MJLamberson Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Finished the turbo swap, the whole time it wouldnt spark there wasnt really anything wrong with my wiring, I was just had a friend over to show him how it wouldnt spark and go figure, it started sparking. Fixed the timing and all was good, for about a day and a half. yesterday afternoon I was driving her around town, and it started to sput, then died, I popped the hood and all that had happened was the negative battery cable had popped off... sigh of relief... not! Re connected the cable and guess what? No more spark and no more green light on the ECU. I called a friend and we towed the car back to my place where I checked and double checked EVERY SINGLE CONNECTION. No fusible links are blown, Everything that should be getting power is, and The EFI relay still functions. Yet still no green light on the ECU, still no spark. My best guess would be the Crank Angle Sensor is bad, My second guess would be the ECU. So what do you guys think? If the Crank Angle Sensor was not functioning would that cause the ECU light to not kick on? EDIT: Forgot to mention that I did try resetting the ECU. and That I am thrown off by the fact that before it was running, when it wasnt sparking, with the wiring the EXACT SAME WAY that it is now, and while it was running, the ECU light would work, but the car wouldnt spark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerryb Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Capture the smoke and put back in the ECU. Seriously...is power going to the ECU? If so is the coming out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtmny1999 Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Looks like the battery must of knocked off the sensor that is right on top of the starter. Thats what happen to me when I had my turbo swap it wouldn't start. nvm: I though ur battery popped off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slownrusty Posted November 26, 2008 Share Posted November 26, 2008 Looks like the battery must of knocked off the sensor that is right on top of the starter. Thats what happen to me when I had my turbo swap it wouldn't start. nvm: I though ur battery popped off. You mean the CHTS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cockerstar Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Okay, this is going to sound like a bonehead question here, but is your battery good and fully charged? If the cable got popped off while driving it definitely wasn't getting charged up. I wouldn't think that starting the car up would be enough of a strain to kill it, but if your alternator is going out it easily could be. Just something else to eliminate on the list of electrical gremlins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 GODDAMNIT!!!!!!!!! Im sorry but I am just so frustrated. I got my other dizzy and put it in... Nothing!!!! well I shouldnt say nothing, the EFI relay clicks and the injectors inject. But the ECU does not kick on and thus I am not getting spark. I know my wiring is right because it was running before, I double checked every connection multiple times. Im not sure what pins on the ECU connections to test for power at that location, Ive been searching, but everywhere else that needs power has it. The only other thing I can think of is the ECU burnt out but what are the odds of that? can anybody else throw some ideas my way or link me to an 83 zxt pinout? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slownrusty Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 The only other thing I can think of is the ECU burnt out but what are the odds of that? can anybody else throw some ideas my way or link me to an 83 zxt pinout? Send me your email address and I can scan each 8.5x11 portion as its a fold out and can scan it as a jpg. Anyone local to you have an ECU you can try? Yasin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDusel Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 This will help you with the ECU power probing... I had a bad ecu that would work fine and then the car would just die and click the fuel injection relay (my car is a ZXT transplant also), sounds similar to what you are experiencing. Do you have access to a spare ECU to test? file.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 This will help you with the ECU power probing...I had a bad ecu that would work fine and then the car would just die and click the fuel injection relay (my car is a ZXT transplant also), sounds similar to what you are experiencing. Do you have access to a spare ECU to test? I wish I had a spare ECU to test, and thank you, that file looks handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted January 20, 2009 Author Share Posted January 20, 2009 I havnt got to test the ECU yet, mostly because Im not to sure how to go about doing it,but I do have another hint that may shed some light on my problem... I had my battery charged and tested fine, but when I left it hooked up in my Z for a short period of time it ended up useless, this was the case with two different batteries. Doesnt that mean I have a positive that is grounding out or something? Maybe my wiring isnt as good as I thought... but it ran before so idk? