Another "No Start" thread.

[Mike98GS-T]

I just got the car to Michigan. I drove it 800+ miles before this happened.



7/14/09-

The car made the trip from Fredricktown Ohio to Holland Michigan no problem on Saturday evening. I left from Fredricktown about 8:30 and got to Holland around 12:30, so I made good time. The car ran like a top, the engine sounded perfect. Although I do have an exhaust leak and the car was not tuned, it was a good trip.




7/13/09-
The car has been running decent. It has not been tuned and the exhaust leak is getting worse. I ordered a new 7cm Manifold to Turbo gasket and plan on replacing it as soon as it get's to my house. I met up with a friend of mine here in Michigan and he agreed to meet me and try to tune my car. I got to Grand Rapids, turned the car off and I was waiting for a call from him to know exactly where we were going to meet up. He called me up and told me to get to a certain street, I went to try and start the car up and it wouldn't start. The car IS getting spark and it IS getting fuel. I am highly doubtful that it jumped time because I was not even rev'ving the car over 3,000 RPM's, kinda just "puttin'" it around. He came to where I was stranded in Grand Rapids and we hooked his laptop up to my car and what do ya know... It connected right now and I uploaded my tune to my ECU. Obviously leading me to believe that my DSMLink adapter and cable are probably bad. Tried to start the car up, still no start. I went over to AutoZone and grabbed new spark plugs because I had pulled out the old ones and they looked pretty bad, full of carbon, most likely fouled out. AutoZone did not have NGK BPR7ES plugs... apparently they do not make them anymore? So I got these "Autolight Platinum AP63" plugs. The lady that was working at AutoZone said they come "pre-gaped" out of the box, so I pop'ed them right in the car and it STILL wouldn't fire. I don't think they are gaped correctly and I could have SWORN that someone once said that "our car's won't even run without the correct plug" once before. I checked everything, under hood fuses, under dash fuses, things plugged in correctly, spark and fuel. Also, would a big enough exhaust leak cause the car not to start? Because when I was driving to Grand Rapids (which is about a 35 minute drive) like I said, the exhaust leak got worse. It got the point where the car was kinda "bogging out/jerking around". It's hard to explain, if I tried to use and boost, or got close to 5 vacuum the car would bog and stutter, if I let of the gas and eased it up to speed then the car was fine. I'm lost on the situation, I don't really know what to do. Now that I moved up to Michigan, I don't have my dad to help me with the car. So I'm really relying on the help that is provided from other users on this forum. Help me get this car back running again guys, I really need my car. :down:

Thanks

 

[Mike98GS-T]

I just took the battery to AutoZone and they tested it. It had like 7 volts with a load on it. The guy said there was probably a dead cell in it somewhere.

 

[Mike98GS-T]

Just put a brand new battery in the car, still cranking slow and won't start.


I have absolutely no idea what is wrong with it.

 

[954TalonTsi]

I currently am haveing same problem. I'm about to load it on a trailor and take it to a shop. Like u i have spark, fuel, and compression. If I figure anything out then i will pass it on.

 

[Mike98GS-T]

I currently am haveing same problem. I'm about to load it on a trailor and take it to a shop. Like u i have spark, fuel, and compression. If I figure anything out then i will pass it on.

Let me know. I'm getting ready to take it to a shop as well.

 

[greg90gs]

test the alternator and the starter, seriously i know it sounds dumb but when my alternator went out my battery was reading 7 volts off the turbo timer and it dropped to 4 while cranking and the same thing it drove home fine then started acting up a lil bit i turned the car off and a lil bit later when i went to take it to my garage the car wouldnt start, had spark and compression and everything was fine, and i had my cahrger hooked up to the battery and it was not charging it, according to the slow crank, but it really was the alternator was so bad that as soon as i turned the key over i would loose all my battery power, i replaced my alternator that night and as soon as i was done it fired right up even before charging the battery. just my .02

 

[Mike98GS-T]

Now the car has no injector pulse, or spark. Just a few days ago it HAD spark... now nothing?!

 

[Mr PopUps]

Im sorry to be the one to ask this, but did you plug your ECU back in? Did you unplug the CP and forget to plug it back in?

 

[Mike98GS-T]

Im sorry to be the one to ask this, but did you plug your ECU back in? Did you unplug the CP and forget to plug it back in?

I never unplugged the ECU. CP?

 

[Mike98GS-T]

Anyone have an ideas on this situation?

 

[Rob10_99]

You said with the car on the charger or jumped it still cranks at 7v?
Sounds like a grounding issue, do you have the grounding strap on the engine to the chassis?
I would take off the starter positive and wire brush it, as well as the grounding strap.

Does your ground strap look pretty beat up and covered in grease/oil?
Low voltage can also be a shorting issue, any burning smell?
Whats your voltage at with the key off, and key on, and then while cranking,

 

[greg90gs]

check the alternator

 

[Mike98GS-T]

So how often have you guys heard the of the crank positioning sensor going bad?

I pulled the car over to a shop I once took the car to last week. Didn't have much problem getting it over there since it was pretty much a straight shot from where I live and it was 3 o'clock in the morning, haha! We also took the front bumper cover off to pull it this time around. Not only am I looking for places locally that can MAYBE fix it but it was just MUCH easier this time around to pull the car.

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I dropped the car off at this shop on Saturday night. I knew they weren't going to be able to look at it until first thing Tuesday morning (like they told me on the phone). They didn't get to look at it until this morning (go figure...) they tested the voltage for the crank positioning sensor and they said it came out bad and that it needs to be replaced. I owe them $40 as it stands right now and there is no way I'm paying them $400 to replace the sensor, reset the timing and make sure it's OK. I'm fairly confident that I can do it, but still skeptical about if the car will even start after I replace the sensor, I guess we'll see.

