car runs on either 2 or no cylinders

[acidflux]

Ok for starters this problem is on two DIFFERENT 1g cars. My buddies car only fires on cylinders 1 and 4, 2 and 3 have NOTHING. we pulled a good transistor, cas, and coilpack from a known good running car and still the problem remains. i plugged my ecu (dsm link installed) into his harness and same problem. so.... maybe its wiring. we plugged his ecu back into his car and layed it on passenger side floor. car ran on all 4 cylinders perfectly. we wiggled every wire on the ecu and no change. we shook every wire connected to every circuit that we could reach that we thought even remotely involved ignition. no change. so we agreed to bolt in the ecu. we bolt it in and start the car ready for it to work and once again, only cylinders 1 and 4 are firing, 2 and 3 didnt do squat. we remove the ecu once again from the bracket and lay it on the floor. car runs on all 4. we finally decided that maybe its a grounding problem. we kept ecu on the floor and drove it here and there for a few mins. the misfire demon resurfaced and only 1-4 are firing 2-3 arent doing anything (this is with ecu on floor this time). were lost and frustrated by this point and move onto my car.

my car randomly runs on 2 cylinders. i check transistor/cas/coilpacks and install ones from a known running good car. same problem. eventually the problem worsened to only running on 2 cylinders period. after fiddling around with my wiring harness and all the connectors and retrying everything, now the car will not fire any of the spark plugs. good cas, good transistor, good coilpack, no spark. good ecu also. my wiring has never been tapped/spliced/etc. occasionally the plugs will spark but only 1 or two of them (usually 2) and when it does it immediately shuts off. this car used to run fine and then would occasionally misfire while driving. (dsm link popped a code) i would clear code and car would run fine again like nothing happened. this got worse and worse up to now where car will not fire or if so barely on 2 cylinders.

my final question. does the MPI relay have ANYTHING to do with spark plugs firing? if i wiggle the wires to my relay i can hear my fuel pump making noises. car ran fine like this otherwise but im wondering if this problem could have worsened and caused this unexplicable electrical mayhem.

me and my friend are at our wits end with these cars not firing. we have good parts, the problems are so intermittent were just frustrated. any helpful input would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

 

[acidflux]

update: i swapped better plug wires into my car and used dsmlink to clear the ignition circuit malfunction code and it sputtered to life and began to run intermittently on 3 to 4 cylinders. i feel a brand new set of plugs and wires should fix my car up to par. the wires that fixed it are about 4 months old and have been arcing slightly into the valve cover. even still, cylinders 2 and 3 look to have a weak spark when i removed all the plugs and checked. 1 and 4 have much more distinct spark. perhaps they need to be regapped. either way im installing new plugs and wires.

also, while my car is misfiring, the tachometer jumps all over the place totally erratically. there is no constant increase as i step on the gas, it just skips around. after about 15-20 seconds of this the car begins to struggle and then completely loses ignition and the engine shuts off from whatever rpm it was at totally without sputtering or anything, as if i removed the key from the ignition. i get it to run, it chugs and rumbles and hits 3-4 of the cylinders trying to run smooth then it completely and totally turns off, no noises, nothing. like i said before, any rpm any throttle, after about 15-20 seconds its like i turned off the ignition and walked away. it just stops.

my friends car with the 1 and 4 cylinders always firing and 2-3 going intermittently for unknown reasons remains in limbo. were going to tackle it tomorrow and hopefully something will come up. weve tried everything on his car and nothing seems to make a difference. ecu is good. coilpacks, good. transistor, good. cas, good. wiring, sketchy but appears good. there has got to be something were missing or forgetting.

 

[acidflux]

update #2

funny seeing no input on any of this. anyhow...

my buddys car is good to go as far as ignition, its got other issues but those will be dealt with in another thread. back to MY car. i think ive decided that my alternator is not keeping up enough system voltage and the ecu is going haywire at the low volts its receiving. the alternator puts out between 11.5 and 12.5 volts. when jumper cables are hooked up to a good car, my talon runs quite nicely and continues to do so after the cables are removed, but system voltage drops considerably and usually levels off at about 12.2 sometimes dipping into the high 11's. after driving for a few minutes the car begins to run erattically misfiring and sputtering. does this seem like a correct diagnosis of the problem? if so, i can get an alternator in about 20 minutes and fix it up, but i dont want to make the 20 minute drive and work in the hot sun if this is not the remedy. also, the battery keeps draining for some strange reason. if i park the car for a week and try to start it, completely dead. i have dsm link and its got the memory board so i dont lose any of my settings when i lose power. something is draining the juice very slowly, any way to find out what it is? thanks

 

[brute]

Have you checked your fuses? You may have just blown the alternator fuse. You might want to try swapping the battery with a known good one, as you might just need a new battery. When was the last time you replaced the battery?

 

[Blue95GST]

if you have a multimeter, test the voltage of the battery at rest, should be around 12, but not much lower than 11.5, then start the car and test battery again, as the car runs the voltage should rise to about 13.8, if not, your alternator is no good. good luck

 

[acidflux]

i dont have a multimeter readily available but the battery is brand new only 2 weeks old. my buddy has a parts car that im going to grab the alternator off of tomorrow and see if that fixes the problem. hopefully it will. dsmlink kicks a code 044 ignition circuit malfunction when it starts acting up and i get a CEL from it as well. so that being said, hopefully tomorrow the alternator will fix it. then on friday i can install my evoIII 16g

 

[brute]

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out!

 

[Blue95GST]

good luck with everything!

 

[acidflux]

is it still an update if theres no progress? haha, i got part way done with removing the alternator and realized it was getting stuck on the larger than stock oil filter. at that point i decided it was beer thirty for the day and decided to tackle it tomorrow (this afternoon). so...i shall finish up today and post results. after that comes the 16g. the only thing is, i REALLY dont want to bolt up stock a/t exhaust onto that turbo. its my understanding that along with smaller turbo and injectors, auto cars had smaller exhaust too. regardless, i almost want to wait until i can get some tubing to fab my own exhaust before i put the turbo on. decisions decisions...

 

[Samzer]

Try getting someone else to take a look at it.