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mikelv

15+ Year Contributor
566
10
Jun 17, 2006
Columbus, Georgia
Okay, I have a problem that I just can't seem to figure out.

A little background:

I just put the whole car back together and now it has absolutely no power. Here is a list of what I did to the car.

Motor/Trans/Clutch/ect....

Battery Relocation, ECU harness clean-up


I pulled the ECU harness out of the car and made an attempt at a fuse box relocation, but decided against it, so nothing was majorly torn apart. I put the harness in the same way I took it out. Every wire and ground is accounted for an connected.

Next was the battery relocation.

I ran a power distribution block in the trunk with the batter and ran 2-gauge power wire from it into the engine compartment. I also ran a 10 gauge wire from the distro-block to the fuel pump relay. Inside the engine bay, I ran that 2 gauge wire to another distro-block which splits power to the starter, and fuse box wires.

I also ran a ground distro block in the trunk for the fuel pump and negative battery terminal. In the engine bay, I ran a distro block for the ground points on the tranny, manifold, and cross member.

Bran new batter, bran new cables, bran new alternator, starter, ect...everything is bran new.

Now the problem, absolutely no power to the ignition, starter, or anything whatsoever.

So I started with a test light.

The test light works all the way to the fuse box if I start from the battery. It lights up at the alternator fuse but that's it. There is no power to any of the fuses. No power under the dash to the steering column or ignition switch.

Also, if I jump a 12v wire from the battery, I can make whatever I touch work, starter, ignition, ect.... (although the car won't crank if I jump the starter wire, which I'm not sure if it's suppose to or not, just the starter makes noise).
Nothing on the ECU harness has 12v, and it seems I don't get anything past where power goes into the fuse box.

I guess my question is why the heck does nothing work inside the fuse box past the alternator fuse. I was trying to read the schematics from the manual without much luck. When and where do the fuses get their power?

I'm trying to eliminate and narrow down the problem, just can't really know where to go from here.


The car has been sitting outside for over a year, but the fuse box was not overly-exposed to the weather. By visual inspection, nothing looks corroded or damaged. Everything is still very clean. Just wondering if anyone had any ideas, or maybe something I'm missing.


Thanks for any help, guess I'm having a hard time explaining this one!
 
That's a problem, it should be 12v. (Earlier when you said 9.6 I thought you meant on the big starter stud - not the signal wire).

How and where would I get a voltage drop at the starter signal?

I just changed that ground and now the motor is cranking a little, but still very slow.

The meter is reading about 8.6 volts when I crank it.

The starter signal wire in the harness goes to a relay under the dash. There are 2 relays switches clipped together and the starter wire (black with yellow strip) that goes into it.

I'm just wondering where I should start looking.


Edit:

Even when I take a wire directly from the battery and hook it to the signal, it still only reads about 9 volts. The motor cranks but slow....I guess I'll search for some answers....thanks guys for the help.

It has to be a bad ground, just where is killing me. I only have one grounding point that would be affecting this and I double checked it and replaced one.

How about the length of the wires? From rear to front?
 
You need to start measuring voltage drops across wires and connections, even the grounds, while starting to find the problem. Ya it sounds like a ground problem all right since if you put a wire directly from the battery onto the starter signal post and you still get 9v (although this sounds more like a weak battery - check this 1st).
 
Okay, there is a drop at the battery as well...so I'll take a look at your tech article. The battery voltage on cranking is 10.3 volts.

The voltage at the signal is 9.3 volts.
 
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Okay, using a test light.

To make sure I'm clear on this, you put the test light in series. (Disconnect the battery cable, and put a test light on the post, and the other side on the cable.)

When I do that, the light lights up pretty bright. So then I started disconnecting things to see if the light would go out. Well, I disconnect just about everything and nothing happened, so I just want to see if I did this correctly.

I disconnected every plug I could fine, every engine harness connector, ECU plugs, every light, alternator, ect....
 
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Yep that's correct. Key must be off and you must use an incandescent bulb, not an led.
Did you disable the interior lights when the door is open? Any alarms?
If ok then it sounds like you've got a short somewhere (or something left turned on).
 
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I got an email about a reply that you must have deleted:
"Well, I measured resistance across the battery cable, and there was 1 ohm of resistance in the ground wire."
That is WAY too much.
Resistance measurements below 1 ohm are not very accurate due to the current often flows through a slightly different path than your ohmmeter probes are on. For example, if you measure from one end of a cable to the other that does not include any resistance in the terminal connections (like to the battery post). Also many cheaper multimeters are not very accurate measuring less than 1 ohm.
A better way is to measure voltage drop (should be near 0v) across a cable/terminal when normal current is flowing. The voltage drop method uses the actual current that is flowing in the circuit and accounts for any wire heating up where the resistance method does not. It also is very accurate to a millivolt even on the cheap ones. And it directly gives you the real voltage drop which is what you're after.
 
