Looky what I found.

[Zoombaru]

If the complex were really bad, I wouldn't have moved here, trust me. It's a well maintained building, cool neighbors and management, and it's right next door to the police station and court house. The only thing that needs improvement is the parking lot, and honestly, I couldn't care less if people don't register their cars. Thanks for your input.

[Neuromantic]

Any more news?

[Zoombaru]

It will be mine in an hour and a half! $200, and all it needs is a speedo gear, tune up and some tires! The woman who owns it seems extremely nice, and was willing to part with it without any hassle at all. Now I need to accumulate the following parts (coughEmilycough):

air filter

fuel filter

plugs

wires

valve cover gaskets

speedo gear

battery

front right corner light

 

Anything else you guys can think of? I'm sure it'll need some new, clean gas too. I've never brought a car back from the dead before.

[erik litchy]

yeah spend some money and get a detail

[Zoombaru]

Yay, it's finally mine, the title is sitting right in front of me. She said, "oh, I looked it up and the thing it needs isn't for the speedometer, it's a thermostat." Simple enough. I'm so excited, I can't wait to get this thing up and running again.

 

I love cleaning cars, I'd rather detail it myself. Not that it really needs it, the inside is really clean, it just needs some wax.

[Subieguy]

Congratulations! Good score on the subie!

[Zoombaru]

I'm going to bump this thread instead of starting a new one. I haven't gotten the car running yet and I can't figure out what the hell is wrong with it. I've been extremely busy lately and haven't had much time to work on it, but I'm being told I have one week to get the thing GONE, so I need to get crackin'. I'm starting to run out of ideas to get it running though, so I've decided to turn to the experts. So far I've replaced the following:

Fuel filter

Plugs

Wires

Cap

Rotor

Air filter

Valve cover gaskets

Battery

Fuel pump

 

The car cranks and stumbles, but still won't fire up. It turns over just fine by hand, and the timing has been set correctly. When I spray carb cleaner in the intake, the car still won't start, and when I changed the plugs, the old ones were sorta fouled from cranking the car so much, so it's definitely getting fuel. When I changed the fuel pump, I leaked old gas all over myself and the parking lot, so most of the old gas is gone, although there's still some old gas mixed in with about 2 gallons of fresh 91 octane. I'm running out of ideas, but I'm going to go check the coil and see if it's any good. That's my last hope though, so if that doesn't work, I'm really going to be depending on you guys for ideas.

[NoahDL88]

T belts? they seem to be a recurring nightmare.

[Humble Nuto 53]

this apartment building doesnt happen to be on oceanview blvd, does it?

[Zoombaru]

T belts? they seem to be a recurring nightmare.

Yeah, I suppose I should peek behind the timing covers and see what's going on back there, but since the car has been hanging out under a tree, it's infiested with spiders. Ughhh....

 

I forgot to add that I did a compression test and it had good compression on all cylinders but number 3 (I think). I can't remember what exactly the compression was since it's been a few months, but it was low and I didn't think much of it since the car has been sitting for so long.

 

By the way, if anyone wants the car, it's theirs for $500 and whatever it costs to tow it.

 

Edit: I have no clue where Oceanview Blvd. is.

[ccrinc]

You got diagnostic issues? Who ya gonna call?

(Not me, of course, but I know a guy....)

 

 

Emily

http://www.ccrengines.com

[Zoombaru]

You got diagnostic issues? Who ya gonna call?

(Not me, of course, but I know a guy....)

 

 

Emily

http://www.ccrengines.com

I know, Emily, I know! I've been wanting to call you guys all week, but by the time I'm out of school, you guys are loooong gone from the shop. I'll try to call you tomorrow morning before class. I've got a couple more ideas, but I could use Rick's input too. By the way, thanks for the parts. My car is full of packing peanuts now.

[Turbone]

this apartment building doesnt happen to be on oceanview blvd, does it?

 

I think thats in Long Beach, California.

[Ozsubie]

It might just need some more cranking. I knew a guy that started a EA82 that hadn't been run for ages and it didn't want to go, but it turned out the hydraulic lifters had "un-pumped" while the thing was standing and the valves weren't opening properly. After a fair bit of cranking and getting some oil pressure up to the lifters it burst into life. Hopefully it is as simple as that, good luck!

[Distance Commuter]

Give us an update.

 

Did you get it running??

[Zoombaru]

Hahaha, well, to call me a procrastinator would be an understatement. I have to get a new temporary tag for it and tow it to school. It's got new timing belts and tensioner spring, but now it's not getting spark. Hopefully I'll at least be able to diagnose it this week. The damn car needed A LOT more work than I thought it would.

