Car won't start, turns over. No changes & was running fine.

[eclipsh]

I'm in the middle of moving and my car will not start. I pulled the plugs and grounded the edge to the valve cover and I didn't see spark on any of the four. I am getting voltage at the CAS and the coil pack. Nothing under the hood was touched. I did a JDM swap earlier this summer and did not know I needed to switch over the CAS. I am wondering if that may be playing into this, though I am not sure why it would have shown up now. The JDM was sold to me as a 90 GVR4 but had a different throttle body sensor cluster and coil/transistor pack so I suspect it was a 91 model. My 90 coil pack and transistor are on the car along with the 90 T/B.

The spark plugs appear to be in good condition and I can't see all four failing at once. I'm not sure where to start at now for fixing the problem. Any help is greatly appreciated and if there is anyone in the Durango, CO area I could really use your help. Thanks!!!

Also, my old engine is long gone so I do not have access to my old CAS or anything else off of it.

 

[BossGVR4]

USDM GVR4s were only 1991 and 1992 models .....

 

[eclipsh]

USDM GVR4s were only 1991 and 1992 models .....

The engine was a JDM not USDM.

 

[ddavisaf]

Ground your plugs to a bolt on the frame and try again.

 

[eclipsh]

Ground your plugs to a bolt on the frame and try again.

Just tried it on #4, no spark.

 

[ddavisaf]

So the coilpack is recieving power, but not putting any out then? Or are your plug wires just shot? I would pull the wires and make sure they're not corroded to the point that they're not allowing anything to pass through.

 

[eclipsh]

The plug wires are clean enough to look new.

I just did some more voltage readings on the engine, here's what I found:

Coil pack plug:

+12v red wire
no charge on other to wires


CAS plug:

+12v red wire
+0.2v other two wires.

I tested both plugs by grounding the the intake and by using their own ground wires. No difference. So my grounds seem to be good and I'm getting juice. The last time I drove the car it was less than a mile and not hard at all. I don't think I could have jumped timing and to my knowledge that would not eliminate spark. Any more ideas?

Also, unless all four wires failed at once I don't think that would be it.

 

[eclipsh]

I am also wondering if the factory alarm could be killing the ignition. I did put a couple screws through my front bumper cover but have driven it since. Are there any wires directly behind the bumper cover that could be shorting out? Sorry I should have mentioned this earlier.

Also, the car will intermitently not want to turn over and I have to retry several times. It is turning fast enough to start though.

The battery also reads 12.2v

 

[ddavisaf]

I'd replace your coilpack.

 

[ddavisaf]

You might want to pull the ECU also and check the capacitors for leaking.

 

[eclipsh]

I went down to Autozone and ordered a coil pack. I'll do a side by side test on them when it gets in and see if I can discern any difference. For now its back to moving. Thank goodness my girlfriend lets me borrow her truck!

 

[eclipsh]

Testing side by side the coil pack looks fine. The power transistor (ignition module to parts guys) looks like it might be the culprit. $100-150 for the little bastard and a three day wait. Grrr...

 

[playitlouddsm]

Why not just call up to mistu graveyard i'm sure you can pick up a used one there for much cheaper then 100$. I paid 40$ for one from them a while back.

 

[eclipsh]

Thanks, I actually found one on e-bay that I'll be snagging. for $30

 

[92awddsm]

Thanks, I actually found one on e-bay that I'll be snagging. for $30

Ive got one I will sell you cheaper if you are interested. PM me.

Anyway, like stated before, check the ecu for leaking caps also. If it is good, check the connection on the transistor. They usually dont just go bad overnight. You usually have a bouncing tach just before it dies.

 

[eclipsh]

So... I put in the "new" transistor. No change. It fired up for a second and died immediately. I pulled the ECU and opened it up. It does look like one capacitor is leaking a little bit. I went to swap out my harness and ecu to the JDM one I got only to find there are a lot of plugs that will not work at all. Soooo... I will be reinstalling my harness and reparing the ECU. It doesn't look like the leak is bad but I do see one black area between capacitor C108 and C106. It looks like it is C14. I just scraped it of and the capacitor looks like it is ok. Does anyone know what it should test at?