Yeah I deleted that post because I just took that whole portion out of the equation.

After I put the meter in series and disconnected about everything I could find...nothing happened so I wasn't sure if I was doing it correctly. I'm not even sure if I measured the resistance correctly. I haven't messed with electronics/electrical since my high school vocational like 15 years ago. You could say those skills have perished. LOL

Plus the only test light I have is an LED....I will try again though if that will work, because I believe I had the key on for that test. If it will work, I'll try again.


So I decided to completely remove the trunk battery kit, just to see of the
problem was in the wires. When I put the battery back in the engine bay with different wires (even more new wires) it still has the same 9-ish volt drop across the starter signal. Regardless of whether not I jump a line, it only reads 9-ish volts.

The only thing left to go through it the wiring harness inside the car between the firewall and the ECU. I mean it's obvious that it's something with that because it's the only wiring I took out of the car on the re-build. (I originally wanted to do a fuse box relocation, but decided against it.)

I came across an post about O2 wiring grounds yesterday....just a little info I don't have an O2's connected...haven't for quite a while. I wasn't aware that there were necessary grounding points for those wires...could that be the issue? I have the wires going into the ECU pinouts, but thats it.

Also, I have two (I believe) ground point on the harness inside the car, (ECU grounds-black wires) and 3 inside the engine bay....do you know of or have any diagram that shows all the ECU harness grounds that are required? I'm having a hard time reading the schematic in the FSM. I don't know what ground is where ect...
 
Meter in series? No, the light bulb is in series with the battery post.
And you MUST use an incandescent bulb - NEVER an LED.
Pm me an email address that accepts attachments and I'll send you all the harness ground points.

Have you tryed a wire directly to the starter signal post from a known good car battery (like one that's sitting on the floor next to you) with jumper cables on the starter large post (so you eliminate all the car's wiring) the way I described in post 20? Perhaps remove the starter again so you can get at it (also to measure voltage).
 
I'm not even sure if I measured the resistance correctly. I haven't messed with electronics/electrical since my high school vocational like 15 years ago. You could say those skills have perished. LOL
Ok well here's a quick multimeter use refresher:
[It helps to think of electrical current flowing through a wire analogous to water flowing through a pipe. Voltage is the water pressure, resistance is the pipe diameter, and current is the water itself.]

Voltage:
Voltage is ALWAYS measured across a wire or component or can be at a point. If at a point, the meter's negative lead is always connected to chassis/body/engine ground or battery negative terminal. If across a wire or component, the leads are connected on each side of it. Current may or may not be flowing through the wire or component. You usually cannot damage a voltmeter no matter how you connect it (even if you accidentally connect it in series or have a digital one on the wrong range) since it has very high internal impedance (total resistance). Of course if you connect it in series, any devices on that circuit will now not operate since you just inserted a very high impedance. If you know the approximate voltage (eg. 15v) set the scale range to handle it. If you don't know, then set the scale range to the highest one and work your way down. Digital ones will display an error if you use too low a range while others may select the proper range scale automatically. When measuring DC pulses (eg. CAS signal) the reading will be the average.

Resistance:
Resistance is ALWAYS measured across (NOT in series with) a wire or component that has NO voltage present or current flowing through it. Voltage or current will affect the reading giving you a bogus result and also may easily damage the meter. Also be aware that measuring something that has capacitors on it (like measuring from one battery cable to the other without the battery there - yet the ECU, stereo, alarm, etc have capacitors across their 12v power inputs) will give constantly changing and bogus results while the capacitor is charging (from the ohmmeter's voltage). It usually appears to be an exponentially increasing resistance and you will then have a voltage there which again makes the reading bogus. Normally you disconnect whatever you are trying to measure or what will give bogus results. Start off on the lowest scale range and work your way up until you get a believable reading.

Current:
Current is ALWAYS measured in series with a wire or component. Placing the meter in parallel will nearly always damage the meter. Using a scale range that is too low may also damage some meters. It's always safest to start out on a high scale and work your way down. Don't use the meter on something that exceeds the meter's capability or you will damage it or blow an internal fuse/wire. A good example of this is trying to measure starter current which is in the 50-150 amp range with your typical 10 amp meter. Normal engine current draw also exceeds 10 amps as may just turning on a lot of things without the engine even running.
 