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowlerMonkey Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Is your battery bolted down or can it lean over and touch the positive terminal to the body or any other metal parts? I would check and wiggle the fuse links. One easy thing to do is connect a pair of jumper cables between the engine and a bolt on top of the strut. This guarantees you have ground to both body and engine since it is apparent you have good ground to the engine or the starter would not start the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 I had a problem with the battery leaking down in my first 260z. Never could find where the wiring was faulty (installed painless). Instead I put in a battery cut off switch that I would turn off whenever I parked the car. It solved the leak down issues and served as an extra deterrent for would be thefts. Although its not really a solution to your efi problem, its just an example of what i did to solve the battery drainage problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted January 21, 2009 Author Share Posted January 21, 2009 Is your battery bolted down or can it lean over and touch the positive terminal to the body or any other metal parts? Actualy That could have happend, would that cause an ECU to burn up? I have checked all of the fusible links and all of them are good, including the two that give power to the ECU. And lowrider, thanks for the tip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted January 26, 2009 Author Share Posted January 26, 2009 Well I will be buying another ECU today or tomorrow, but a part of me is thinking that it will not fix my problem, why? because I figure the inline fusible links that go to the ECU would have burnt out first. But they are in fine condition. As stated above, my positive post on the battery could have grounded out, what would that cause? Still looking for your ideas. Im afraid Im going to end up like this guy http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=109618 Help. Im starting to loose hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 MJ, I know you're short on money, but I'm wondering if it would be better to just cut your losses now and go with MS, as you were planning to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted January 26, 2009 Author Share Posted January 26, 2009 To short on money, and There is no way Im going to try to sell any of the turbo conversion stuff when I know something isnt right with it, I know what its like to have to buy ♥♥♥♥ twice, Im not going to make anybody else do that. I will go MS sometime, but Im kinda in a slump, hard to get another job without a running car, hard to get a running car without a job. Ill will eventualy work this out though, it cant be doomed forever, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffer949 Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Hey man I was in the same situation a few months ago. i couldnt get a job because i knew my car wasnt reliable. i finally got it somewhat reliable and got a decent job and while i was training and not making any money my car broke down on me 2 times once was a 3mile hike home and the other was a call to my mom for her to paypal me some money so i could go get a new battery as I was 20 miles from home. But now im making money and ive gotten everything fixed to where its drivable at least. Yes ive blown my motor up and am running on 5 cylinders at the moment but its still getting me to work and I have a spare motor in the passanger area and a cherry picker in the back. and im swapping it out next week. So just keep at it. You will get there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 Well Ive ripped out all of my wiring, figure I might as well start from ground zero, If there is anything wrong with the harness this will be a decent waste of time but Im willing to take that risk. Ive added two grounding wires from my intake manifold straight to the battery, as well as a couple more chassis Grounds. Ive also sanded down every ground and grounding location down to the bare metal to ensure great contact. I also decided I might as well ground the grounds that were grounded for the NA ignition system, just in case. I also installed the proper shaft for the distributor, I was using the NA shaft with my turbo dizzy which had probably a degree or two of timing play which wouldnt cause my problem but I figured I would make everything as legit as possible this time around. While I was down there I decided that, because I now have more oil lines and will someday be running an oil cooler that it wouldnt be a bad idea to up the oil pressure a bit, Just added two thin washers to the spring in the oil pump, a trick I read about in the "How to modify your..." book. Anyways, its about 4 am now and as much as I want to finish this, I just dont have the faith in it anymore so I suppose I will get some sleep and put everything back together in the morning... later in the morning. Hey, maybe with some luck it will start up? I figure the worst case senario is that I put in the new ECU that I will be getting and it doesnt work, then I will KNOW that the problem has to be in the harness, Ive already replaced everything else, another thing I may end up buying twice. If you have any other ideas please send them my way, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beso Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 ecu has earth? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted January 28, 2009 Author Share Posted January 28, 2009 Well unless the problem is deep in the harness itself, the wiring isnt the problem, I put the harness back together, re doing and questionable connection... still no sign of life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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