okay, so I finished my TII conversion, and when I tried to start it, it wouldn't. I checked, and there was no spark. then I thought it might be because I didn't change drivers side wiring harness, so I was going to try that, but after finding out where it went, how could you possibly replace it, it goes throughout the entire car?

then I found a little grey plastic box in the TII that read "engine failure" or something like that along with a bunch of japanese writing and other stuff. so I put that in my car, then I decided to try and start it, but the battery was dead. so we jumped it with another car, and it started right up????

I let it run for a while untill it got warm, and then turned it off to install the half shafts and cat back exhaust. then we try to start it again, and it just turns over, like its not getting any spark. so we jump it again and it starts right up. this continues to happen many times. then I finally drive it home for the night. the next morning (today) I try to start it(nothing), then jump it, and it just turns over. I'm getting no spark.

I don't understand why I would get spark when I jumped it before, and not on regular starts. and now why don't I get any spark at all?

if anyone has any suggestions, or help, I would really appreciate it. I can't wait to experience the true power of turbo!!!

also, if you can't understand what I'm saying, please let me know or ask questions. thanks

 

wait, I just read von's thread, and it sounds like it could just be that there's not enough compression yet? but then why wouldn't jumping it work today?

BTW, this engine has been sitting for 6 months.

also, I tried putting another ground to the leading coil, because when I tested the power going to it by putting the +/- side of the voltmeter in the plug, it was pretty low, and when I put the + side in the plug and the - side on a ground, I got full power. I might just be retarded today because I'm tired, and sick, and probably not thinking straight. please tell me if what I tried made any sense?

 

oh yeah, I forgot this part, and its probably really important.

there is no plug to plug into the back of the alternator. there's the little metal part that screws on, but no plastic plug. It would probably be good to wire one to it, but I'm not sure where it goes to.

 

please help!!!!! any comment would be very nice
I want my car to work again.

 

clean your battery terminals and check to see if you connected all the grounds throughout the engine bay. sounds like your electrical system isn't putting out, so your car needs another car to get it turned on

 

I went out and screwed with my car. Unplugging that alternator wire does nothing to the idle. A small vacuum leak after the TB (where they usually are) only ups the idle about 50 rpm. A large vacuum leak just stalls it.
To me it sounds like a timing problem, or maybe it's running rich. You can try screwing with that mixture adjustment screw on the passenger strut tower. From behind your car smells pretty bad, and blows blackish smoke (it is hard to tell exactly what color b/c it was dark) when you start up from a light. Plus, you were having flashes in the tailpipes on normal shifts.
In my experience getting flames that easily comes from either running really rich, or having the timing way retarded.

One more thing, when another car is hooked up (for a jump), that car's idle is dragged down significantly, is this because of a short? Dead Battery being charged? What?

 

i think a low idle when the car is being jumped would be from one cars electrical system having to run 2 engines. so not enough power, does the idle change when the other car is revved?

 

not when it's cranking, just when it's hooked up the idle drops.

Oh BTW, Travis you forgot to mention that almost all of your idiot lights stay on.

 

sometimes they're on, sometimes they're off. its wierd.
they went off after I drove for a little while.

and my water temp gauge shows all the way on hot, while my aftermarket gauge reads 140*F???? WTF????

is it just running that cool because I had no hood on my car?

well, we disconnected the cars once the rx7 started. and I believe that for that brief moment the other car did idle normally. I'm pretty sure that idle drop was normal.

could you start the car without that plugged in?

also, we left the car for a week, just sitting there, and the battery died. and today, after cranking the engine many times, even with it running off another car, the battery would not charge, and the car would barely turn over. I really think there's a short somewhere that's draining the power significantly.

 

okay, I was just thinking. before, when there wasn't a bunch of power(when it wasn't being jump started) the starter would just make a kind of buzz noise. and today when I had it jumped, it had plenty of power(with it jumped), but it cranked over really slow. could this be the starter going bad? maybe there's a short in the starter?

