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Help help help im so close! Ea81 spfi


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Ok, so i followed gds write up to the tee and every question i had i waited re read and answered myself mostly, but now im stumped, i have it all hooked up, plugged in and everything, im getting fuel for sure, but not getting spark, its a little messy under here but when it starts ill clean it all up, i have this wire coming from the positive side of my coil going to a diode to a plug, no idea where it goes, the bracket is grounded like a champ, soldered connections, in run and start i have 12v at my plug wire but no spark, neg grounded to block, i cant figure it out... please help, ive tried to check the real obvious stuff

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So messed with that plug, didnt help, i noticed my relays got warm when i left my key on, does this mean i wired it wrong? Or bad relays? No blown fuses, just no spark at the disty plug. Hop some oe chimes in, or a denver localle is down to help for a 6er

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It is not easy to diagnose a car that is thousands of miles away, with a frugal description; however, by looking at the photos, I am not sure about how did you wired the ignition coil, but seems like the polarity is inverted, somehow... I can only suggest you, to double Check if the ignition coil has been wired properly, and / or test to start it with the old coil; as this Accel one might be wrong.

 

This issue needs further testing to be properly diagnosed / solved.  Kind Regards.

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Everytging is run through the bracket, took those pics while trying a different coil, the first coil i tried was one pulled from a running fi setup, im tripple checking that its wired like gd said, im going to check every wire after work, and i know long distance diagnosis is difficult, just know theres others whove done this same swap and run into similar issues, but they never write the solution in their help thread, i think maybe having got my harness from a 92 loyale is where my problem is

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One is a hot, and one is to the ECM. Tom already said this but you are going to need the coil wired in the bracket with the transistor in place and installed on the car.

Just so you know, through the years of production, the spfi systems swapped wiring around to/from the distributor. So say your ECM is from a 87 and youre harness and disty are from a 92 you wont get spark till you swap around the wiring to match.

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Bracket is mounted with a blasted working coil I only set that one down to take the picture as you can see in my post above I have the bracket grounded Like A Champion not only the bracket grounded to the body but a wire running from the bracket to another ground so that I know the bracket is grounded like I said I tried to check all the obvious stuff before I started asking questions, I tried to start it with a known working coil that is completely mounted in the car and setup, and still no spark but I think being a loyale there's a plug that the yellow on my coil plug runs to goes through this plug and then to the ECU and since I don't have that plug connected it's not getting the ECU signal

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So, on the plug between the coil and bracket the 2 pin connector, one i have to switched power and the other (yellow goes upmto this plug pictured, im about to scrap this harness and start over with a fresh 88 with known matching ecu and disty, ihscout what pin on the ecu does this yellow go to? I know its not the White with yellow stripe to pin 52. This plug seems to be my problem, i did notice while wiring a few lines i was supposed to cut from the fuse bux went here instead, gues its my fault for assuming, so if i dont get it soon gonna pull this harness and start fresh. Does anybody habe a pdf of the diagram ive seen that only shows the fi wiring? I tried to open it in dropbox and it wouldnt open. Thanks all

post-62852-0-87494300-1477957118_thumb.jpg

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ive just read all the threads i can find about the simple user error mistakes people make in this swap so as to avoid worthless duplicate threads and post information for anyone in the future with this project. Im going to get a test light tomorrow to run that test, i need one anyway. Im gonna go look at the jy and maybe grab while im there the wiring harness for an 88 gl, if its a standard, with all its matching bits and start fresh, but before i give up on this one, i want to see if I can get this licked, so ill compare what i have to it, guess ill touch back tomorrow. And im sorry if i annoyed you ihscout, frustrating being so close...

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One huge issue with message boards texting etc is the recipients (or world's) perception of a tone. Im not real well written, and this often translates to a cynical or indignant tone. It is not intentional, and Ive edited many posts because of this.

I doubt that anyone here is annoyed, we can tell your getting frustrated tho. This is not a real easy conversion and its one I havent done in a long time. When someone asks very deep and specific questions, I like to give specific answers. Unless its right off the top of my head this requires looking at one of my cars or digging through diagrams to refresh my memory. I dont mind doing that, but this would require my time and energy, so I like to be sure its truly needed. Thats why my above posts were vague. I know you said the bracket is in, but you did not mention anything about the amplifier (we asked). The ECM sends a signal to the amp, and it actually does the switching. The ECM simply cannot handle the current needed to drive the coil.

