87 gl-10 turbo No Spark

[zartman456]

I just got finished rebuilding and installing my ea82t and when I went to fire it up there was no spark. When I took the running motor out last year, well there was spark because it was running. When the key is on, I am not getting 12v to the coil + and -. If I take a wire and jump from the - on the battery to the - on the coil I get a spark which means the coil is atleast good. What wire on this motor triggers the coil to fire? I have 2 wires coming from my dizzy and I have no idea where they go (black white stripe and black yellow stripe) I am stumped as I know very little about these cars, and after reading every no spark thread on here and reading the entire manual, I have to break down and ask for help.

 

Thank you in advance

[zartman456]

UPDATE: I found the missing wire to the - side of the coil now I have spark but I can't hear the fuel pump at all. The weird part is if I take a wire from the - of the battery and jump it to the - side of the coil I hear the pump kick on??

[MilesFox]

check fuse #5 (horn/hazard/clock). this supplies constant volts to the ECU. Jumping the battery to the coil backfeeds volts to the ecu on the other side of this fuse.

 

try that and see what happens

[zartman456]

Great, Ill check it tonight and see what happens.

 

Thank you!!

[Sonicfrog]

I just dealt with a similar problem a week ago. I had replaced my old engine, and while I was at it, I replaced my old 163Km injectors with newer ones I had laying around. After I installed them and put the car back together, it wouldn't start. I wasn't getting any fuel and was thinking that the fuel pump maybe wasn't working. Easy way to check gas flow.

 

First, pull a sparkplug. Crank the engine a couple of time then check to see if you smell gas.

 

If you don't smell gas, do this:

 

(1) Take off the gas line at the rail that comes from the gas filter, and with the line safely placed in a jar, have a friend ever so briefly start the car. If everything is working you should get a nice slow of gas coming out of hose.

 

(2) Now you need to check to see if the injectors are opening. Take a couple of wires and connect a 9 volt battery to the injector terminals. You should hear a nice little click. If you don't, then the injector is frozen. Check all the same way.

 

When I did test # 2, I was really bummed. None of mine clicked. I was pissed because my first thought was that I would have to tear the rail apart, and reinstall the old injectors, and I soon realized that one of the old ones was nowhere to be found. It probably got thrown away.

 

Then i started thinking, could ALL of the new injectors be bad, as in the coils that open the tiny solenoids on each one be shorted out? That seemed unlikely. I realized that, since the newer injectors were sitting for so long, they may just be stuck, and the 9v battery just didn't have enough juice to unstick them. So I got a longer wire and ran it to the car battery.

 

Presto! After a few times rapidly opening and closing the circuit, one of the injectors started to click! Did the same procedure to all, and Viola! The car started right up....

 

After I fixed my screwed up disty timing. I swear, I always do that!

Edited March 11, 2010 by Sonicfrog

[Gloyale]

We need to know which type of MPFI you have, early or late. Is your MAF a flapper type or a Hotwire type?

 

The wires you describe point to early style. Are there several other wires on the disty, running in a harness over to the knock sensor, and then through the firewall on the passenger side?

 

the reason I ask is that if your disty ONLY has wires on it, then you have a Carb disty in there and you won't have any Knock control. Also, the presurized intake of the turbo will play games with your Vac advance under boost. But, If you have the early style MPFI, this disty should at least get it to start and run.

 

If you have a Hotwire maf, you have the late style, and the disty you need should be an Optical pickup type with a 4 pin connector. The disty you have in there won't run this type of MPFI.

 

 

 

BTW, fuel pump only kicks on when the ECU sees "rotation" (read: spark) so that is why it pumped breifly when you manual spark the coil.

[zartman456]

I have an early mpfi flapper door turbo. The harness the goes to the disty runs from the pass side of the engine bay and splits off to a ground and knock sensor then from there 4 wires go into the disty and 2 from the disty to the coil. Sorry if that got confusing. I am hoping its just the fuse to the ecu like the other guy said above. Also, sonicfrog, thanks for your suggestions I will update when I get home to take a look at it.

[zartman456]

One other quick question, where is the ecu located? Couldn't find any info in the manual and I looked briefly under the dash with no luck...

[swampbrat]

ECU is under steering column. To remove, loosen 3 12mm nuts and slide forward to drop.

[zartman456]

UPDATE!

I now have fuel, spark and it starts and idles nice. 2 areas of concern tho... My black fuseable link started smoking while the motor was running and when I rev the motor it just doesnt sound right, its cutting out. Also I noted while I was loosening the dizzy and messing with the timing I could see the dizzy sparking to the bolt? I tried traceing the fuseable link but had no luck

[Cougar]

The black link supplies power to a lot of areas including the alternator and the ignition area. Make sure the alternator is not putting out over 14.8 volts DC and check for any AC voltage also.

[zartman456]

When your timing is a tooth off, does the car idle like it has lumpy cams? If thats the case, I am a tooth off. The whole car shakes and there is a huge loss of power.

[Cougar]

It does sound like the valve timing is off on one side at least. By checking the compression you can see what is happening. The electrical issue is a seperate problem. I suggest you get a wiring diagram for the car so you can check out the places that are tied to the fuse link. I would start with the engine area first since it is the best suspect.

[Sonicfrog]

Zart.

 

This will open a whole new can of worms (good worms), but.... have you thought of ditching the timing belt covers and going naked? Many of us do (myself included). It makes it much easier to remedy situations such as being off a tooth.

[zartman456]

Yea I definately need a good set of manuals. On the topic of removing the timing covers I actually didn't have them on at first and decided I better put them on to keep them from the elements. Man I wish I kept them off!

[Sonicfrog]

A whole bunch of us run them naked. Never too late!

[zartman456]

Another update. I took your advice on the timing belt covers, and your right soo much easier to mess around with the timing! I have the mechanical timing dead on but am having trouble with getting the dizzy lined up. The car runs better than before which means I was probably a tooth off. I have read the manual over and over and it says get the gears at the 45 degree angle as specified in the manual, no problems there, but when I line the mark on the dizzy with the mark on the gear and drop it in, depending on how it drops in I have the dizzy at either full advance or full retard to run right. I pulled that thing a dozen times and there is no happy medium... I drove it every way I could possibly adjust it, and still have that loss of power.... I am running out of ideas.

[Sonicfrog]

Don't feel bad. Timing can be such a bear on these cars... easy to goof it up. I've done several engine swaps, and more often than not, I screw up the timing every time. With the flywheel "0" timing mark at the timer mark, the rotor should be pointing at about or just past the brake fluid reservoir, toward the brake booster. From there you will need to adjust using a timing light, with # 1 firing at + or - 20 btdc. If you need it, I'll post a photo of my timing marks tomorrow afternoon.

[zartman456]

Thanks for the tip. Where would I locate the connectors that I plug together to set the timing? I really hope that is my problem

[Sonicfrog]

In the fuse box under the steering column. Connect the green tabs.

 

Oh, and remember to disconnect them after you're done. If you drive off with them connected, you'll get a check engine light. Ask me how I know....

[MilesFox]

when inserting the disty, try to 'feel' for a tooth between the gear it will want to go in. it's there, you can line up the rotor in the middle of the range you are one side or the other to.

 

the rotor will point at the master cylinder list to the left of the clip or screw on the distributor cap.

[zartman456]

After tearing half my car apart I found the ecu. It was in the trunk which is also where the green connectors were. Not quite under the steering column lol. Now I just have to fix this pesky oil pump leak...

[Sonicfrog]

Oh. My bad. I thought you had a wagon. It's there on the wagon, not on the sedan!!!!