Cougar

Way to go Sublute. You're rock'n now. You went through some frustration on this repair but I'm sure you learned a lot in the process. Another happy Soob owner on the road again. Drive on.

We all appreciate your gratitude 94Loyale. It's nice to know that another Soob owner is back on the road again. Hope you have no more car trouble for a long time but if you do, you know where you can get some extra help if you need it.

I suggest you try to fix that connection to the alternator as best you can. The real problem may be with the connections to the engine or the engine grounding, as was mentioned earlier. There are a couple of main connectors near the battery that you might try seperating and then reconnecting to see if that will help fix this trouble. Another thing you can try is running a temporary ground jumper between the engine and negative side of the battery to see if that improves things. Check the fusible links also to make sure they are making good connection. They are inside the small box mounted on the coolant reservoir.

Glad to hear you found the trouble and I think you just need to look at it as a learning experience. We all have our own stories to tell about mechanical maintenance course level 101. What? What's that? You want me to tell you one of my stories? Wel-llll ok. In more years back than I care to remember I was just starting out on a drive in my trusty old '55 Chevy that I only paid 75 dollars for, though back then that was a fair amount of cash to me. Just pulling out of the driveway the car died and all the cranking in the world wouldn't get it started again. Later on, checking the compression I saw that all the cylinders were either very low or had no compression. I then determined that all the valves must be burned in the heads (I can hear the snickering already). After I had the heads rebuilt and asked the machinest how bad they were he said "they weren't really that bad". Having both heads rebuilt cost me about 3 times what I paid for the whole car. After I installed the heads again I quickly found out that the no compression problem was still there. Fortunately I didn't then decide all the pistons were bad and replace those. I somehow got unto the correct problem (as I'm sure everyone here has already correctly diagnosed; and you can stop the laughing now also) that the TIMING CHAIN had slipped. This was a real lesson for me in not jumping to conclusions when troubleshooting a problem. A lesson that I still remember today and, 'that's all I have to say about that'.

It would be nice to know the answer to my previous question. Another thing to look into on this problem is to see if the crank and cam sensors got plugged into the the correct connectors. I seem to remember this happened to another member some time back. The connectors fit together fine but they were swapped around from what they needed to be. That sure would be something if it was the trouble after all this.

Good job on fixing the trouble. You're welcome for the help 94Loyale and thanks for the feedback on the solution. It may help someone else later on. One thing to remember when troubleshooting electrical problems is always check the power supply connections first for any problem before looking at other suspect areas. Thanks for the who-rah Bill90Loyale. The cat is on prowl again for more trouble.

This could either mean the lamp circuit is intermittent or there is a power problem to the ECU. We need to find out what the status is of the power leads to the ECU first. Maybe the ignition relay is intermittent.

While a bad ground will not in itself cause a short a ground connection in the wrong place, like touching a power lead, will cause a short. I would check the horn area and overhead light for the trouble. Since the horn is the most likely suspect in my estimate I recommend you check that first. My info shows the fuse supplies a lot of places and it may help you to track this trouble down by replacing the fuse with a brake light. This will limit the current to the short to a safe limit and allow you to disconnect things to see if you can find the correct path the problem is on. When the short is isolated from the power the light will dim or go out.

If this is still an ongoing issue I will add my thoughts to this in the hopes it may help out. My first thought on the issue was something was wrong with the oil passages or pump but after looking again at the lack of power issue when this trouble happens it makes me think the timing is changing somhow and monitoring it with some reference point before the trouble happens and while it is occurring would show if that is causing the problem. What think thee of this thought on the matter fellow Soob enthutheists?

(Well after a late night of prowling around the house the cat is up again and ready for more hunting.) A very good question actually and from what I have seen before the signal wires will not be 12 volts but more like around 5 to 7 volts I believe. You are correct about pin 52 and after looking over things again I see I wasn't looking at that pins function correctly in the past. Along with making sure the power connections are as they should be I think it would be wise to make sure the wiring between the ECU and the disty crank sensor is intact as well. This brings up a question, have you checked the ECU for error codes yet?

By using a ohmmeter you can usually tell if the wiring between two different points is ok. You say there is only two wires between the ECU and the ignitor. The info I looked at showed 4 wires. The comment you made about the push button starter switch may have been a sustitute starter switch because the inhibitor switch (neutral safety switch) was bad or another part of the starter circuit.

