90 turbo eclipse, has no spark, will not start

[jam318]

I just got this car because the guy could not get it to run. I have checked it over and the fuel pump is running and has fuel pressure. not sure if the injectors are pulsing. For sure it has no spark at the spark plug.
Just searching here first in case this is common on these cars.
Any help would be be appreciated

 

[RoasT BeeF]

Well its either the coil, power transistor, or possibly the cas. Do you have a service manual that shows how to go about checking those things?

Might want to take a quick peak at the MPI fuse as well.

 

[jam318]

I do not have a service manual . that is my next step if did not find it on here.
I checked all the fuses I could find but nothing was labeled as having anything to do with the engine. The guy I got it from said it was running fine about 6 months ago and then just quit. Nothing to do with the engine (timing belts are fine and has compression).
I looked for the coil but could not find it. Where should it be located? I would like to check the voltage at it, or at least make sure it is still there!

 

[DSM_One]

The coil is on the top right of the engine under the intake manifold, follow where those 4 wires (spark plug wires) from the spark plug cover is coming from. The power transistor is under that almost behind the timing belt.

http://members.shaw.ca/dsm.1000q/Engineprimer/1G/Q2.htm

 

[MrDee]

I am sad that after following the spark plug wires you couldnt find the coil..

When standin infront of your car, the coil is mounted on the intake phlemelum to the extreme right kind of hidden by the valve cover and the fuel rail...lookin down below it, this time on the head, you should see the Transistor. Check to see if those are workin..they are usually the biggest cultrits when it comes to ignition death.

You got to love guys like that one you bought the car from...at the junk yard i pick my stuf from, they got about 4 DSM all around 60K miles..simply because the TB broke or something minor like that..and the JYard people dont know jack about DSMs

 

[jam318]

ok, it is all there. I talked to the guy i got the car from and he said that he had the head repaired and new timing belts and tensioner installed, drove it home and it died. The shop he had working on it could not figure it out but, he also said they did not seem to bright.
If i'm not mistaken, don't these have a crankshaft sensor? Is it possible for them to have put it back out of line enough to have rubbed against the sensor and destroyed it?
I had a galant with the 2.4 once before where someone did this. I am not yet familiar with how it is positioned but, am not scared to tear into it.

 

[realhp=turbo]

I dont belive there is a sensor on the crankshaft itself but there is a crank angle sensor that is located at the end of your intake cam. It would be on the left side of the motor. I would check to make sure that all the connections are secured properly and then if they are, follow these wires to determine if they were some how damaged during the timing belt replacement.
mike

 

[jam318]

If the ecu was bad would it cut the fuel pump on?

I saw somewhere else on the forum about changing the capacitors in the ecu. Which makes sense because i'm sure they were not designed to last 14 years.

I will check the coil, capacitor and injector pulse tomorrow.

the will live again!

 

[99gst_racer]

I dont belive there is a sensor on the crankshaft itself but there is a crank angle sensor ...... mike

I think you mean Cam Angle Sensor (CAS). There will be no spark if the CAS is not working properly. I had a customer who spent over $500 on his ignition parts and couldnt get spark simply because his CAS was non-functional. He changed it and everything worked fine. Also, check the Ignition box and coil.

 

[TSI_FWD]

I had the same problem no spark/fuel, it turned out to be the ECU.

 

[realhp=turbo]

I think you mean Cam Angle Sensor (CAS). There will be no spark if the CAS is not working properly. I had a customer who spent over $500 on his ignition parts and couldnt get spark simply because his CAS was non-functional. He changed it and everything worked fine. Also, check the Ignition box and coil.

I know exactly what a cas is alot of people call it a crank angle and others call it a cam angle sensor. Either way, it is not located on the crank shaft itself. It is on the end of the cam shaft, hence the name. Ive had problems with this one myself. As for your ecu, it wouldnt hurt to pull it and check the caps for any sign of leakage.

 

[MrDee]

Dude it seems there is too many opnions..do yourself a favour:
1,Check and make sure all connections are properly secure..fine?
2,start with the coil and run tests on it.... fine?
3,Run tests on the power transistor....fine?
4,now check the CAS if not..now check the ECU

Please dont buy anyting until you have run all the tests and veryfied what component is faulty.

 

[realhp=turbo]

^^^^^I second that!

 

[jam318]

I cheked today to see if the injectors were firing using a noid light and there is nothing.
No ignition spark, no injector fire, but it is running the fuel pump and getting proper fuel pressure.
I took apart the ecu and did not smell the rotten fish smell nor did I see anything leaking from the capacitors. I also found the mpi fuse and it was not blown.
I do not have anything showing how to check the power transistor or the cas.
I beleive I have found a parts car that I can possibly try swapping some parts with.
If someone could tell me a way to check the cas or the power transistor I will definetly try checking them first because the power transistor does not look easy to change.
Thanks for all the help so far!

 

[DSM_One]

If you have a manual, the instruction on how to test the power transistor is there. Though the diagrams seems wrong. Ignore it. The power transistor in a 1990 has 5 pins though the instruction says 6. The key is that pin 4 does not exist. So if you look at your power transistor the pins are arranges as 1 2 3 x 5 6. Follow the instructions using that pin arrangement.

It is better to pull the power transistor to test it. If you are thinking of removing the power transistor by the two screw you see, dont. That's the hard way. The power transistor is on a harness supported by 3 bolts. One bolt is on the left of the power transistor, the others is on the top right and bottom right if you are looking at it from the driver's side. Oh yeah, it is easier if you make some room by unplugging the power transistor and coil harness first.

Good luck

 

[TSI_FWD]

I bet it's the ecu, mine had the caps already replaced when it just quit.
Check to see if the CEL light comes on when you turn the iginition key on. It's supposed to turn on for a few seconds and than shut off. During that time the ECU does a self check.
If it does not, that your ECU is fried.

 

[jam318]

It finally started!!

On the last reply someone stated that if the check engine light did not come on when you first turn the key on that the ecu was fried. Well, it wasn't coming on. I had an ecu from a non turbo 2.0 and tried it just to see what would happen and it started right up.
I will say that that the non turbo computer is not intended to be used on a turbo car! When the boost began to come up it would cut out but, I was glad just to hear it run.

Now I need to find the correct ecu. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[TSI_FWD]

I am glad that you finally figured it out

 

[99gst_racer]

Now I need to find the correct ecu. Anyone have any ideas?

You should be able to find one on eBay or here in the classifieds. Should be able to get one for $100 or less.

 

[99gst_racer]

Here's a couple.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=7963&sort=1&cat=7&page=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7924681844&category=33596

 

[1998GSXR]

What happens if the CEL light comes on but still only spark on 1&4?
coils good, cas good, cps good, tested power transistor seemed to be good, someone mentioned to flash the ecu, any other suggestions?