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Replaced air control valve now car won't start!

959 views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  JayMac 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi All, My 1997 Z3 2.8 is having a mid-life crisis :(, my check engine light is on, I have 3 codes, it is also running very rich and barely passed (by 1 point) the CA smog test a few months ago. One of the codes is P1423 so I decided to tackle that first and searched the forum. I found that 4 of the SAP rivets were broken off at the bottom (but looked okay from the top) so I replaced those with bolts and nuts. Based on forum posts I suspected the air control check valve was stuck shut so I replaced it. Before reattaching to the manifold I felt the air coming out of the valve from the SAP for the first 2 minutes at cold start and then shutting off, so it all seems good. I also replaced the brittle vacuum line. Then I reattached the check valve to the manifold with a new gasket and now the car won't start! Help! It's cranking but not starting, so not a battery problem. I looked at all the fuses in the fuse box and they all seem good. I can't figure out what happened, nothing I did should have affected the engine starting. I hooked up my Scanmaster ELM and there are no new codes, just the old 3. It was actually driving strong and smooth with the 3 codes, just rich and smelly. What should I check to get the car running? My other codes are P0420 and P0740 but like I said it was running strong with those codes although I still want to get it all straightened out.

The car has 65k miles, and it wasn't flooded. This happened last evening and I let it sit over night and tried it again this morning and same thing.

Thanks for any ideas!
 
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#5 ·
Unfortunately not. I'm going to have to have it towed to my indy I guess. Of course it seemed like it should be something I touched and I even looked around to see if I bumped something in the vicinity but there's nothing. The car ran absolutely fine when I had the SAP completely out of the car to repair the bolts, so it doesn't even need it (if you don't mind the code) and how can replacing the air check valve stop the sparking? Completely different system. I only touched the stuff related to the secondary air system. I don't get it, and am completely frustrated.
 
#6 ·
Check the fuel pump fuse and relay. Keep in mind that you could be solving a totally separate issue the just happened near the same time. Your front o2 sensor and maf would have an affect on your mixture. You are running rich? Then too much fuel or not enough air. Lean is the other way. You can pull a plug and short it against the block to see if you have spark.
 
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