I had an rx7 guy, Mike, come over tonight and we traced things. This 88 vert will start and run sometimes, but when it does the trailing side will not fire and does not seem to be getting power at all. We checked the CAS, the main relay, and trailing igniter and I'm lost. We cannot figure out why the car will keep flooding out. The compression sounds good top and bottom but we're thinking that since the trailing side isn't firing it's causing the car to flood out with fuel. Any idea? Could it be a bad ecu? There was one resistor in the ECU that has a gray patch in the middle of the blue. Is it burned up? resistance on it was 1.1....anybody have any ideas? The car runs okay if you can get it started but has no power at all. Barely runs when it does. Idles great....please stop me scrratching my head! ha ha....thanks!

 

does the tach in the cluster work??? How about the power steering???

Both those get a signal from the trailing coil, so if the coil is not fireing correctly they should not be working.

 

No the tach doesn't work and I think I remember the power steering not working either. I've tried two different trailing igniters on the car to no avail. Bad ecu? I read in the service manual about a code 12 that cuts off the trailing side of the ignition until the ecu is reset, and to reset it you depress the brake pedal for at least 10 seconds with the neg side of the battery unhooked. IS this correct procedure for an 88?

 

sounds like its not firing then,

Did you use a digital multi-meter to check the signal from the ECU???

 

and yes that is the correct way to clear the series 4 ECU, disconnect the battery and press the brake a couple of times or hold it for at least 10 seconds.

 

Well yes and no. Mike and I pulled the ECU and checked the board and we found a small blue cap with a small gray center as if it were blown on the board. It measured 1.1 ohms through it. The other one on the board measured like 4.5 ohms. We checked all the wiring going to and from the trailing igniter and that was my next thing was to check or replace the ecu since I don't have a way of checking it to see if it's bad.

 

Sounds like you have a meter... (hopefully digital). Caps very rarely blow on a board unless the board was assembled wrong in the first place (which is hard to imagine it showing up now, 14 years later) or the board was radically over driven and it lost other components.

Or someone used a testlight on it

I would use the meter to read the output signal, for one of the trailing coil triggers, but it sounds right now like you may have smoked the ECU.

 

I did use a code led on it to check the ECU codes=D but he had the problem before that.

I'm thinking ECU is gone.

Anybody tell us what pin the signal is supposed to be coming from on the ECU? Is it the Yellow/blue striped wire on the main efi connector?

Thanks
mike

 

The training coil fires from the Blue/Yellow (forward rotor as I recall)and Blue/red (rear rotor) coming from the ECU (pins X and M), going to the Trailing coil.

The yellow/blue tach wire comes from the trailing coils/ignitor assembly and goes to the tach in the dash and everything else that needs the tach signal.

 

YEA I HAVE AN 88 VERT AND ITS HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM. EXCEPT WHEN I START MY CAR IT REVS FINE BUT THEN THE TACH STARTS JUMPING AND EVENTUALY THE TACH DIES. I TRIED EVERYTHING I BOUGHT 2 DIFFERENT COILS AND ITS STILL THE SAME THING THE ONLY THING I HAVENT DONE IS RESET THE COMPUTER BUT I DONT KNOW ABOUT THAT. AND I COULD RUN THE CAR AND DRIVE IT SOME TIMES FOR LIKE 3 SECS AND ITLL GO BACK TO BEING THE SAME. SO CAN NE ONE HELP ME

 

i had the same problem ,buy a 2 gauge wire bolt it to the tranny and then to the firewall ......see if that helps

 

I scored an ecu and main relay today at the pull a part for $25 so I'm going to go out later and pop them in and see what happens. I've heard about running more grounds on the car to avoid things like this. What and where should I run one? I'm in the same thought that the ECU is taco'd and I'll find out later today. I can't bitch too much....I think. Thanks for the input guys. Hey Mike...ask me later about the four punks I busted after you left last night. they broke into the neighbors car and jacked the radio. Thanks to me, they're in jail now....LOL...I didn't sleep a wink.

 

http://www.teamfc3s.org/info/articles/demystifying.html

and make sure the body of the trail coil assy is grounded to the chassis. A must.

If it were the main relay the lead coil assy wouldn't work.

 

HAILERS, VMB, MARTIN, TURBO GXL (MIKE), and ICEMARK. Thanks to you guys I got the vert running! $25 damn ecu that kept it from running. As soon as I put it in and tried to start the car, I saw the tach jumping and I knew it was a good sign! YES! The car runs and runs awesome. I hate to sound like a prissy girl on this, but seriously, you guys helped me out of a jam and I owe you a beer at a strip joint or something. Now I gotta get this car's interior looking good, but for now I'm just stoked that it runs and doesn't flood out!

 

hey thanx people i think that i am going to try the computer now and see what happens. but most probably ill just take it to my mechanic. i mean i ran the ground but i ran it from the battery to the firewall well to where the coil bolt to the frame but it didnt work. my next step is probably going tommorrow and trading the coil for the ecu its probably the same price im sure

 

I WAS WONDERING IF I COULD USE THE SAME ECU AS THE COUPE?

 

as long as the first two numbers match, such as a N326 and N327 or a N332, and a N338

 

WELL PEOPLE TODAY I TRIED A DIFFERENT ECU AND FOUND OUT IT WASNT THE PROBLEM IT WAS STILL DOING THE SAME THING. NOW I REALY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT COULD BE

 

Check to see what your crankning speed is when you start up the car.. If you have low cranking speed (Bad battery, bad starter) it is entirely possible to get the car fired up and running.. however if te cranking speed is too low, the ECU will shut the trailing coil down.. resulting in the tach needle to initially bounce and then die while the car is running..

 

WELLL I MEAN THE NEEDLE JUMPS SOMETIMES BUT I DONT KNOW WHAT IT COULD BE. IMEAN WHEN I START THE CAR IT IDLES FINE AND EVERYTHING I EVEN REV IT NORMAL BUT THEN EVENTUALY THE TACH JUMPS AND IT DIES I HAVE TO TURN THE IGNITION OF AND ON AGAIN FOR IT TO WORK. BUT ANYWAYS IM GOING TO WASH MY CAR AND PARK IT OUTSIDE MY MECHANIC WILL PICK IT UP AT AROUND 10. THANX FOR ALL THE HELP. I GUESS THERES JUST SOME THINGS I STILL CANT DO BY MYSELF
WELL THANKS ALOT PEOPLE HOPE IT DOESNT HAPPEN TO YOU

 

i am having almost the exact same problem. I took every thing off of the the drivers side of my engine bay inorder to clean the engine bay, but I didnt disconnect anything, when I was done I put it all back and now the trailing coil has power but doesnt send a signal. the tach doesnt work and it only revs up really slow and cant hold an idle. I havent held the brake in yet to reset the ecu, should I, I need some suggestions
thanks

 

Well In my case the leading coil is firing... HELLLLLLLPPP