hey guys. I've done some searching, but it's all inconclusive. I have no clue what could be causing this problem.

Chris, the guy I'm working with who has the car as of now, has already checked everything... timing, ignition, fuel, spark... it's all good.

something that has worried me since day 1 is the old wiring harness... also, before we did the swap, we noticed a bunch of random grounds that the previous owner had put in. Before we cut these grounds, the car wouldn't even try to start. Now it tries, it just can't get going...

I'm lost.

Gotham is only 10 minutes away from me... thinking of just towing it there.

You guys have any ideas? Could it be one of those grounds that we cut was necessary? (sorry, I don't remember where they were etc, and the car is an hour away so I can't check as of now.)

I'M DESPERATE!

EDIT

Just for clarification.. it's an '88 TII, the swap was done with an '88 TII block.. so no compatibility issues should exist.

 

I'll love whoever helps me figure this out. eternally.

 

You said you checked the fuel, but did you see if the fuel filter was clean?

I overlooked that on my old car and sold it with a brand new rebuild in it. He changed the filter and in worked.

 

Brand new fuel filter, brand new oil filter, etc etc...

it doesn't make sense.

thanks for reminding me to post that, though. :P

 

The previous owner also had RP install a fuel-cut switch to make sure the car didn't flood on start-up. I'm curious as to whether or not this could cause problems. To the best of my knowledge, we didn't tamper with the fuel-cut switch at all... I wonder if it could be a factor, though?

 

It could be. Take out the switch and just hook up the wire directly. Or use a multimeter.

 

use a multimeter to test that you get voltage to places.

Do a few tests.
Jumper the fuel pump test plug and see if you get fuel flow(built pressure guages is awesome for tuning/troubleshooting and costs around $70).

Then Verify you are getting voltage through the injector plugs.
I used my multimeter at the ECU pins so I could test with the car all together.

I found on my swap that the harness has a bad solder joint from a repair I did and the rear rotor wasn't getting fuel from the primary injector.
Remember that you can't test voltage through the secondaries unless your near 4k rpm since they aren't on below that.

The Continuity tester(the one which beeps/tones out on a circuit).
It's an easy way to tell where a plug connects to if you get lost following color codes.


Oh yeah. I've heard of people connecting the fuel lines backwards and causing problems too. The inlet line should connect to the primary fuel rail and the return comes from the secondary rail.

Give us a few more details.

Does the car turn over at all?
Does it spin/crank quickly or slowly?
Have you check to see if your flooded the engine? A severe flooding can make an engine not start at all. I had to tow-start my buddies car 4 times down the street before it finally cleared out the engine.

 

Oh yeah. An extreme method for making sure the injectors work are to pull the UIM off and zip tie the inejctors to the fuel rail. Then plce them towards the sky and crank it. Watch for puffs of gas(recommend VERY short bursts to avoid fireballs and debri in the engine)

 

Hey guys, thanks a bunch for the feedback.

Digitech: As soon as I get the car, I'll try some of that. To answer your questions:
It does turn over.

It used to crank slowly, but we fixed that too. Now it just goes 'round and 'round, but never starts.

It could very well be flooded.. I'm planning on tow-starting it when I get it, just to see if that works.

I'm supposed to get the car tomorrow, if I do I'll be on here trying to get it going... still have to wire the SAFC2, turbo timer, a/f ratio guage though..

Thanks again. If you need any more info, just let me know.

 

I bet it's flooded terribly. Search the forums for unflooding techniques

A turbo timer is not needed on our cars since the turbo's a re coolant cooled as well as oil cooled.

Coking is a minimal problem with our cars/turbo's.

 

If it has the fuel cut switch, just turn it off. That does the same as pulling the egi fuse. So turn it off, the floor it and crank. Keep trying that for a while and it might start up. If not, you might try the other more extreme method. I'm willing to bet its flooded, though.

 

I wish I could go give it a try... last time I was actually there with it was a few weekends ago.

I really appreciate the help. Hopefully I'll have it up and running soon.

 

You may want to remove the spark plugs to let the engine air out for a day or two. It will help with the flooding problem.

new spark plugs may be needed as well. Once they get super flooded they usually won't ignite right or at all.

 

edit
nevermind!

 

pull the lines off the intake manifold for the pressure sensor and the blow off valve, put about 1/2 teaspoon of marvel mystery oil in each vacuum port of the manifold with a handheld oil squirt gun and leave the vacuum lines off, crank the engine for 5 seconds(with the EGI fuse removed) and let it sit for 5 minutes. get a can of starting fluid and spray about 2-3 shots in each vacuum port(BOV and pressure sensor) and replace the lines and fuse. crank the engine at 50% throttle, if it starts hold it at about 2k until the engine runs smoothly and can idle on it's own.

good luck.

 

lol ben thats alot of work to do =D

 

takes me about 30 seconds on top of the 5 minute wait. *shrug* just did it on a FD that was being a bitch to start yesterday.

just be sure to prepare everyone in the vicinity for a rather large cloud of white smoke upon startup.