Running A Engine

[jimoshel]

In the good ole days, pre-computer, you could have a engine sitting on the ground and could start it by hooking up a battery and getting gas in the carb. I see no way to do that with a fuel injected, computer controlled engine. Other than just run a compression check I'm looking for away to tell if an engines any good or not without it being installed.

[HOrnbrod]

In the good ole days, pre-computer, you could have a engine sitting on the ground and could start it by hooking up a battery and getting gas in the carb. I see no way to do that with a fuel injected, computer controlled engine. Other than just run a compression check I'm looking for away to tell if an engines any good or not without it being installed.

 

There is no way if the engine isn't in the vehicle with all electronics connected. If not you bring it to an engine builder (like Hesco for Jeeps) and have them do a medical checkup in their dyno room set up for 4.0L+ engines. And that ain't cheap.

[Geonovast]

Well said, Don.

[jimoshel]

You just confirmed what I was afraid of.

[neohic]

Why not just take a harness out of a donor and strip it down? When my brother and I were doing the V6 swap in his VW, we took the stock wiring from the donor car and cut down everything that we didn't need. Pretty much, we wanted the wiring portion of the swap to be as easy as possible so we cut down the harness to the point that when it dropped into his car we would remove what wasn't needed and just drop in the new. When it was done, the car still had most of the original wiring but had a second fuse panel piggybacked in. It was to the point that if the new engine was sitting in a shopping cart, all you'd need was a 12V battery, a switch for the fuel pump, and a momentary swtich to start it.

[jimoshel]

Good idea. I leave the engine in a car I'm parting out until I sell it, just so it can be started and run. Let the buyer know what they're getting. However when buying, I don't always have that option. Usually I will just avoid any engine I can't hear run but occasionally there is the situation where I wind up with a uninstalled engine and i don't know it's status. Not sure which I would hate the most. Selling a bad engine to a buyer or junking a good one. Actually I do too. I will not knowingly screw anybody on a car deal.