no check engine, no spark

[dsm908]

1990 Tsi

so i'm driving home the other day, and i notice that my afc turns off, ok, im thinking wtf. thankfully I'm going down hill because i go to give it gas and there is no throttle response. So i immediately pulled over and when the car stopped moving the engine died off. i initially tried cranking the car and i noticed there was no check engine light ( cel ). so i automatically assumed with the given variables that my caps probably leaked out and shot my ecu. WRONG, i threw in a friends old ecu and same thing, so i naturally thought maybe that ecu was bad too, i put my original ecu in his car, fired her right up, so WTF !!!

i don't know where to look now, i checked all of my fuses and nothing. please some info. i also checked the cas plug, and it isnt receiving any voltage.

 

[e85_4g63]

Do you have power anywhere in the car? Did a ground come loose near the ecu?

 

[dsm908]

fuel pump power up on crank, , there is ample fuel pressure. but she's not sparking.

 

[dsm908]

also forgot to say that i took off the afc afterwards to make sure there wasnt an issue there

 

[SpawnedX]

When there is no spark, it is best to check the plugs and work your way back. In this instance, you situation sounds eerily similar to a 97 ESI I was working on, turned out to be bad coils, but you are stating you are getting no power to the CAS harness.

In this case, sounds like an electrical shortage, there is a lot of variables to check, and this is hard to pinpoint off the bat. Could be a ground has come undone as said above.

Let's start with a basic question:

Are you getting any power to the interior of the car? Like when the car is in accessory, does the dash come on, radio work, etc. etc.?

 

[dsm908]

yes there is interior lighting , everything on the dash lights up, car turns over and everything, fuel pumps starts going on crank so it just seems like something is stopping it from giving spark

 

[subie22]

could the coil pack be bad, theres really not much else i would think would cause your car to have no spark. Are you 100% sure theres no spark?? Also check all fuses. Also you may have answered your own question if the cas has no power that could be one of the issues also. Just trying to help ya out. Never ran into this problem yet. But most likely will.

 

[SpawnedX]

I am going with coil pack, notorious little pain in the butt failure. Easy to check too. Wouldn't surprise me.

 

[dsm908]

the coil pack is getting power

 

[subie22]

bad cas?

 

[SpawnedX]

Just because the coil pack is getting power doesn't mean it is using it to fire the plugs. Unless you mean the coil pack is producing power.

 

[dsm908]

Ok well that makes perfect sense, so how would i know if it is producing the power, also i have a 90 so the cas is different than the rest its kinda hard wired, so when i disconnected it on the firewall, the plug on the firewall side i tested for power, and nothing, so i know for a fact that the cas isn't receiving power, what would cause this ?

 

[dsm908]

so today i checked the ignitor as well and it is receiving power as well, ugh guys im stumped on this one !! WTF

 

[KiamyDSM]

check the distributor cap? could have gotten some moisture if it was raining or if you hit a puddle.

 

[dsm908]

it wasn't raining, nor was there a puddle. no distributor cap, its a coil pack. 90 tsi

 

[KiamyDSM]

woah blonde moment mybad.

 

[dsm908]

its ok you were trying to help

 

[subie22]

is there a crank angle sensor, and i have a feeling that maybe you cas is bad. you did say you werent getting any power to it. That would cause a no start, but will let you crank it over. Did you check the plugs, you could of fouled them out from cranking it so much. But other than that dude im just as stumped as you are.

 

[g_ferg]

is there a crank angle sensor, and i have a feeling that maybe you cas is bad. you did say you werent getting any power to it. That would cause a no start, but will let you crank it over. Did you check the plugs, you could of fouled them out from cranking it so much. But other than that dude im just as stumped as you are.

If you are getting power to the coil pack and its not sparking. Check the ignition switch. It could be faulty. Also the wiring to the cas could have a short in it.

 

[subie22]

If you are getting power to the coil pack and its not sparking. Check the ignition switch. It could be faulty. Also the wiring to the cas could have a short in it.

If the ign switch was bad i dont think he would get any cranking out of it, i would look into the cas.

 

[g_ferg]

If the ign switch was bad i dont think he would get any cranking out of it, i would look into the cas.

The car will still crank if it is going bad. Or faulty...Or atleast has in other cars ive hard it go out on. I know my car is newer and a 2g also. But i had the ignition switch go out on mine and the motor cranked just fine. Didn't get any fuel or spark though.

 

[SpawnedX]

Check the harness and on back that plugs into the CAS. He said he was not getting any power to the CAS, CAS won't work without power. Short or a ground is making a weak contact.

 

[g_ferg]

so today i checked the ignitor as well and it is receiving power as well, ugh guys im stumped on this one !! WTF

what do you mean the ignitor??? And what the guy said before. Just because it is getting power doesnt mean its using the power. Also when the ignition switch was bad on my 2g the coil pack had power to it. The freaking motor cranked. And i got no spark and no power to the 1g cas that was swapped in. I don't know if it would be the same on a 1g. But it takes like 1 minute to actually test the ignition witch. Or power transistor as ive seen it called several times on here.

 

[dsm908]

remember guys the car shut down as i was driving it, so i think ignition switch is out of the question, also there isnt any power going to the cas, what would cause that, is there a fuse or relay for that, also the fuel pump works fine, she turns on each time i crank it.

 

[subie22]

well you should check all your fuses first before you even did anything else. But i would think your cas is dead and you need a new/used one.