[Distance Commuter]

NSTAAFL - No such thing as a free lunch.

 

But if you get it running without spending serious $$ on it, I think it will still be a good deal for you

 

Hey, now you know when the timing belt was changed!

[Zoombaru]

Update: I Finally got a chance to really check out the ignition system and no-spark issue today. I have access to all kinds of neat diagnostic tools at school, so using a Snap-On Vantage, with the help of an instructor, we did some tests.

 

-We checked the 4 wires on the harness side of the distributor connector, and everything looked good.

-We checked resistance on the coil and both the primary and secondary sides were good.

-We checked voltage to the ignition module, and that was good.

-We checked voltage out of the ignition module and there was none.

 

I took a trip to the junk yard and grabbed 2 ignition modules, but upon further inspection, we realized that their wiring was different. They had larger, round connectors and two wires (yellow and black, I think) instead of a small flat one with one wire. I'm assuming that's because they had analog tachs, and my car has a digital dash, so it just gets its tach reading from the computer? Maybe someone can confirm that. We did some splicing and tried hooking up the new module quickly before class ended, and the car still won't start, and we're still not getting a reading out of the module. AllData's wiring diagrams don't match my car, so we're having a tough time figuring this out. I thought the condenser attached to the positive side of the coil, but now I'm not so sure. If any of you have an '86 or '87 SPFI car, could you let me know what wires hook up where on your coil? Also, is there some sort of relay that I could be overlooking? Hopefully someone can help, I'm kinda stumped.

[Cougar]

I have a manual for an '88 model and I'm not sure if things are the same. It shows that there is a white/yellow wire tied to the + side and a yellow wire to the - side. The capacitor is tied to the + side. The yellow wire goes to the tach and through the tach on to fuse #12.

 

Have you checked the ECU for flashing codes. If so, what are they if you show some?

[Zoombaru]

I have a manual for an '88 model and I'm not sure if things are the same. It shows that there is a white/yellow wire tied to the + side and a yellow wire to the - side. The capacitor is tied to the + side. The yellow wire goes to the tach and through the tach on to fuse #12.

 

Have you checked the ECU for flashing codes. If so, what are they if you show some?

Yeah, that's the same thing that AllData is telling me, but my car doesn't have the white/yellow wire, I think it has a blue one, a black/white one and a yellow one. Don't quote me on that though, I'll have to look at it again tomorrow and write down the wire colors and where they go.

 

There is no CEL, but I checked the ECU for codes months ago, and I can't remember what they were if there were any. One more thing to add to the to-do list.

 

Thanks for checking for me, Cougar. I appreciate your help.

[Cougar]

I think the yellow wire goes to the minus side and the other two go to the plus side.

 

Your welcome for the help. Keep us posted.

[Subi81]

From the 86 Factory manual the distributor is a "photo electric crank angle sensor type"

 

To access any of the photo stuff (ignition modual) you would have to remove a metal shield inside of the distributor. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words here is what the distributor should look like if it is an 86 spfi...

 

 

 

if you are putting a distributor that doesn't look like the photos then something isn't right. Here are the wireing schematics for 86 spfi cars (I made the picture big so you can see the letters)

 

 

Let me know if you need anything else.

[Zoombaru]

The ignition module is the little transistor that's attached to the bracket that ignition coil. It's located directly below the coil. I do have the photoelectric type distributor (aren't they all photoelectric?), I took the metal plate off my distributor out of curiosity this afternoon.

 

Thanks for the wiring diagram, it's pretty much the same thing that AllData showed me, so I guess that confirms that something is up with the parts I have. I need to figure out what year the module I have is. They obviously changed something somewhere along the line.

[Zoombaru]

We finally discovered that the car was indeed getting spark, but only with the key in the "run" position, and not in the "start" position. We learned that the hard way when my instructor held the coil wire to a ground and shocked the crap out of himself when he thought I was done cranking. At first we thought it was a bad ballast resistor, so we bypassed it and didn't see any change. Finally (and thank you to everyone who suggested this before we finally decided to check it COUGHEmily and 2 or 3 other peopleCOUGH) we decided to bypass the ignition switch, and voila!

 

SHE RUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Really, really well, I might add. Set the timing, checked the oil, and went on a test run. For having sat for over 3 years, it surprised everyone with how well it ran. The gas light won't turn off, the AC needs to be retrofitted, needs fluid changes, and who knows what else, but so far, it fires up every time and runs incredibly well. I'm so happy. I'll post pics after I wash and wax it.

[WJM]

Yay!