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I just realized I may have mislead or told you wrong about the starter signal voltage. When you turn the key to start, the battery voltage (normally around 12.6v) is applied to the starter signal (starter solenoid). When the starter then engages it draws between 50-150 amps (depends mostly on load and temperature) which will cause a weak or not fully charged battery to drop it's voltage. This voltage is still being applied to the starter signal (as well as the main starter circuit) so the voltage drop will appear there also. So if the battery voltage drops to 10.0v you will see 10.0v on the starter signal (not 12.6). The main starter circuit will also have 10.0v present or maybe a little less (like up to 0.5v less due to the voltage drop caused by 50-100 amps going through the large battery to starter cable). Generally you need at least 9.6v absolute minimum at the starter for it to work although usually you see 11-12v with a decent battery. Less than this is due to a weak battery, bad starter, or too much voltage drop in the wires (due to too much resistance). When the key is turned out of start position, the battery voltage should return to the previous level. Hope this helps clear up some issues.
 
Have you put this battery on a charger? You've been doing all this testing on a battery that hasn't been hit with some sort of means to restore it's original power since it was produced... If you're saying it's cranking now but just slow, try using a set of jumper cables and get a boost from another car. See if that helps your cranking speed. You could be chasing a problem that the only cause is a simple dead or undercharged battery.

I was reading about the way you were testing your starter. You said you hooked up the ground and the signal wire to 12v... Did you hook up a constant 12v line to the main battery post on the starter aswell? You could also take it in to an auto parts store and have them test it as well... They have the proper equipment in order to hook it up and test it's amperage draw.
 
Okay, well I was messing around with it for a few minutes....


I don't think there is a problem with the starter or battery....but more of a short somewhere. I got another weird symptom that I'm going to have to check out.

I have no idea why, but my throttle cable is getting extremely hot when trying to start it.

Unrelated or not....the car cranks with hesitation, which might be firing order issues as well....I cannot get my laptop to link to the ECU with Link so I can not reverse CAS. The battery/brake light issue it still there as well...not sure why the car won't link..

So without being able to link, it won't start anyway....but as for the throttle cable? I put a meter on it when starting and there is a voltage on it. I traced the cable all the way to the pedal and there was nothing touching it. The only thing I have is the 1 ground by the noise capacitor on the intake manifold. Not sure if that makes a difference. I'm going to see if there is an issue with my serial cable, or if it's an ECU problem (as far as linking the ECU).....maybe to add to the silly questions, but would this short/ground issue not allow my laptop to link to the ECU? Or should it regardless?

Man, I don't know but I'm going to trace all the ECU grounds from the information you sent.


The only other symptom I have is no power windows....I have locks, lights, dash, ect...but no windows.

Excuse my crude grammar and questions.....I'm kind of thinking out loud here, little frustrated. LOL

Have you put this battery on a charger? You've been doing all this testing on a battery that hasn't been hit with some sort of means to restore it's original power since it was produced... If you're saying it's cranking now but just slow, try using a set of jumper cables and get a boost from another car. See if that helps your cranking speed. You could be chasing a problem that the only cause is a simple dead or undercharged battery.

I was reading about the way you were testing your starter. You said you hooked up the ground and the signal wire to 12v... Did you hook up a constant 12v line to the main battery post on the starter aswell? You could also take it in to an auto parts store and have them test it as well... They have the proper equipment in order to hook it up and test it's amperage draw.

Yeah everything is bran new, and when I put a meter on it, it's reading 12v throughout....I'm pretty sure it's a short, or missing ground.....something causing weird symptoms....plus since the voltages are looking good at the wires, I think the hesitation is from incorrect firing order that I can not invert, due to the laptop not being able to link....plus everything else I previously described. I don't know bro, I'm getting pretty burnt out on this. Wanna buy a built car cheap? LOL
 
I have no idea why, but my throttle cable is getting extremely hot when trying to start it.
You may have a short to/through your throttle cable somewhere. You MUST find it as it will affect everything else. Look on the cable first.