Has ANYONE ever heard of these sensors just going bad? If the sensor is bad, would be the reason for the car not having any injector pulse or spark now? I'm almost 100% positive that that sensor has never been replaced on the car, meaning it has about 150,000+ miles on it and 3 different cranks have been spun using that sensor (Stock block, two cranks with the new block... used the old sensor off the old block).

 

[greg90gs]

they do go bad over time, but i have also seen that if there is any other problem those will read bad

 

[Mike98GS-T]

If I'm thinking correctly (I'm not an expert with electronics) but if the sensor is bad, doesn't that throw of the complete circuit in the system? If the sensor is bad then it's not providing power to the coil or injectors because the circuit is not a complete system, right?

Correct me if I am wrong.

 

[TOONAH]

The CAS, (Cam Angle Sensor) produces a logic level pulse train that the ECM uses to fire the ignition ignitor/spark plugs and the fuel injectors. So if you had no fuel and no spark, the CAS is the most likely
culprit. The CAS is an optical encoder wheel type device and is quite reliable. How many miles on this engine? If over 150K miles you really should replace the timing belt and the tensioner. Thing is if your main bearings are going and the piston rings are worn (low compresion) then you should rebuild the whole block. I believe the 1990 4g63 six bolt engine does employ a Crank Angle Sensor which is mounted on the engine front cover near the timing plate (behind flywheel timing pulley). $40 for a CAS is a deal, if it is new. The CAS is mounted on one end of the intake camshaft and "crankwalk" has no effect on it. On the 1990 engine with a Crank Angle Sensor, if the crankshaft endplay exceeds 0.025"
the timing plate (attached to the Crankshaft) can move in and out by 0.025" and cause a loss of signal from the sensor and the engine may not fire. You can actually check for "crankwalk" by placing a flat bladed screwdriver under the flywheel and pry it backwards and forwards. Crankshaft endplay should not exceed 0.010". Please let us know the final outcome on your car.

 

[Mike98GS-T]

The CAS, (Cam Angle Sensor) produces a logic level pulse train that the ECM uses to fire the ignition ignitor/spark plugs and the fuel injectors. So if you had no fuel and no spark, the CAS is the most likely
culprit. The CAS is an optical encoder wheel type device and is quite reliable. How many miles on this engine? If over 150K miles you really should replace the timing belt and the tensioner. Thing is if your main bearings are going and the piston rings are worn (low compresion) then you should rebuild the whole block. I believe the 1990 4g63 six bolt engine does employ a Crank Angle Sensor which is mounted on the engine front cover near the timing plate (behind flywheel timing pulley). $40 for a CAS is a deal, if it is new. The CAS is mounted on one end of the intake camshaft and "crankwalk" has no effect on it. On the 1990 engine with a Crank Angle Sensor, if the crankshaft endplay exceeds 0.025"
the timing plate (attached to the Crankshaft) can move in and out by 0.025" and cause a loss of signal from the sensor and the engine may not fire. You can actually check for "crankwalk" by placing a flat bladed screwdriver under the flywheel and pry it backwards and forwards. Crankshaft endplay should not exceed 0.010". Please let us know the final outcome on your car.

Great info. Just what I was looking for. There is only about 11,000 miles on this engine, I had Slowboy Racing build me a new block but then I starved it of oil and spun a rod bearing at about 10,000 miles. I put a new Evo 8 Crank in the car and matching bearings. I drove the car about 1000 miles so far (From South Carolina to Michigan and then some) and it drives really good the engine performed really well up until this happened. I never replaced the crank positioning sensor. After it crankwalked in November of 2007, I used the same sensor in the build after that. I continued to use the sensor after I spun the rod bearing and put another new crank in. So the sensor has probably 150,XXX miles on it, not the whole engine. The tensioner has already been replaced and I've replaced the timing belt after I spun the rod bearing (Just because I wanted to have a new one in the engine). I went to the parts store earlier and I had to order the sensor, it cost me $65 and I really hope it get's me back on the road!!!

Thanks!

 

[Mike98GS-T]

Crank Positioning sensor was the culprit. Put the new one in and the car started right up.

 

[Mike98GS-T]

I drove it about 7 miles today.


It's blowing ignition fuses again like it was before. I pulled the complete turbo timer out of the car, though it was not even hooked up to anything. It had one purple wire on it going to the e-brake that I pulled out as well. I don't know why it keeps blowing out ignition fuses. There has to be something wrong with the wiring the car or something, I just don't know.

 

[Mike98GS-T]

Alright, I just took a look at the wires on the alternator and starter. Everything appears to be in good shape. There are no wires that are visible or worn down. However, I did find this.

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Neither me or my dad can figure out exactly what it was. Jay seen it when I was over at his house about a month ago. Back then I had it just all taped up. I believe stock, there is a plastic case like thing that covers the yellow part of the piece and it is attached somehow to the passenger side frame. As you can see the piece does have a wire that seems to have been broken or disconnected from the piece and it does unplug as shown in the picture. My dad has been looking in the Chilton's manual all day trying to find out what the piece is and does. It has two black wires going to it with a yellow stripe down the middle, then it has another blue wire that I believe is supposed to be attached to the piece as well. Again none of the wires look frayed or exposed to be grounded onto the chassis or maybe the transmission, I'm thinking the reason it's blowing out fuses has something to do with whatever this piece is. I remember awhile back when me and my dad first found it exposed and hanging down almost hitting the ground, we taped it up and it was fine. I think more recently the blue wire broke off of it and it's causing problems now.