The other question is this: I have a JDM auto/cyclone GVR4 ecu sitting here useless. I doubt I can sell it so I am wondering if I should just snag parts off of it. I am particularly interested in finding the chip that works the intake manifold. Also, where can I find pics of a EPROM ecu? I think I have one.

EDIT: Oddly enough, the 16v 100uF capacitor I'd need isn't on the JDM ECU. I'm still curious about the EPROM cyclone chip though...

 

[eclipsh]

yeh man your alarm can be a problem.Also if you have subs and not a big enough battery and sometime if you have the battery your capacitator wount charge a big amp. Ok here's what happened with mine is i shut the alarm off (by the button they put usually near your left foot or shin when your sitten in your car) becuase i came out one day and it drained the battery so you might have to shut that off if your battery keeps dieing also. Make sure your grounding to metal and not alunium or some special stainless/polished metal or something trust me it makes a differnce sometimes.Use the chasy is pretty much what im saying.

Don't have subs and the battery has a charge. It turns over fine it just isn't getting spark.

 

[eclipsh]

So I installed the repaired ECU (thanks Steve!) and the car started for 3 seconds and died. Then I remembered to repair the wires at the #4 injector, which broke off during the reinstallation of my harness, and tried to fire it up again. I do mean tried... The car still won't start. Would the CAS be causing this? I still have the JDM 91 CAS on it. It ran fine for months with that on there though. FWIW, the tach still doesn't seem to work either.

 

[ddavisaf]

Recap time:
Coilpack tested-Good
Transister-Replaced
CAS-unknown
plugs-gapped properly, NGK's, #4 no spark
wires-good
injectors-repaired harness for #4, good
ECU-fixed

You checked the timing to make sure it was good right?

Make sure your grounding to metal and not alunium

When was aluminum not metal? Did something change and I not find out about it? I must have the memo here on my desk somewhere......
just joshin' ya bud...

There are no wires behind the bumper cover, just a bumper....

Have you taken out your plugs yet to make sure they're in good condition?

 

[eclipsh]

After posting I decided that I need to recheck the timing. I'll go do that later today and make sure the belt didn't jump a tooth too. It just seems so unlikely since the car was running fine the day before and I only drove a gentle 1/2 mile. Still need to go check the belt though.

 

[LockeXSG]

The funny thing is I am haveing the exact problem. I am in the process of changeing CAS so.. hopefully we will get this figured out.

 

[eclipsh]

The funny thing is I am have the exact problem. I am in the process of change CAS so.. hopefully we will get this figured out.

I've noticed mine fequently doesn't want to turn over again after the first time I try. It just clicks. I have to keep trying to get it to turn. I suspect that is just my starter on the way out but I'm curious if you're having a similar problem.


Oh, I also went ahead and yanked my POS blinkey A/F meter and taped up the wires to be safe.

 

[LockeXSG]

I did need to tighten my ground for the starter. But mine turns over just fine, but... I got my starter out of my other parts car that is almost new. But even before all of that I wasn't haveing trouble with it turning over( other than not having the battery cables tight enough.)

 

[LockeXSG]

Well I have checked everything except the cas. So later today I will have a replacement on the car. My coil was good, my transitor pack was good, and my ecu was good so... other than the cas, I don't think I have anything else to check!>?

 

[eclipsh]

So I just checked the timing belt and timing today after replacing the CAS. Everything checks out fine. The timing light is showing spark on the #4 wire I was connected to for checking timing. I am at 5 deg advance. I have noticed that whenever I try to start the car for the first time that day it will start for a few seconds and then die. Unfortunately the pocketlogger I just bought wasn't logging when it started this morning (for all three seconds).

It almost seems like I may have a plugged exhaust or intake. It starts for a few seconds only once and then will only turn over. I can smell gas and it looks like I'm getting spark now so I have no idea why it isn't starting.