Ej22 start requirements

[Conman]

Hi ultimate folks,

 

I'm am towards the end of a '96 ej22 swap into an '84 GL wagon. I currently have the ecu and harness draped across the engine bay with what I think has all of the proper wires grounded and hooked up, but I can't seem to get spark. My question is, does anybody have a checklist or know off the top of their head a list of connections that are required for spark? For example, I don't know if the ignition switch wire should be grounded while cranking or needs 12 volts or some other combination. I have a custom ignition setup, so there aren't any relays yet, just raw wires going everywhere, and I run the starter by just touching 12 volts to the switch on the starter and the new fuel pump.

 

Sorry for mistakes, I'm on my phone.

 

Thanks.

[sparkyboy]

I would try to get spark on the factory ignition system first, then add the custom stuff afterwards.

I just got my ej22 swap to the point where I can drive the car reliably, and I remember a couple of reasons for not having spark. I have some of the pinouts you might need, what year is your engine?

One of the more common reason is related to the main or ignition relay. It's the square brown one next to the fuel pump relay (white and green).

When you supply 12 volts to the ecu, you should hear the relay click on. I remember being at the stage you are at in my swap, the easiest way to test this imo is to get all your grounds together and ground them to the negative terminal on a battery, then find your switched power (two yellow wires, one with a blue stripe, I can't remember the other stripe color, green maybe but they are next to each other pins 15 and 16 on a 95 ej22) and your constant power (solid red, pin 50 on a 95) and give those three wires 12 volts, you should hear the fp and main relay clicking on. The fp relay is a lot louder, so you can disconnect it so you can only hear the main. I held it between my teeth, you can feel it clicking if there is noise or music playing or whatever.

That's where I would start, have a friend crank the engine with a plug wire unhooked and see if you can see a spark jumping. If still no spark, test your coil and connections related to the ignition system.

I have the pinouts for the 95 and 96 ecus if you need them, they are indispensable for this swap. If I am not mistaken, the ignition circuit that gets power only when cranking 8-14 volts is for cold start enrichment, ignore it for now and hook it up later once you get spark.

Cheers!

Edited December 3, 2016 by sparkyboy

[Scott in Bellingham]

Ground the harness to the engine, should be black wires, power + to the main brown relay

[Conman]

Thanks for the info! It's a 1996 ej22 sohc. I'll have a go at cleaning up my grounds and dig those relays out of the scrap harness. I'll get back to you soon.