Alright, here goes the second SR startup problem thread today.
Harness was modified by me, and everything is hooked up… when cranking the engine, Ive got spark but the engine wont turn over.
Where should I start looking for the problem? Fuel would be the next obvious place, but what specifically should I be doing to check if fuel is making it to the motor?
Well, if it doesn’t turn over, then I think you’ve got bigger problems. I hope you mean it turns, but you aren’t getting fuel.
I’ll go out on a limb and also say that when you turn the key to “on” you don’t hear the fuel pump going. It could be that it is fried, or just unplugged (did you put in a new one?) If the pump is very quiet as it is, you could unplug one of the fuel lines going into the fuel rail and then have a friend turn the key to “on” and see if any fuel spits out. (be careful, because if it does come out, it shoots pretty good.)
Hell, it could even be the computer for all you know (I don’t know SRs very well, so I can’t help you there…)
Sorry if all I’ve said is useless, but I hope it helps a bit.
#-o Yes, sorry… the engine does turn over. At first I had no spark, which I realized was the ignitor chip wiring. Once that was fixed I had spark, but the car will still not start. Could it just be timing?
The fuel pump was actually the first thing I wanted to check, but Im not sure how I would go about doing that. I have a Walbro 255 pump that I am going to put in, but to eliminate possible mistakes during the swap, I kept the stock one in for now.
Is the best way to check the fuel pump to just listen for it?
Perfect, thanks for the tips. I will try those as soon as possible.
You should be able to smell the fuel in your engine bay. Double check your connectors and grounds.
It shouldn’t be your timing unless you had the head open and were playing with the gears.
Goodluck
make sure the signal wire is connected to the starter, mine was falling off before and not starting.
its the black wire that just slips over the end of the starter.
… dude hurry up so you can take me for a ride.
Alright, so I have spark… and fuel. But no go.
From what others have told me from their own swaps, it could be the timing… which leads to my next question. I think I understand how to adjust timing, by rotating the CAS. Is this pretty much just trial and error, or is there something I should be setting it to? Also, if it is 180 degrees off, how would I go about fixing that since it seems that it will rotate only 20 degrees or so?
This may or may not be related, but when I crank the engine then stop, the relay marked “EGI” (or ECCS in the service manual) makes a loud buzzing sound. What might that be?
…and actually a third question regarding the wiring harness. When modifying the SR harness there are a number of wires that arent used. Is it alright to just leave those cut and ziptied together?
Thanks for your help guys
Stupid question but is your engine ground still on?
If its not from the intake manifold to the battery tray you might have
problems. Since the engine cranks it doesnt sound like the case but its a
possibility…
Also make sure your battery is grounded, and most importantly set the timing at this point…
You need a timing light to do it properly
The only reason you should have to set the ignition timing (adjust the CAS) is if you’ve fucked with it. Did you remove the CAS for some reason? If not then look elsewhere…
You already said you had a problem with the ignoter wiring, what was the problem? I’d double check that you have the right wires from ECU to igniter (in the right order), and from igniter to ignition coils (in the right order). If you’ve extended all these wires and they change color somewhere along the way it’s not difficult to get a couple crossed. If these are not all right you firing order will be wrong and the motor most likely won’t start… if it does it will run rough as hell and pop and fart and back fire through the intake and such.
Your relay shouldn’t be buzzing, sounds liek you’ve got something screwed up with you wiring… maybe teh spare wires you wree mentioning. Any spares should be individually taped so there is no chance of them connecting to each other by accident. BTW… which wires do you have spare and aat what location? (i.e. ECU plug, F8, E9, trans harness plug?)
-Martin.
There is a piece of tape that covers the adjustment bolts on the CAS, and it was broken… so I think there may be a chance that it had been messed wiith before I got my hands on the engine. Im going to remove the valve cover and set timing just to be safe.
As for the ignitor, Ive used Heavy Throttle’s instructions and followed them exactly. Im electrically retarded, so I wanted to keep things as simple as possible. The only thing I screwed up with before, was I mixed up a red/blue wire with a red/green wire. Once that was fixed, the plugs fired fine.
The left over wires that I mentioned were at the end of the harness, where the 3 plugs must be wired up to 2 from the KA. (Sorry, I dont know what the plugs are for) There were a number of red wires, which I taped up together. They were not bare, but there is a chance that they are touching so I will go back and fix that. Ill update tonite, and hopefully the engine will be running.
Alright, got spark and fuel in all four cylinders, correct timing… but still no ignition. wtf.
Ive double and triple checked all the wiring and grounds, and theyre good as well.
I think I may have stumbled on the problem though, maybe some of the really SR-savvy members can help me out on this one.
While the valve cover was off, and timing was being set I noticed that the two marks on the cam gears were not aligned. My buddy (who is a Honda guy) was there and reminded me that on Hondas they are meant to be pointing up when piston one is at TDC. If the gears were aligned on a Honda as they were on my SR, it would definatly not start.
Where are the marks supposed to be pointing on an SR? Could it be the cam timing that isnt allowing the engine to start? Im going to do some digging for the answer, but if anyone knows I would appreciate the info.
EDIT: Well, after looking at the FSM I found the answer, that the cam marks are supposed to be aligned with a specific link on the timing chain, and not necessarily pointing in a specific direction. Now Im really stumped.
Sorry to totally post whore here, but Im trying to come up with some solutions and its helpful to have some imput.
I neglected to mention before that when the plugs are pulled, they are soaked with fuel. If the mixture is too rich, then obviously there will be no ignition. The possible causes I can think of for this are: engine came with bigger injectors, fuel pressure is too high, ECU was reprogrammed…
Anything else?
If the ECU was re programed it would probobally run a little leaner, unless it was tuned for 550’s or 740’s i dont think thats one of the problems.
… eeeeeee, uh-oh.
[quote=“Racer 240sX”]
… eeeeeee, uh-oh.[/quote]
I agree
No, I havent… which I know, was stupid. I may have to do that, but Id like to eliminate the other possibilities first. Im using the Q45 ignitor, and it has been rewired using a diagram from Heavy Throttle. I have checked my wiring many times, and it is correct. Considering that most of the harness is stock SR, except for the ignitor plugs, the only place it could really be messed up would be at the ignitor wiring. Since I have checked that a number of times, Im pretty sure thats not the problem.
I left all the plugs out for about 15 minutes, in case I flooded the engine… would that be long enough?
Since the plugs are soaked with fuel when I pull them, Im thinking that somehow the cylinders are getting too much fuel. Could the injectors be held open somehow? Any other ideas?
Cranks, has spark & fuel
either just cranks, or catches but won’t run
Check Timing, Crank Angle Sensor could be misaligned. Engine could be flooded, check spark plug for raw fuel.
Yea, i read that actually… i left the plugs out for about 20 minutes, but Im not sure how long it would take to dissipate some of the fuel.
There definatly is raw fuel on the plugs.
ohkay jordan, two people now say that you have too large of injectors, we aren’t sure the size but the purple is larger then the stock red(370).
maybe more can confirm this too, but sounds like that could be your problem.
Well, not necessarily… Turns out that:
-some 300zx TT 370cc injectors are purple, and fit the SR
-SR20DET from a Bluebird use purple 370cc injectors
-RX-7 side feed injectors are purple… and 550cc
-HKS makes purple 550cc injectors for the SR
-some people on Freshalloy have seen purple 370cc injectors for the SR supposedly.
So… I may have to pull the injectors and do some searching, but it seems like they very well could be stock 370cc… or anything else for that matter. :roll: :o