However you may instead just have a crucial ground wire missing/misconnected/poor connection somewhere and it's using the throttle cable as a way to get to ground. Your problem may be a starter grounding issue where you don't have a large clean tight connection (low enough resistance) from the engine (or starter mounting bolt) to the frame (to get all the way back to battery negative - in your case with battery in rear). So it finds a lower resistance way to get to the frame which it finds in the throttle cable. You said you are using distribution boxes on both power and ground. I suspect if you have the large engine negative cable (from starter mounting bolt) going through one of those boxes that may be the problem. One thing you could try is connecting a jumper cable from battery negative (or frame) to variuos things in the engine compartment starting with the block/starter mount bolt to see if the voltage disappears. If not, try touching it to things that should be grounded inside the car (eg. dash frame).

EVERY connection has some tiny resistance to it, even a clean new tight bolt holding a clean new cable to a clean new distribution box copper buss bar (and then another cable going out the other side). This resistance may only be 0.01 ohms but it is there. Current will always use the path of least resistance. And a large current (like 50-150A starter draw) would be enough to heat up something that isn't physically large enough to handle it (eg. throttle cable). That's why you use 2 gauge cable (low resistance and large enough to handle that much current without heating up). But if there's too much resistance in a 2 gauge cable connection for 50-150A, the current will find a path of less resistance. Voltage drop is current times resistance. So a large enough current with a tiny resistance in connections can produce a significant voltage drop (leaving less voltage at the starter).

So although the distribution boxes are ok for lower current draws (like < 30A), they can be a disaster for very high starter draws (like 150A initial starter surge). You should not run the starter positive or negative current through these boxes. Instead bolt starter negative directly onto the frame with a very large terminal on it's end. Same is true back at the battery - bolt the negative to the frame without going through any boxes. In the engine compartment you can run the positive non-starter current through the boxes. But the starter high current positive should be bolted with a very large terminal to your positive cable coming from the rear battery positive. Your positive distribution box is then also bolted to this. An even better way (although more difficult and perhaps somewhat impractical for any later access) would be have the positive battery cable connect directly onto the starter main large power stud and then a separate cable from there to your positive distribution box.

Remember the objective: All main high starter current, whether positive or negative, must go through the fewest connections in series possible to the battery positive or negative with large cables (or metal frame usage) and large surface area terminals on the ends of the cables. Use bare metal on metal connections with large surface area that are clean and tight and coated (on the air side) with some conductive dielectric grease (at any auto store) and/or rubber boots to prevent corrosion. Having more than one path to the battery also helps to reduce resistance.

OR your throttle cable heatup may be due to some other missing ground perhaps inside the car although I don't know how it would touch the throttle cable. When rebuilding cars anything is possible however, especially if you made changes to harnesses.
 
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Thanks for the information.....had an extremely long work week, so I will be getting on this in the morning. I will let you know how it turns out. Also, I'll give you a better picture of what the electrical system looks like.

I put together a simple drawing to illustrate what is going on. (The original setup)

The battery is trunk mounted with 2 distro blocks, one power to the fuel pump, the other to the front of the car.

The ground distro links to the fuel pump and the frame.

In the engine bay, that power wire goes to another distro block that goes to the starter and fuse box.

In the engine bay, I have a ground straight from the tranny/starter bolt to the frame.

All the other grounds outlined in the FSM are clean and accounted for. I'll try to make is bigger, im not very good with attachments.
 

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Update:

Okay, so I went through everything again.

Traced every wire in the part of the harness that I took out. No frayed wires, no exposed wires.

I recovered and replaced all the wires, and re-routed them properly in the engine bay and pass compartment.

I also completely took the rear battery out of play...put the battery in the engine bay. Ran a straight 2 gauge wire from the starter to the battery, ground from the frame to the negative terminal, and ground on the starter bolt goes to the negative terminal. ALSO, NO DISTRO BLOCKS...

Fuse box is also routed correctly, ect...

I also fixed the intake manifold ground. I bolted the ground to the throttle cable bracket my mistake, so that's why it was getting hot.

Same problem, starter is slow, battery and alternator light stays on. I'm out of answers.

Bran new cables, battery, alternator, starter. I can't do anything until I get the proper test light.

Here is the setup I have now. Red is power, black is ground.

Edit: 10/17/10

Look guys I thank you all for your help, I'm all out of answers, and I just don't know what I'm missing. Honestly, I can pretty much strip this car down to the frame, build the motor back up, tune it all to hell...but it's been nearly 2 years since I really have been into this....I just have lost some of my knowledge with the electrical.

I'm not a total moron with electrical, I understand the basic concepts of current, ohm's law, ect...but I just have run out of ideas. I have done nothing different from the orginial setup (electrically).

So with that said, and the minimal amount of time (due to my job) that I have for this. Please ask some more questions to help, ask me what photos to take, videos. I don't mind making vids, photos of whatever areas of the car, as it stands, to help me find something I might have missed.

