BuddyRX7

Ok she is almost ready, I now have a full 88 jspec in a 88 vert, BUT! The car turns over and cranks fine, but we are not getting any spark in either coil pack. We have swapped the coil packs with ones that do work with the same results, so it basically narrows it down to...

1. a bad connection from the power harness or (looked for one to no avail)

2. Crank angle sensor that is gone array...

3. connection from the ECU to the crank angle sensor may be incorrect or hooked up wrong...

But we cant seem to get it figured it out.. any help woul d be greatly appreciated!!! We are going to swap a Crank angle sensor from a 89 T2 tommorow to see if that works, but we are not sure if an 89 CAS will fit in a 88 motor.

edit: we have a 88 t2 that we can compare and everything does appear to be hooked up correct.... just need ideas or hopefully someone who has had this problem and can say... "Hey idiot, switch this wire for this that and the other thing and it will fire" lol

BuddyRX7

bump, comeone someone has some insight....

RXTASY1

Probably your MAF sensor.

cymfc3s

so you pulled the plug out, attached the wire and cranked it over and saw no spark?? Are you using an NA ecu or the JSPEC ecu??

BuddyRX7

We're using an 88 TII ECU. But the ECU shouldn't affect whether we get spark or not. Hey if anyone can help, we need to fix this in the next few hours if possible. Please call my cell phone at 530-680-1851. I'll be hovering over the car in about 45 minutes so any help would be GREATLY appreciated. I need SPARK!!!!!!! thanks guys

And yes the engine is cranking. We ARE getting fuel. All the fuel and oil and coolant lines are leak free.

cymfc3s

Did you pull the spark plug wires off and make sure you arent getting any spark?

BuddyRX7

Yes, there's no spark. The coils are getting power but the crank angle sensor is getting no power. I'm thinking the coils aren't getting the signal to tell them to ignite. What is wrong!!!

Barwick

I had a problem like that on my '80 race car, it ended up we had the distributor plugged into the wrong plug (it LOOKED exactly the same, but it was the wrong one, plugged it into the other, and *blam* worked fine)

BuddyRX7

I don't think that's the case here. I am thinking it might be a little box that is somehow missing by the ECU. I think it's some sort of special fuse. I dunno, I'm gonna try and fiind one, can anyone confirm that this is my problem?

BuddyRX7

We did find the problem with the electrical, you know that one wire that runs away and hides, well we found him and all is sorta good now. But, now the car cranks, but gets no spark. We have tested and traced the problem to the CAS not getting any power. The coils get 12 volts on Ignition ON, and 6.4 volts when you try to strt the car, but are not putting out any spark. We do have new Jacobs wires, plugs and so forth. We did notice a part on the passenegr kickpanel is missing a 90v "Engine Malfuntion" fuse or breaker that a local 88t2 does have, along with the other wires and connections that are in that general area. We think this may be the cause of the problem but are not 100% certain. We are currently trying to obtain these parts

hypntyz7

Like the other guy said, try your airflow meter. I know, it sounds full of ****, but try it. Ive run into not 1 but 2 cases where a car had no spark after an engine swap. I know for a fact it ran before the swap, and all the same components(external to engine) were used. First time it took me 2 days, and by chance I found it. UNplug the afm, and check for spark again. IF you get spark then, well, try another afm...even an NA one will work fine.

Also, be sure to recheck the wiring harness connections near the ecu in the kick panel, the large orange connectors. Once I didnt have one of thse fully snapped together, and no spark...

IF you have more toruble but cant figure it out call me 423-748-7977 on my cell, noon til midnight eastern, and Ill try to help. IF you dont get me(cellphone not working right sometimes) leave a message and Ill call back soon as I get it.

Good luck!

HAILERS

Wadda ya mean the ECU shouldn't effect spark??? Attached is a wiring diagram followed by the rest of the diagram. ECU is the item that makes it spark and controls timing. If you pull the small white plug off the lead coil assy, there should be 12v on the black and yellow wire and about 4-5v on the other. If you pull the small four wire plug off the trail coils, you should have 12v on one of the wires and 4-5v on the another.The other two wires have nadda on them. The second trail plug has I believe two wires, black and yellow each, and they should have 12v each. No 4-5v as mentioned above equals no start. Comes from the ECU. I say that if you are using a timing lite to determine wether or not you have spark, to try another thing instead. Put a lead wire close to a stud on the strut tower and crank while looking for spark. CAS don't hardly ever go bad unless you stick a screwdriver in the gears while its turning etc. I'd ring out the wires b/t the ECU and cas if you don't have the 4-5v refered to above. P.S Is the 30 amp fuse blown in the engine bay???? EGI fuse?

