Car doesn't turn over/ECU doesn't turn on (Long)

[Inwo]

I have done some major refurbishing on my 1990 Talon TSi AWD over the past few months installing an SAFC and a MAFT among other things. About a month ago, just before the temperatures took a nosedive to the current -20º wind chill I had a chip installed by Jeff O. He said the caps had just started to leak, so I had him replace them at the same time as the chip install. I installed the ECU, everything apparantly worked fine. Readings for everything were nominal, car started up and idled fine. So I disconnected the battery and went to install the EGT gauge.

Apparantly during the time I was installing the gauge my battery was close enough to the IC pipe that it contacted the clamp, I didn't notice or think anything of this when I popped the terminal back on. I went in and checked the dimming of the lights for the egt, had my drill out ready to drill a hole while the car was idling for the egt gauge. I thought everything was going to be fine.

I tried to turn the car over, it started to turn over, then suddenly I hear CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK then nothing. I was terrified. I stopped turning the car over and ran over to disconnect the battery. After I moved the battery back I noticed it had drained. No problem, put the charger on, didn't smell anything burney so I figured it was just the battery shorting out, as the fusable links looked ok. I put the battery back in after charging and now...nothing.

The lights turn on, but the car doesn't turn over. ECU doesn't turn on. Radio doesn't turn on. Strangely the door-open light on the dash stays on constantly.

I have attempted to replace the fuseable links with autozone jobbers, the 20 and 2 30s, but like I said the old ones didn't look broken and the new ones from autozone don't look quite right.

After doing a search I am thinking that it probably IS the ECU but I want to be certain that there are no other fuseable links that might be the cause of this, and that the autozone fuses are good enough...

If anyone can think of any connection that might not be good enough or a solder that might have broken or anything like that for me to try I would be eternally grateful as I haven't actually DRIVEN my car in well over 4 months while I installed this stuff and waited for parts.

Thanks for the help in advance,
Inwo

 

[DSM90AWD]

Was the Clicking from the ECU or the starter? If the battery was low it would make sense that your starter didn't have enough juice to work.

BTW.. Jeff is pretty anal about ECU repairs so would be very suprised if he missed any bad traces on the board from the CAP leakage.

 

[Inwo]

Thanks for the reply. It was from the ECU I'm just about positive. The logger kept connecting and disconnecting like the ECU was shutting off and turning on. It doesn't smell like a dead ecu (fishy) or anything and it looks on the surface to be alright, that's why I'm kind of certain it's not the ECU.

The battery voltage, at least according to the charger, is fine. I'll have to put a multimeter on it to double check but the headlights/bright lights look as good as new when I turn them on. All the gauge lights etc look ok. I'm planning tomorrow when it's light out to pull the plugs and see if it cranks without fighting compression. Still, though, I don't see how a starter issue would cause the ECU to not turn on at all. I wish I had someone close that had a 90 EPROM ECU (rare as they are) that I could borrow to put to rest my worries about it being the ECU.

Are there any other fuseable links that would be related to this? Maybe one between the starter solenoid and the battery further along the line? I didn't see anything in the service manual, but then it says something about FUSE22 and doesn't list where exactly that is...

Thanks for the help

 

[DSM90AWD]

I'd double check the "Ignition" fuse off the Battery since you mentined changing them with non-OEM versions. If one is in question just run a simple jumper (16 ga wire with spade connector on each end). I carry one "just in case" as those block fuses are hard to come by at any gas stations

If you need to test the ECU I have my non-EPROM'd '90 sitting in my toolbox if you wanted to borrow it. I'm now running an EPROM'd 1991 with the Jeff O stg3 mods

 

[Inwo]

So the IGNITION 30a fuse may be related to the lack of power to the ECU? 20a MPFI is for the coil packs if I remember correctly.

I'll try to give it a shot tomorrow. Maybe I'll run to the Mitsu dealer and pick up a couple of these OEM fuseable links too...

Thanks for the help, I'll see what I can figure out tomorrow and let you know here.