New to Subaru. Have ea81 NO SPARK

[SubaBoo]

I've been a VW guy my whole life but with some urging from my wife I purchased her a Vanagon that somebody had started the subaru conversion on. I'm not sure what the actual donor car was the motor came out of but I do know it is a Ea81 motor. I had to finish the conversion and from the parts I had to find I think it's out of a 83 brat.

 

Here is my problem. Wife, kids and I rolling down the road in her Vanaru when it just dies. It's run fine since last december until now and now, no spark. At All.

 

I replaced the interior pick up coil/control module(i think that's what its called) and it still is not throwing fire. I have tried 4 different coils and still nothing. ANY AND ALL ADVICE WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED. Please let me know what you think the problem could be.

 

Thanks guys

[porcupine73]

Hello and welcome to the board. The Vanagons are cool. How's the timing belt? Did it fail or any idlers fail etc?

[SubaBoo]

Not that I know of. The reason I say that is because when I first got the new module I had spark. Then I hooked it up and no spark. It's been the most frustrating thing I have ever dealt with

[porcupine73]

Ok. I'm not real familiar with that engine. But there are a lot of experienced members who are that will probably have ideas of other things to check. I'm assuming she also has cam position and crank position sensors, are those good and hooked up? Unless it had a distributor in that engine.....

[hatchsub]

Ok. I'm not real familiar with that engine. But there are a lot of experienced members who are that will probably have ideas of other things to check. I'm assuming she also has cam position and crank position sensors, are those good and hooked up? Unless it had a distributor in that engine.....

 

No timing belts...it has gears. No sensors...this engine only had a carb and distributor. Doesnt get much simpler than the EA81.

 

Onto the problem at hand though. Pull the coil spark plug wire off the coil and have someone crank it over. I want to know if your getting spark at the coil. My bet is your not. This probably is not the fault of the coil either. Its probably that the coil is not being supplied power. If you turn your ignition to on and use a test light on the positive post of the coil you should be getting power to it. If not then you have to start backtracking. Do you still have the fusable links from the subaru brat that motor came from. If so there is one marked ignition. Check to see that your getting power through it. Also check the fuses in your vw. There is a ignition fuse (under the hood or under the dash not sure). Once you start dealing with conversions where things are not set up the same as factory you run into issues such as this that need resolving.

[987687]

The ea81 is an OHV engine so there isn't a timing belt/chain, or anything like that.

[Indrid cold]

.....because when I first got the new module I had spark. Then I hooked it up and no spark.............

 

Not sure what you meant by this statement... but if you changed your module and then no spark you may now be dealing with two problems... one.. your original no spark and excellent reply by "hatchsub's" recommendation and now the second of changing the module and no spark.

 

If you pulled the module off and put a new on then can't think of any problem there.... if you lossened the small bolts that hold the horseshoe magnet under the module this could have changed the air gap between the star rotor and the air gap on each side... I have never messed with these and not sure if having that move a few thousands could create a problem but thought I would mention it as something to check.

 

and yup.. EA-81 are very simple, a new coil and module is the usuall cure...

 

good luck

[porcupine73]

Hope you are able to get her working! Looks like some good troublshooting advice in the above posts. Wow gear driven cams, I need to learn more about the 'old gen'. Gear driven cams on the older Honda VFR motorcycles make a really cool supercharger type whine, not sure if that happens with these engines.

[SubaBoo]

thanks everybody for your advice. Thanks to hatchsub. I will go back through everything and try again. Indrid cold what I meant by "had spark, hooked it up then no spark" was I put the new module in and had the coil wire pulled to test for spark. Had good spark put it back together tried to start it with no luck. Pulled the coil wire back off to re-test and now no spark

Edited September 15, 2010 by SubaBoo

[Offroadwilson]

This is a old topic but I am having a similar issue and this is pretty close to what I'm experiencing, and this issue in this thread doesn't seem resolved. 

*EA81 engine 
I have no power going to my ignition Coil, which is new.
Do I need to replace the Ignition control module on the distributor ? I don't think that would have anything to do with the power to the coil? 

My alternator fried it's internal voltage regulator circuit, thus car lost spark, lost a couple fuses this time around. all checked and replaced but has no power going to the coil.
Are there other fusable links other than the 3, [  2 red 1 green ] under the hood that I'm not aware off ?

I'm in need of all the help I can get, I'm at a loss. It's been hrs/days of looking and calling the guy that knows a guy that may know a thing and then doesn't. or a shop tech that wants it brought in... which I'm trying to avoid a huge labor bill plus a tow, for something I am well capable of doing myself with the proper knowledge. Thank you in advance.

[Offroadwilson]

Update from my previous posts.

Upon further testing when using a test light on the fuseable links which had power. 

I found out why the coil had no power, the 15 amp fuse labeled IG - COIL ( Ignition Coil ) was blown again.

I turn the key to the on position and it blows the fuse again. 

From this info, would that mean a bad ground coming off of the coil ? I have no idea what all those wires from the coil run into, looks like some sort of plug type boxes.

[robm]

Would a shorted ignition transistor to this?  Does it have one on this model? 

 

Somewhere, there is a short between the fuse and the coil, or maybe just past the coil.  An ohmmeter is useful here, put it between the fuse and ground, and unplug stuff until the short goes away. 

[Offroadwilson]

I unplugged everything connecting to alternator and coil. as soon as I turn the key over to on. Fuel pump primes, over once more - volt meter battery light comes on for a sec and poof, fuse blows.

I'm having difficulties locating a wiring diagram for this circuit  IG - COIL.  

[Offroadwilson]

update,

I purchased a 15amp circuit breaker fuse, installed it. turned key to on position, poof of smoke, under airfilter housing and turned back key immediately, looked and tried again.  issue was fixed. wiring from under air filter housing going to carb or something., not sure what happened but all is good once more. I also reconnected all plug type wiring connectors back in after a shot of cnc electrical cleaner, silicon spray for the most part prior to the breaker testing. 
I put regular 15amp fuse back in and everything is golden. very odd incident. I didn't really do much besides wiggle some wire harnesses and checking grounds off the IG-Coil circuit. 

Edited November 8, 2017 by Offroadwilson