HAILERS

ECU TWO;

hypntyz7

OH ****, Hailers done broke out the FSM scans, you guys are in trouble now

Any progress?

HAILERS

PLUGS ONE

HAILERS

PLUGS TWO:

HAILERS

AND THREE: OOPS. Sorry about the remarks I made about checking the wires for spark. I see CYMFC3S already suggested that and you already did that. Look for the 4-5 v as mentioned above in earlier post.

BuddyRX7

ok, I just unplugged the MAFS and still not spark. I am now officially out of batteries. (I'm gonna need a jump next time I try something else) Let me make this clear, when we turn over the engine the coils get 6 volts or so. When we turn the key without the clutch depressed they get 12 V. The coils ARE getting power. We've tried a brand new remanufactured ECU and a working ECU and nothing changes. The only thing we are thinking might do something is a little 90Amp fuse in the passenger kick panel above the ECU is missing. We're going to the junkyard tomorrow to try and find one. If this works I'll let you know but it may not. We need more suggestions. We've checked the wiring a million times. The other thing is the crank angle sensor is getting NO POWER. The wire appears to be hooked up fine. Basically it seems to look like the coils get power but nothing is giving them the signal to spark. Thanks for any help guys.

HAILERS

Well, if you've rung out the wires to the cas per the diagram that I attached to a earlier post and have voltage at the coil assy....you got me. I did one little experiment this morning that surprised me. IF the coil assy are not attached to the structure of the car, the damn things will not fire. I put both on top of some rags(gasoline soaked of course), and tried starting. No go. If I take one coil assy and attach it to its mounting studs, the car starts. Soooooo...are you coil assy just sitting on the fender or mounted like they should be?? Also I looked at the cas input at the cas and I get 0.65v. Seems to be not related to the three inboard fuses, seems to be controlled by the key. Didn't bother to find the source. BTW.... the fuse above the ECU I believe is a heater or blower motor fuse. I THINK thats the case. Don't know.

HAILERS

One more thing. Since you did an engine swap, and the grounds for the ECU are on the top of the engine,where they might have not been reattached by accident, why not use those input sheets I posted above in an earlier post and check for good grounds on the ECU. Such as 3G, 3A,2R,2C. Volts don't seem to do too good without a ground. Just a thought.

BuddyRX7

First of all, I don't know how to read schematics. Secondly, we checked the wires OVER and OVER again! We had to have gotten all the grounds. The two that we found were, one near the starter, and one that goes on the driver's side wheel well. Where else is there a ground that we missed??? If you know please tell me! I want to get my car running VERY badly!

BuddyRX7

WHOOO!!! We have fire!!! she starts, and boosts. We are getting a 1500 RPM idle that bounces 200 rpms, and she is running Super rich even under boost. I havnt hooked up the SAFC yet I am sure I can tune it down a bit. but now the temp guage doesnt work so we are installing an aftermarket one now.

At about 5500 rpms it does get ignition pinging and hopefully that is just really bad timing (havnt tuned it at all yet....

Thanks for your help so far...

Turblown

iTrader: (12)

Well, what was IT??? good luck with the rest!

BuddyRX7

There was an ECU plug that was shoved up near the passenger side of the firewall. It was pinned against something making it appear to be hooked up but in fact it wasn't plugged into anything. So now I drove my car around for 45 minutes to get out all of the ATF so I can put my good spark plugs in. Not gonna work on the car till tomorrow. Can anyone here verify my rough idle to be anything else other than timing or is timing the likely reason? We are also having problems starting. The only way we can get it started is to take the plug off of the fuel pump and start it then quickly reattach the fuel pump. Obviously it is starting and flooding but we are not certain of the reason. I'll let you know if the timing helps but please give any input you guys have thx.

HAILERS

Do a compression check before driving yourself up the wall. Low compression in some cases equals= flooding.