In the above pic with the coil, the amp looks to be missing and there is a few extra wires to the coil Im not familure with. That catches our attention. If we can get you sparking by fixing what jumps out at us as a possible issue without even opening our own hoods, thats a win for all. My request for a photo was to help clear up what I saw as a possible issue and also to help refresh my memory.

Im sure some of the old posts you have read on this were mine, so you have seen that Ive been exactly where you are once befor. If I can help, I will.

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Im extremely grateful for any help and effort spent, I'm going to the junkyard today to pull that extra harness so it doesnt get crushed, giving this one more go with this harness, everything else is getting power and working, ive probably been too close to it for too long and just need to step back for a minute

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LOL for sure I'm also going to get lots of pictures of everything before I even start pulling it just so I have pictures of what it should look like and I don't have to ask you guys for them. Question do I have to modify another distributor before I can test it because I have the one from the 92 like can I just plug it in and see if I get spark or does it have to be modified with the gear and in my motor

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I don't see you mentioning anything about the power transistor/amplifier/igniter. 

Do you have one?
Did you test it or try another one?

 

You need that transistor, folks have mentioned it three times, and you haven't specifically acknowledged that you have it, tested it, and it's working?

 

http://www.wiringdiagrams21.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/subaru-ea-ignition-circuit-diagram.png

http://www.msextra.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=131&t=63313

 

i've never done an SPFI swap but XT's have an open unused test connector by the drivers side strut tower that looks like the one you posted. it doesn't plug into anything.  it's used for the XT6 power steering recall and can be used to test the air suspension, and I believe it has some input/output for the ECU as well. 

 

 

 

 

http://www.wiringdiagrams21.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/subaru-ea-ignition-circuit-diagram.png

 

http://www.msextra.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=131&t=63313

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I have the igniter/ amplifier connected, its on the bracket which is solid mounted in my car, the picture has caused more confusion than help so i will get one up showing the bracket and amplifier, its there and wired in though, ill have to search a thread showing how to test it, Although i have a full fsm set for 88, so if the harness I'm about to go look at is a manual transmission it should clear up my problems

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Great.

 

Of the ECU, distributor and wiring - do you know if they all came from the same vehicle?

 

If it's only spark related then trace all the wires connecting Dity, Coil, ECU to each other and make sure the proper pins are connected?

 

 

 

 

I the picture has caused more confusion 

 

Partially - but i think it was more that you never answered or said the word "transistor" after people asked like 3 times, or you simply talked about the bracket, not the transistor, so it sounded like you didn't know what it was. 

 

 

 

I the picture has caused more confusion than help so i will get one up showing the bracket and amplifier, its there and wired in though,

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Ok, in front of it right now taking pics and writing in my problems/ questions as i go, i bought a set of test lights today, hoping to get it by this weekend, and the 88 was auto, as far as distys i have the 92 unmodded and the one in it is an 89 i think, it takes the same cap and screw on rotor as the 92 though, gonna try to look up the differences in wiring and such, but i can mod the 92 if necessary

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My first reply to this thread addressed the distributor/ECM wiring incompatibilities. Pretty sure 88 or 89 and up are all compatible. 86-88 have some wires swapped around. Its a real simple fix but you have to figure out which wires. Ive been through this once. If its possible the disty is an 87 then its possible you most certainly wont get spark.

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The White connector in your pic under the hood, is a Factory Test Connection. Just so they could check the harness, no connection to it on the car afterwards, other than it's tied into various circuits.

 

The disty wiring changes was early '87 to late '87 models if I remember right. '88 and after were all the same.

 

Differences between Auto trans/Manual trans ECU's were a few pins of the harness for the ECU went to ground if it was an Auto trans.

Either ECU will work for your swap, if you follow the "pin-out" of the ECU correctly.

 

Only asked about the coil bracket and Ignition Amplifier as I did not see it in the pics posted.

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