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Check crank sensor circuits, harness and crank sensor position?
Originally Posted by Redbul
How old is your gas?
Gas isn’t old old but not new. Probably 8 months old?
Assuming on the crank angle sensors you’re referring to the resistance check laid out in the FSM? I’ll make sure to see if there are any bad grounds or wires that seem to be fraying or pulling out weird.
Its not 8 month old gas and I'll die on that hill.
I looked back and may have missed it, what ECU are you running in the car?
How old is your engine wiring harness?
Have you used a noid light to check for injector pulse while cranking?
What fuel pump is in it and have you checked actual fuel pressure?
Gas isn’t old old but not new. Probably 8 months old?
Assuming on the crank angle sensors you’re referring to the resistance check laid out in the FSM? I’ll make sure to see if there are any bad grounds or wires that seem to be fraying or pulling out weird.
Originally Posted by Redbul
Ethanol enfused gas should not sit for more than 3 months. Check your gas.
Does it smell more like water than gasoline?
Also check the gap between your trigger wheel and the face of the Crank angle sensors.
If the gas tank was full & well sealed for all 8 months & the car was in stable-temperature environment (heated garage, etc.), the gas shouldn't be an issue. If the car was out in the weather with a partially filled tank, there could have been enough moisture getting to the gas to cause phase separation and the gas could be junk.
From the web:
Phase separation in gasoline happens when too much water enters ethanol-blended fuel, causing the ethanol and water to mix and sink as a separate, denser layer at the tank's bottom, leaving the gasoline layer on top, which can cause engine problems like poor starting or damage because the engine then tries to run on water/ethanol instead of gasoline. It's a significant issue, especially for stored fuels, as ethanol absorbs water from the air, and this distinct water/ethanol layer can be hard to detect but is detrimental to engine performance.
Ethanol enfused gas should not sit for more than 3 months. Check your gas.
Does it smell more like water than gasoline?
Also check the gap between your trigger wheel and the face of the Crank angle sensors.
I will check the gapping spacing this weekend. Gas smells totally normal.
Originally Posted by Molotovman
Its not 8 month old gas and I'll die on that hill.
I looked back and may have missed it, what ECU are you running in the car?
How old is your engine wiring harness?
Have you used a noid light to check for injector pulse while cranking?
What fuel pump is in it and have you checked actual fuel pressure?
Stock ECU
Harness is a who could say? There were 2-3 owners before me...if anyone replaced it, it's been a long time. It doesn't show anything of a "new harness". I would venture it's original. Had no electrical issues prior to this "weekend project" I undertook. ha
I do not have a noid light...that would be venturing into unchartered territory for me on all things timing and such. So no I have not check that.
Fuel pump is a Walbro 255 from Banzai Racing. Ran great after install.
I have not measured actual fuel pressure but I know shes humming nicely. I'll pop off the inlet feed with my mighty vac and see what I'm working with this weekend.
Originally Posted by DaveW
If the gas tank was full, well sealed, for all 8 months and the car was in stable-temperature environment (heated garage, etc.), the gas shouldn't be an issue. If the car was out in the weather with a partially filled tank, there could have been enough moisture getting to the gas to cause phase separation and the gas could be junk.
From the web:
Phase separation in gasoline happens when too much water enters ethanol-blended fuel, causing the ethanol and water to mix and sink as a separate, denser layer at the tank's bottom, leaving the gasoline layer on top, which can cause engine problems like poor starting or damage because the engine then tries to run on water/ethanol instead of gasoline. It's a significant issue, especially for stored fuels, as ethanol absorbs water from the air, and this distinct water/ethanol layer can be hard to detect but is detrimental to engine performance.
Car has sat in a finished garage for 8 months. It has never left and I live in San Diego so lowest temps would be in the high 40's F up to the 80s F.
...Car has sat in a finished garage for 8 months. It has never left and I live in San Diego so lowest temps would be in the high 40's F up to the 80s F.
You're "probably" OK, but my mantra is "Never assume anything because it can come back to bite you in the butt."
Do you have access to a known good ECU you could swap in to test?
Harness is a who could say? There were 2-3 owners before me...if anyone replaced it, it's been a long time. It doesn't show anything of a "new harness". I would venture it's original. Had no electrical issues prior to this "weekend project" I undertook. ha
Did you disconnect any ground wires when working on the solenoids and did you happen to unplug the crank sensors?
I do not have a noid light...that would be venturing into unchartered territory for me on all things timing and such. So no I have not check that.
Fuel pump is a Walbro 255 from Banzai Racing. Ran great after install.
I have not measured actual fuel pressure but I know shes humming nicely. I'll pop off the inlet feed with my mighty vac and see what I'm working with this weekend.
Use the noid light to check for injector pulse AFTER verifying fuel pressure, you're checking first because noise doesn't always equate to a working pump. Last, for clarity, are you sure that you didn't mix up the fuel feed and return lines when you had things apart?
