cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

the newest issue im having with my fd is i cant get the car to run properly or at all. i swapped the motor and that was it. i primed the fuel system and went to start it, cranked nice and strong but wouldnt start. i tried a few more times and got it start for all of 10 seconds before it died. trouble shooting led us to the ignition. we put a tiny bit of fuel in one of the nipples on the intake manifold and it cranked just the same. that is what led us to the spark issue. the guy at the shop was telling me that if the fuel trick didnt start it then you have a spark issue.


we tested the spark by doing the spark plug and ground test and sure enough, no spark. the spark plugs are brand new and the motor is a brand new rebuild. i was reading this
Rotary Resurrection home of the budget rebuild.
and it had some of my issues on it so i am going to look into it a little more. what does the little ground on the the coil harness do? i tried switching out that little harness with another one i have and it doesnt have the ground on it. wondering if that matters.

side notes:
the little white plug that comes off the bottom of the oil pan, i dont have a plug on my harness for it and i dont recall if it was plugged in originally. im using the same harness.

would resetting the power fc help? it is a new motor and i dont if it matters or not.

when the car ran, it sounded exactly like this and no its not ported. the sound when the guy revs it is what im talking about.:

should i just go ahead and replace the coil packs and wires or is there a problem somewhere else?

billyboy

3rd time lucky, maybe, shitty website!

White plug - oil level sensor? - shouldn't affect start.

Coil harness changed at some point where they removed the earth from the shielding(?)....



unless it's old and brittle shouldn't be an issue.

Testing the coils/leads, swapping ignitor (pulling hks +sub-harness?) if you think there's an issue in the ignition side, probably the next step.

vrx8

iTrader: (18)

Is your CAS connected and position right?

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

thanks. i thought so. pulling hks? i dont have a twin power if thats what your thinking.

it is connected correctly. the white and brown plugs are where they should be. as far as the position, i did have to swap them out from the donor block, but they can only go on one way with that bracket being there. can they go in upside down? as in, the upper one on bottom and the lower one on top?

vrx8

iTrader: (18)

Yes, the bracket can be upside down causing the sensors to not line up and therefor not reading correctly. Causing ignition problems, backfire "running in one rotor" ect, trust me Im talking from experience lol.

Here is how they are supposed to go:

thewird

iTrader: (8)

Is the tach bouncing when you crank? Does RPM show on the commander when you crank?

thewird

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

I dont think the rpms moved at all. Ill be able to check tomorrow when the shop opens. What are you thinking of?

thewird

iTrader: (8)

If RPM is not moving, that means there is no crank signal. So either crank sensors or the wiring itself. No spark will happen if the ecu doesnt know the motor is spinning.

thewird

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

Thank you for all your help. The hobby shop opens in the morning and i'll be there all day toubleshooting until i get it. Ill get videos and plenty of pictures so if i dont get it then at least you guys will have a better idea of whats going on.


The two things im going to shoot first is the cas and then depending on how that goes coil packs and all that is next.

So what im looking for with the cas is to make sure i didnt put them on backwards? While also taking note of the position of the white and brown plug? As far as cas goes is there anything else i should be looking for?

With spark, the only thing i can really do is swap out coil packs and wires correct? I already changed out the little harness that goes to it. I have one With the ground and one without.

Im also going to try resetting the pfc to see if that does anything. From what i gather here, the cas and spark are the only 2 things i should be focused on.

thewird

iTrader: (8)

I've never seen a coil pack fail to the point where it wasn't firing at all so thats probably not your issue. Reseting the PFC won't fix a no spark issue. The commander is a great tool when diagnosing, itll pretty much tell you everything.

thewird

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

update for today. i took off the cas and checked them. this is how i had them hooked up before i took them off.

then i played around with the bracket to see if somehow i put it on wrong.




i also checked a block that was in scrap in the back of the shop.

i checked the plugs to see if they were clean and it was getting proper connection. theyre clean and also connected in the correct way. i also tried flipping them around and when i went to crank it, all it did was crank. it didnt even attempt to start, so i KNOW they are correct.