 

Check the ground wire that is attached to the long starter bolt. Large gauge wire. MUST be secured to the starter bolt, not left dangling in the air. Black wire with a yellow stripe. Originates at the battery negative terminal.

Then check all the fuses in the engine bay. Then check the ENGINE fuse in the crew compartment.

Oh. A fellow fixed his car recently by going back and finding the ground wires for the ECU were not secured after his engine change. The ones that are ganged together on top of the engine. Back left top side of the engine.

 

forget about the connector on the back of the alternator that goes to the EM harness, it's not your problem... you can rule that out.

 

You hit 140F after the engine warmed up. It should be in the neighbourhood of 180F (sitting at idle.) I don't know if driving with the hood off would cool it that much - I'd guess yes, but that's only a guess (depending on how fast you were moving.)

Have you checked ECU codes yet?

http://home.rmci.net/panther/ecu_codes.htm


Your Christmas tree (warning lights) are telling you that there's a problem with the alternator, that's all. But you've already told us it's not connected.

 

the coolant was also leaking, so as it evaporates it cools a lot more than normal.

 

yeah, the warmest it ever got was 140, even just sitting there with the hood off. could the gauge be malfunctioning? its a mechanical VDO gauge that reads from 100-260. also, the oil temp never got above 160-170.

the ground wire is connected. it already ran for a long while untill I shut it off. oh yeah, and when I turned the key off, it stayed on for a couple seconds before the engine stopped.

is left the drivers or pass side? I already checked all the fuses.

I'll check the ECU codes tomorrow, but doesn't the car need to run in order to do that?

my O2 sensor is not connected, so that would explain the running rich. plus, I think the timing is waaaaay off. that's one of the reasons I was trying to get it started today.

ALL of the lights come on when the alternator is not connected? and they go off every once in a while.

 

true, true, but I stopped teh coolant from leaking at the gas station with the 1/4 more turn. so that shouldn't have done much.


could the problem be in the fact that the drivers side wiring harness was never changed to the TII one. could those 3 different pins in the plug be the cause of all this?

 

man I hope not

 

The 88 TII I have been taking apart did have a plug in the rear of the alternator, in addition to the screw on terminal.

Definitely sounds like a ground problem. The harnesses that you installed, are you real sure the ground connections are making good contact?

 

yeah, this one should have it, but it seems to be gone. that shouldn't be too much of a problem anyway.

I'm not sure, but I think they are, because the car runs good once it gets started. it just won't start(possibly the starter isn't turning it fast enough?). I'll check al the grounds again tomorrow.

 

Doubt it, but you never know. I'd say take it for its word.


Are you saying that the engine continued to run briefly???


Nope. She can be dead cold.




Lemme rephrase a smidge. The Xmas tree lights up when the alternator isn't producing a sufficient charge - that's to let the driver know that they're running off the battery and that they'd better do something about it soon. Since the alternator isn't connected, the computer doesn't think it's producing enough charge, and so it lights the xmas tree (why they didn't put another light in there for 'charge' is beyond me.)


Sorry, but again, I don't know what to make of this. I'm certain that I've seen posts in the past about how to go about connecting a TII harness/connector to a not-TII alternator. I never paid much attention b/c I don't expect to ever need the 411.

And then you come along...

 

It's not that the plug for the alternator is wrong, it's completely missing. We couldn't even find any broken wires where it could have been

 

correct. it was like a turbo timer, but as far as I know, I don't have one

 

Amur..what about his question about not swapping the drivers side TII harness??

 

Download the FSM for the 88 (it'll have both turbo and NA info in it) and look to see what wire is supposed to go to the alternator. Then get under your hood and see if you can find that same wire. The FSM will tell you what the colours will be.

 

my 86 non turbo had the same starting problem. it seems that even a half dead starter......doest show bad at the store when tested.......will take enough juice away from the ignition system to stop it from starting. replace the starter and everything should be fine...worked for me