Thanks for all the responses here guys. Pretty awesome to see.
Just did another spark verification. Top plugs were pretty wet and slightly dark, but wiped off easy. Bottom plugs were clean with nothing on them. Verified spark, pulled EGI fuse and cranked for a bit, added some ATF to the bottom plug holes, put plugs back in. Tried to crank and same...no joy.
Originally Posted by Molotovman
Do you have access to a known good ECU you could swap in to test?
Did you disconnect any ground wires when working on the solenoids and did you happen to unplug the crank sensors?
Use the noid light to check for injector pulse AFTER verifying fuel pressure, you're checking first because noise doesn't always equate to a working pump. Last, for clarity, are you sure that you didn't mix up the fuel feed and return lines when you had things apart?
Unfortunately I do not have another stock ECU. I have a Power FC I could throw in there, but I need to reset that back to factory and set it all up....no clue what type of tune is saved in there. My ECU has never had any issues before I started all of this solenoids, fuel, and rat's nest re-do.
Only ground wire I can think of is the main ground wire that connects to where the rats nest bolts to the top of the motor. Verified that one is back in when I re-installed. Also put the ground wire from the top of the UIM back to the firewall. All other connectors were verified as plugged in. Checked all the injector wire colors to make sure I did not swap them inadvertently. I did not unplug the crank angle sensors.
Can confirm that the fuel lines are routed properly.
Originally Posted by Redbul
There is an easy to use drain plug on the bottom of the gas tank (or there should be).
We could not believe it would be the gas, but after 30 hours of trying everything else out................
Going to check fuel pressure tomorrow, then NOID light on the injectors, crank angle sensors, and if all else fails I will drain the gas and give us a hard reset.
Thanks Gents
-milly
Last edited by millyactual; Jan 16, 2026 at 07:45 PM.
The Emissions Haeness (aka Engine harness) has three grounding points, two in the engine bay and one in the passenge3r footwell. The "Ignition" (aka starter harness or engine) harness has one ground. That appears to be the ground associated with the coils. Check if it is hanging loose or has fried itself off.
The wiring diagram also seems to show that the Starter and Alternator ar self grounding.,
Check grounding point #15
Diagram is from the 1994 USDM wiring manual. 1993 might be somewhat different.
Sorry, did we learn what year and type your cars is and is it LHD or RHD?
If RHD after 1995 the coil position was changed. There is a risk to hook up the coils harness ort plugs in the wrong order.
If a Series 6 (Version 1,2 or 3) the coil harness has an eleborate grounding circuit. That circuit likely also has its own grounding point.
Originally Posted by Redbul
The Emissions Haeness (aka Engine harness) has three grounding points, two in the engine bay and one in the passenge3r footwell. The "Ignition" (aka starter harness or engine) harness has one ground. That appears to be the ground associated with the coils. Check if it is hanging loose or has fried itself off.
The wiring diagram also seems to show that the Starter and Alternator ar self grounding.,
Check grounding point #15
Diagram is from the 1994 USDM wiring manual. 1993 might be somewhat different.
If you've got spark and the plugs are coming out wet, I wonder if there's a problem with a sensor that might be telling the ECU to use the wrong amount of fuel. I've heard the fuel temperature sensor and coolant temperature sensor harness plugs have the same connector and are long enough they could be accidentally swapped. That's another trip under the intake manifold, which sounds like not fun. I might try fresh fuel before removing the intake manifold again.
I've never heard of this happening with gasoline, but I once got seals stuck when using wrong cold start settings on E85. The engine sounded like no compression when cranking, instead of the usual compression sound where the engine speed goes up and down while the starter spins it. I confirmed that a seal was stuck by turning the 'crankshaft' pulley with a wrench while looking inside the spark plug holes with a mirror to find the apex seal, then poked the seal with a long piece of plastic like a sharpie marker to feel if it moved freely or was stuck. I repeated that for both all three apex seals for both rotors, and many of them were stuck. My best guess is too much E85 acted like a solvent and moved some of the carbon deposits around enough to jam the apex seals stuck. I fixed the situation using the ATF trick, adding some auto trans fluid into the chamber and spinning the engine slowly by hand, and also working the apex seals with the sharpie marker until they were no longer stuck. Hopefully you don't need to do that, but if you do find that some of the seals are stuck from the injectors previously stuck open it might be worth a try.
Ended up taking it all apart again. Pulled fuel rails and injectors, swapped gas for new, and tested the injectors plugs.
Primary injector connectors both lit the NOID light kit (not super bright but they lit nonetheless) which tells me ECU is sending signal to them.
Did the 12v power test to each injector…secondaries are clicking and firing, but the primaries seem stuck. Tried to tap them with a screwdriver and no luck. Looks like I’m sending them back to RC engineering again.
Going to check the CAS sensors tolerance and wiring tomorrow as well to see if anything is out of whack.