I mean honestly, I don't even possess the proper troubleshooting equipment to go through every connection. But I'll be more than happy to post whatever information that might be needed in order to figure out this problem.

Basic recap:

The starter is getting 12V
The fuse box is getting 12V
The battery is bran new
The alternator is bran new
The starter is bran new
All cables are clean, new connectors, sanded off paint for grounds, ect...
Starter signal is getting 9.7v at start up
Alternator wire has 12v
Starter has one straight connection from battery (no rear battery, no distro blocks)

Brake/Battery light remains on
Power locks work, lights work, but no power windows.
Power windows fuse has 12v


Only other issue I have thought about is the O2 signal ground. I know that the O2's are grounded to the ECU...but does pin 92 need to be grounded to the frame from the harness grounds? I'm talking about the black wires on the harness that ground, 1 inside the passenger compartment, and 2 in the engine bay. Or does pin 91 go to nothing but pins 75 & 76? The way my harness is, those O2 pins go to pin 91, and pin 91 goes into the harness and grounds to the frame.

Also, I have not run O2's in quite a while...I have kept them unplugged because of closed loop idle issues. So I just cut the wires at the plug. Both front and rear...I ran the car the like that before this issue, so I never expected that it would be an issue now.


This is starting to make me think it is an issue with the clutch/flywheel binding which I have no idea how or why?

Like I said, I'm out of answers so let me know what you guys would like to see either video or photo and I'll deliver, thanks again.
 

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Same problem, starter is slow, battery and alternator light stays on.
You say starter is slow. But is it engaging the flywheel and just not turning the engine over at a normal speed for a starter? Yes or no? Does it make any unusual noise?

The only reasons I can think of for a slow starter are either 1) weak battery, 2) bad large cables or connections (sounds like you have this one corrected but to be sure you need to measure the cranking voltage right on the starter post), 3) bad/wrong starter for your flywheel, or 4) engine is being impeded from turning.
What happens when you jumper the battery from another car?
If still slow, does it speed up any when you remove the spark plugs?
Are you in neutral with clutch pedal pressed when cranking?

Battery and alt light will be on whenever the alt isn't charging the battery (which is normal during cranking or engine stopped).

The starter is getting 12V

I need to know what the voltage is literally at the starter post while engine is cranking. Non cranking voltage means nothing. A voltage drop of more than 0.5v over the length of either battery cable while cranking would slow down a starter.

no power windows.
Power windows fuse has 12v

Wait till later to address this.

Only other issue I have thought about is the O2 signal ground. I know that the O2's are grounded to the ECU...but does pin 92 need to be grounded to the frame from the harness grounds? I'm talking about the black wires on the harness that ground, 1 inside the passenger compartment, and 2 in the engine bay. Or does pin 91 go to nothing but pins 75 & 76? The way my harness is, those O2 pins go to pin 91, and pin 91 goes into the harness and grounds to the frame.

The O2 signal ground (which BTW is different than the O2 heater ground) MUST go ONLY to ECU pin 92 and not to any other ground/frame (pin 92 is grounded inside the ECU which is the only place it must be grounded). O2 wiring: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-electrical-wiring/244376-oxygen-sensor-wiring.html

Pin 92 goes to many other sensors but should never go to pins 75 & 76 (which are the O2's signals only). Nor should pin 91 ever go there. Pin 91 connects to the frame ground (for M/T).

This is starting to make me think it is an issue with the clutch/flywheel binding which I have no idea how or why?

Well in neutral and the spark plugs removed how hard is it to turn the crank pulley with a wrench? It should be very easy or you have problems. Also try with clutch pedal pressed.
 
You say starter is slow. But is it engaging the flywheel and just not turning the engine over at a normal speed for a starter? Yes or no? Does it make any unusual noise?

The only reasons I can think of for a slow starter are either 1) weak battery, 2) bad large cables or connections (sounds like you have this one corrected but to be sure you need to measure the cranking voltage right on the starter post), 3) bad/wrong starter for your flywheel, or 4) engine is being impeded from turning.
What happens when you jumper the battery from another car?
If still slow, does it speed up any when you remove the spark plugs?
Are you in neutral with clutch pedal pressed when cranking?

Battery and alt light will be on whenever the alt isn't charging the battery (which is normal during cranking or engine stopped).



I need to know what the voltage is literally at the starter post while engine is cranking. Non cranking voltage means nothing. A voltage drop of more than 0.5v over the length of either battery cable while cranking would slow down a starter.