Well I hate to jump into the middle of all this fun since I haven't been looking into this problem until now but I wanted to find out something. I didn't read all the posts real carefully but near the beginning you stated that the cam pulse voltage was only about .03 volts. I think this is too low if that is the case and you may have a bad cam sensor if that is correct. Can you verify that voltage using the scope?

Since your meter showed a steady voltage the problem would seem to be either with the wiring between the disty and the ECU or the ECU itself. Check to see if the ECU is flashing any codes, like for the ignition pulse system. We need to verify that voltage is getting to the following areas to see if there is proper power getting to the system. The fuses that are key here is the green fusible link along with fuses 5, 11, and 12. On the ECU, check pins 27, 29, 38, and 41 with the key in the RUN position and make sure 12 volts is getting to them. Power to pins 29 and 41 tie to the ignition relay so it may be a problem. Also check that pin 18 is getting 12 volts while trying to START the car. Check the blk/wht wire on the coil and see that it has 12 volts in the Run position.

Thanks for the update and glad you got it fixed. You're welcome for the info.

I suggest you get a test light probe to check things out with. This takes the guesswork out of the search for trouble. By placing the probe tip on the minus side of the coil while cranking the engine you should see it pulse on and off as the ignition system makes the coil spark. Most likely you will see just a steady light indicating that there is a problem with the ignition system. I would guess the ignitor is the trouble. If you have no light at all be sure fuse #5 is good. If the horn works then it is ok. You can also check the coil ground using the light. Place the probe tip on a good clean metal spot on the coil body with the ignition ON. If the ground is good then the light will not turn on.

You stated that dash lights didn't work when you tried jumping the battery from another car. Assuming that the jump was connected correctly this would probably indicate that the main fuse has blown in the panel under the hood, or fusible link, if this is an older car. I assume you have a voltmeter in the dash and not a ammeter. You can't measure amperage using a voltmeter. As was mentioned there is a regulator problem if the voltage exceeds 15 volts while the system is charging. It sounds like second alternator is having a problem from what you said after it was installed and it may be due to the battery. If the battery has a shorted cell it will damage the alternator. I suggest you first remove the battery and have it checked out before installing another alternator. Be sure the battery is fully charged before reinstalling it, if it is ok. A discharged battery is very hard on the alternator.

Nipper, While I could see that the dash lights are isolated from ground I wouldn't think they would be wired in series with each other. That kind of wiring would mean all the dash lights would go out if one failed. Note: Some folks have repaired the illumination module by repairing the wiring inside it.

There may be a clue to the trouble area since the engine was having trouble before the fuse blew. Try disconnecting the coil and ignitor connections and see if the there is still a short on the fuse line. If that doesn't help then try the anti-dieseling solenoid.

My '88 GL-10 turbo was MPFI.

You're right Skip! :-p

I agree with Edach about the timing belt breaking and causing the trouble. If the rest of the car is in good shape and will last at least for another 3 to 5 years you may want to consider getting a rebuilt engine from CCR engines. If you install one of their engines you will basically have a new engine with a 3 year warranty on it to boot. That is like a new car warranty for the engine at least. You pay more up front but down the road it could save you more in future repair bills by installing an engine you know little or nothing about. If you decide to put in just a used engine you may want to install new head gaskets on it along with new timing belts, idler pully, and cam seals before you put it in, just as a precaution. You don't want another break down like this to happen again. I would also change the radiator out.

Well Daeron, as the saying goes, "If the women don't find you handsome at least let them find you handy." Hope you have a better date on the next round.

The power window circuit breaker is resetting and tripping again. It sounds like the new switch you put in has a problem in the switch position since you say it can be moved slightly to stop the action.

If you like the car and it will handle all the things you will need for it to do for at least the next 5 to 10 years then you should be fine. You will have the the warranty to cover any problems for some time so that can help save you some money. Since you say that the investment will be a lot for your pocket book then your biggest concern may be with your finances rather than what model car to get. Think what you will have to do if something happens where you need to have some emergency money. If you are going to have scrape every month just to make a car payment you should consider a less expensive purchase. I assume you will be making payments for at least 3 years and that can be a long time if you are just getting by making the payment each month and can't save anything. That's my thought on this anyways. Don't dig yourself into a hole you will have trouble getting out of later if something should happen.

You can purchase brushes and solenoid contacts from parts suppliers. These are the real wear items along with the bendix gear, if that is needed. A starter is pretty easy to rebuild.