HELP REQUESTED: brand new motor, no acc power with ignition ON
 

Helping a friend finish putting his new motor in. However we're running into a problem.

We put the key in the ignition and turned it to ACC. The only things getting power were the lights, radio, and cigarette lighter. The car beeps when the door is open as well. The boost controller which was installed while the motor was out doesnt get power, and neither does the turbo timer.

Then you turn the key to ON.
everything dies. you hear the solenoid "CLICK" once and it sounds normal, but then the radio shuts off, and cigarette lighter loses power. The PFC almost comes on as youre turning the key from ACC to ON, but it dies right away. We tried to turn the car on but it cranked very slow and was not going to start.

The only wiring he's done since the motor has been out was the boost controller. He added a whole new fuel system, but that's about it. I dont understand what would cause his electrical system to be unresponsive. We're checking fuses now, but any help would be appreciated.

He also went full non-seq as well, if it makes a difference.

Fuses look fine, we can't figure this out.

alright, there's deffinitely some sort of electrical interference that's blocking power to most parts of the car in different combinations.

With the key turned to ACC, the stereo, lighter outlet, and lights work.

With the key turned to ON, the stero shuts down, lighter outlet loses power, the starter works, windows and sunroof work, lights still flip up and come on, but nothing else. I connected every single ground in the car myself so that should not be the problem. I checked my roommate's car and the only extra fuse he has is a radio control relay. I'm not sure why he has one and I don't, but my radio's working fine. Aside from the few accessories, the rest of the car is not getting power, not even the ecu.

where is the boost controller getting it's power from?

it was wired into the stereo power source.

ok above it says that the boost controller was getting no power but the radio was?????

yea, good point. i'll talk to dave about this.

any other ideas?

fuses in the engine bay and under the dash?

the boost controller does get power when the key is in the ACC position and the head unit comes on. I checked the fuses in the engine bay, but not in the dash yet. How do I go about checking the relays though? I can't figure out how to get them out.

sounds like one of the earth cables isnt hooked up,,,,, the big one to check that supplies most of the important stuff,,, is a big one just behind the AC compressor,,,, it bolts to the AC mounting plate,,,, please check this

ok, I need to say a few words before I can talk...

1. Fuck
2. Shit
3. Ass

I regrounded the ECU to see if that was the problem. Then I got back under the hood to recheck all the fuses. I looked real close this time. The only thing I noticed was that one of them was a little darker (not brass colored anymore) than the rest. I looked a little closer.... there seemed to be a milimeter gap in the fuse. I repeated words 1-3 many times, and with increased volume as I looked at the fuse guide on the cap where the corresponding fuse was named, "MAIN". I'll switch this one out and see what happens. BTW, how do you get those fuckers out?

i thought there was a 10mm bolt going through them but it's been awhile

Check your fuses, one of them may be blown ;)
If not, check them again....I think ones blown :)

there were 10mm bolts through them. Now, the starter's not getting enough power to crank hard enough. We tried jumping it, but its still not getting anything to the starter. It just seems to be cranking too slow to get the motor running.

look on the PFC......how many volts are you getting?
P.S. My phone is outside in the garage, so if you tried to call me I didn't get it. Takin a break.....The flex's are all done.

make sure the batt terminals are clean and tight. you may need to charge the batt some if it is low. by "not getting anything to the starter" you do mean it is turning over just slowly?

yeah, its just turning over slowly.
The battery terminals are pretty damn clean. Its a new battery that I put in at the end of the summer with my v-mount.

prob just dead from having the door and stuff open all day f-ing with it. charge it or load test it if you can. does it all seem ok now power wise? pfc and stuff getting power?

we got it started and ran for a few 5 minute intervals until we had other problems- coolant puddling up on top of the motor right next to the LIM....can't tell where it came from and there's nothing around there that seemed to be squirting it out. the only thing possible was that that it was just run off from an earlier spill and mixed with the water spray that I had gotten on it from spraying off the fuel that leaked out of the secondary rail before I tightened it for real.

The battery is fried because its a dry cell and I left it on a non-deep cycle charger for a few long periods of time... so stupid.... I'm charging my stock battery and I might try to stack that in my rear and then run cables to the terminals for the time being so I can at least get it running and fix the other problems so that I will stay running.

My main drive pulley is not aligned either. I didn't get a chance to look at it, but Charlie said it was not spinning smooth. is there any trick to straightening this up with the belts on, or do I need to take them off and undo everything?

that is bad. you may have bent it when you were installing it. it may be loose. it may not be seated correctly with the bearing being pinched. if it wobbles it would realy screw the timing up

alright, the car started up on Saturday, ran for a while and all. I pulled it back in the garage and pulled the coolant system off and resealed the waterpump orifice in the front cover and teflon taped all the sensor threads so nothing's leaking there. I pulled off the main drive pulley and checked its integrity- its fine, but the 3 piece assembly of the thing can only be installed one way or else the bolts and pins will not line up perfectly. I put it back on and checked its alignment through a couple rotations. Its fine.

I pushed the bitch out in the driveway tonight and attempted to start it up again. Nothing more than a few pops. We even had the car rolling around the neighborhood, dropping the clutch and the motor wouldn't fire, just bubble to a stop. The ignition was either not firing or the fuel wasn't pulsing the right way. The one thing that I'm skeptical about is the set of injector clips I got from Gotham Racing for my top feed injectors. I'm going to check them all because the electrodes will come out if the wires are pulled hard enough, which really isn't much). If this isn't it, I'm pretty much out of ideas. I'm just worried something got screwed up when coolant puddled up on the motor because it started smoking heavily and the idle went to crap right before I shut it down.

bump for dave. I too think it would be someting to do with the engine not getting proper fuel. It's a pain in the ass Dave, but i would suggest checking all the injectors and clips again. talk to you lata man

I just checked all the injector clips again. They're all fine. Nothing had been touched there since the car was running on Saturday. I raised the fuel pressure to 35 (measured by hotwiring the diagnostic box) and tried again. It'll get to the point where it'll start to skip a few notes and then goes back to raw cranking. I pulled the EGI fuse and cranked it to clean out the combustion chambers and try again, but it would only make it a few beats better for the initial crank after replacing the fuse and get worse from there.

I pulled the plugs to clean them and the two leading plugs were soaked in fuel. I left them out to let things dry out for a little and then tried cranking it again. It got into a consistent pattern of stuttering and almost starting. It probably would have eventually started if I kept at it, but it was worthless since the main drive pulley was still really uneven. I called the motor builder and its going to his shop tomorrow afternoon. I've done all I can and more than I should have to do get this thing running. I'm not about to rip the water pump housing off right after I just resealed it. Its his error, so I'll let him take care of that.

that sucks. yea if it is wobbling you will get some crazy timing readings the tangs on the pully are still ok right. maybe the needle bearing is pinched behind the crank

glwi