Wait till later to address this.



The O2 signal ground (which BTW is different than the O2 heater ground) MUST go ONLY to ECU pin 92 and not to any other ground/frame (pin 92 is grounded inside the ECU which is the only place it must be grounded). O2 wiring: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/articles-electrical-wiring/244376-oxygen-sensor-wiring.html

Pin 92 goes to many other sensors but should never go to pins 75 & 76 (which are the O2's signals only). Nor should pin 91 ever go there. Pin 91 connects to the frame ground (for M/T).



Well in neutral and the spark plugs removed how hard is it to turn the crank pulley with a wrench? It should be very easy or you have problems. Also try with clutch pedal pressed.


Thanks for all your help and sorry I haven't been able to respond for a while. The car had to take a back seat to work.

Couple of answers to address your questions:

Yes, there is a huge battery drain when starting the car. The battery voltage is around 11.5v before starting, then drops off to approx 7.3v jumping to around 8.3v.

The starter is slow, but is turning over and the motor sounds like it wants to fire.

The issue I'm having is I cannot get my ECU to connect to DSMLink. Now, it could be a cable issue, but I'm leaning towards a wiring issue in the car considering the current symptoms. Either way, the car won't start unless I can load a base tune in the ECU. I finally got the firing order correct, and it does sound like it wants to turn over, but since I can't invert CAS, or anything...it's pointless.

The only acc. not working is the power windows.. and security light (green) isn't turning on when locking to doors.

I'm pretty sure there isn't any problems with O2 wiring...nothing has changed with that wiring config, and the car worked just fine before.

I am going to put the ECU in another DSM to see if I can get it to connect. That will at least let me know if Link is functioning properly or not, from there I'll do what you tell me to man. Thanks again.
 
Your battery is either weak, bad, won't hold a charge, or needs charging.

You know it's quite possible that it's from sitting the past couple of weeks connected without being started. This was a bran new battery just a couple of weeks ago....and I had the same problems regardless...anyway I'll juice it up just to rule it out.
 
...just for the record you don't need to invert your CAS to get the car to start correctly, you'll just have small misfires at idle/cruise.

:dsm:

ive never been able to before, interesting.

but it wont matter anyway without loading a base tune. 1050's just won't get it done. my ECU was mapped by Thomas with 720's.

there is some wiring issue with the car not allowing me to connect, until i get that correct it won't matter. thanks for the help guys, you've done more than enough, i'll figure it out. cars dont get fixed while sitting at computers anyway.
 
Well I have an update. I did get the car to run, but was still rough.

My adapter was messed up, so after I sent it away to be repaired, I was able to link the car and load a base tune to work from. Got the car to idle and run for a while.

There is still a grounding issue as mentioned before. The throttle cable was catching a ground from somewhere. Turns out the FIAV wire running to the throttle body was the culprit. I was able to disconnect the plug from the TB and the heating to the cable stopped. So I am guessing there is a grounding problem with the harness. The only trouble is I don't know where to start. The harness has remained unchanged from the build so I'm not sure where the difference is. I have 3 grounds on the harness, 2 outside the car grounded to the frame, and 1 inside the car grounded to the console frame where the radio goes. The same grounds I've always had. I have to replace the throttle cable, because it damaged the casing before I noticed, and now it sticks.

Once I get the tires on and the cable replaced I'll see how a test drive goes. Not sure how much of a difference will be made if I just leave the FIAV unplugged.

Hell it's been so long I don't even remember if I had anything plugged in there!
 
I know it might sound a bit ridiculously but it seems to me like the best thing you can do right now is pull the harness, removing all of the wire loom, and check the integrity of all your ground wires.

Be sure to buy lots of zip ties, wire loom, and electrical tape so as you go through the harness and check everything you've got a nice fresh harness that will have ZERO electrical hiccups in the future.

:dsm:
 
Yeah man I just did all that, completely went through the entire harness from ECU to connections. Pulled everything out, check every wire, got rid of all the harness plugs that weren't being used...emissions stuff...stuff that wasn't even being used prior to this last build. The harness looks the best it ever has in the car, but I guess that doesn't translate....and I might not be the brightest with electrical, but I know the basics.

The car doesn't have any battery drain issues...but still don't have power windows. I'm about to check the obvious stuff and check the relays. Last time something like this happened, there was a relay problem.

I don't know...I've finished about everything else so we'll see. From there I'll start troubleshooting the issues. But I guess the most important thing is that it starts!

Thanks guys.
 
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