was - nine days for the round trip, not driving stupidly (i.e. maintained my normal wake/sleep cycle, more or less) and sleeping every night (but the two spent at an old pal's place in Madison WI) in the back of the '99 OBW whose EJ25D I rebuilt last winter.  Ran flawlessly.  Couldn't be happier... unless the Supercat 19 I came back with wasn't covered in snow for the next five months.

So now I'm back and catching up.  Just did the HG job on my girls' '01 Forester that's been in the queue since spring, so I'm getting closer to tackling the H6.

For the "live data", I'm assuming this is a job for one of those newfangled OBDII/Bluetooth dongles and the appropriate tracking device app.  I see the dongles start at just a few bucks; can anyone offer some pointers as to what to look for, what to avoid, and which apps to run under either IOS or Android?  I can probably dig up an old iphone here but would need to acquire an Android.

 

Live data is a job for almost any OBDII reader except the cheapest standalone ones.

I have a bluetooth dongle that I bought on Amazon about 5 years ago for $20, and use the Android App "Piston" to read it.

Thanks.  To use it I'd need an android tracking device, though, and all I have around me at the moment is iphones.

Can anyone suggest a similar iphone app?