i checked the spark from all four wires and the spark is good on all 4. the plugs are BRAND new. all plugs are where they should be except the water level sensor. the wire broke and i still need to fix it. just an fyi, the full non-seq mod was done to include a rats nest delete and a profec b boost controller installed. i opened up the idle adjust screw from closed to about 2 1/2 turns.

so, i have spark, air, and fuel but the motor doesnt start. a past fd owner suggested timing. this sounded strange to me because i thought timing was controlled by the ecu. i reseted the pfc just in case anyway. no change. the videos will show what starting the car is like. the video of the car being dragged and i pop the clutch to start it is terrible, but hopefully it helps someone help me. while the car was being dragged, i couldnt rev the motor in neutral and i could barely get it to accelerate in first gear.




now what....

thewird

iTrader: (8)

CAS sensors look right. What injectors do you have in the car? It sounds like its only firing on one rotor (fuel) or just an extreme lack of fuel. Do you have a stock ECU or another PFC to test by any chance?

thewird

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

stock fuel set-up. i have an extra fuel set-up and all that to test with if you think swapping that out may help.

i have a stock ecu to test with but not another pfc...

i'll try is out with the stock ecu today and report back with another video. i dont know if i will be able to swap out the fuel rails or not. i'll see if i have time... thanks again...

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

Also, we put a fuel pressure gauge on it and it was at 200 whatever. I dont remember what units the gauge read in. And the fuel feed and return lines are connected properly.

mr_ouija

One of the sensors looks broken here?
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...123_115119.jpg

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

Read the text above that picture

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

So is the commander showing rpm when you crank? I didn't read above that that question was answered. The CAS magnets have to be within 1mm from the trigger wheel IIRC, any further and there won't be a reading for the ecu.

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

i didnt answer in text because its answered in the videos i posted but yes, the pfc shows the rpm moving and the tach does as well. i am also getting spark to all 4 of the brand new bur9 plugs.

what i dont understand is, how can the magnets shift at all with the bracket there? they can only go on one way. they cant really be adjusted at all, unless i'm missing something.

either way, here is what happened today. i swapped the pfc with the stock one and tried to cranks it, it cranked strong like normal and didnt even attempt to start. i double checked the fuel lines just because and found that i put the fuel feed line on the wrong pipe. it was feeding to the pulsation damper instead of the fpr. with high hopes, i put the pfc back in and tried to pull start it again. this is what happened..........




the good thing is, it "idles" on its own now which is cool. the bad thing is, the throttle does nothing and when i put my foot on the clutch the car dies. i would call this progression. the clutch thing is weird though. the throttle cable is installed correctly. it opens and closes the throttle as it should and the clutch in the car is an exedy twin plate with the flywheel and counter weight. the clutch was installed correctly according the website instructions. any insight?

thewird

iTrader: (8)

The box behind the ECU is the automatic transmission computer. The car was probably an automatic at some point. Sounds like the car has some other issues though.

thewird

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

so that box being plugged in wouldnt affect anything would it? im pretty sure i had to unplug when i started the swap. what do you think about the current situation? any insight on any of the current issues?

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

does anyone have anything i could try to troubleshoot this?

thewird

iTrader: (8)

You need to get the car to idle on its own if you want people on the internet to be able to help you further. Showing us videos of it being pushed around doesn't tell us what is wrong with the car :P.

thewird

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

thats the issue, i dont know whats wrong with the car and getting it to idle is the issue im having. thats what i'm trying to get help with.

but, i was thinking, would any kind of vacuum leak cause this kind of issue? like an open nipple on something or multiple open nipples?

thewird

iTrader: (8)

A vacuum leak would only raise the idle.

Random thought, try spinning the motor in neutral by hand with a wrench on the front eshaft bolt. Do the same with the clutch pushed in. The motor should spin freely in both cases.

thewird

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

i will try that. what is this check for?