83 Sua ECS came on, doesn't start

[oldude]

Hello everyone. Nice board y'all have. Be patient. Probably many questions from me.

OK. ECS light started to come on about 2 months ago. Not all the time at first, but now it is on and won't start at all. Comp light flashes 2 long 2 short. Supossedly Ignition pulse system. Which I find no info on in my manual and can only guess.

At first ECS light was intermittent. Came on some days. Some days car ran fine. So far I have cleaned cannister filter, checked vac lines (no apparent leaks) changed coil, plugs, wires, rotor, dist. cap. Even took to local Sub. dealer as what I thought was last resort. Was told carb. dirty, and distributor shaft had play. $1,100 to fix. Well, I've owned my own garage and not that that makes me an expert, but shaft doesn't have play( I have an 85 Brat which I use for reference and checked play in shaft.) Anyway, I just don't seem to be getting any spark at plugs. I do get some from coil, but not bright blue spark. Just small orange. I'll stop here and see what y'all have to say from this, as I tend to get confusing at times.

Also. I seem to have a hard time finding the right part listing in Autozone, etc.

I have an 83 GL 2wd, EA81, Auto Trans. I find more parts listed under 82 GL than 83.

Thanks

!

[Turbone]

Sounds like it could be the pickup coil inside the disty. It can be replaced but its easier to replace the whole disty, especially if you have been "diagnosed" with shaft play. Depending on the mileage of the car, its quite common to have shaft play in the disty. There should be someone in your area that would have one (Moosens).

[Ross]

Yeah, if it was giving that code with the engine running, i would try replacing the pickup.

However, now that you cant start the car, it will give you that code whether its bad or not - that code only goes out once the engine is running.

[Cougar]

It very well could be the CAS causing this. It would also be good to know how much voltage you are getting to the coil since you say you have a weak spark. You should see around 12 volts on the plus side of the coil in the start mode normally.

[oldude]

Sounds like it could be the pickup coil inside the disty. It can be replaced but its easier to replace the whole disty, especially if you have been "diagnosed" with shaft play. Depending on the mileage of the car, its quite common to have shaft play in the disty. There should be someone in your area that would have one (Moosens).

 

Subby only has 45,000 miles on it. Thanks for reply. I'm trying to find a whole disty in my area but junk yards around here all say they have none. I put a request in here. Hope that works. Thanks again.

Stupid Red Sox:)

[oldude]

It very well could be the CAS causing this. It would also be good to know how much voltage you are getting to the coil since you say you have a weak spark. You should see around 12 volts on the plus side of the coil in the start mode normally.

Voltage seems OK. Have 12 on plus side. Really leaning towards pick-up coil as culprit. Not having much luck finding a used disty, tho. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

83 Sta Wag EA81, Nippon coil, disty.

[Cougar]

You should be able to just change out the CAS in the disty. Check with the parts department at a dealership.

[oldude]

You should be able to just change out the CAS in the disty. Check with the parts department at a dealership.

\OK. I give up. What's the CAS.

 

When I try to get parts from Autozone or dealerships, they give mr no useful info. Like I'm not supposed to have a pickup coil for my year and model. Any sugesstions here?

[Cougar]

CAS stands for camshaft (or crank, depending on the situation) angle sensor. It tells the ECU (engine control unit) where the position of the cam or crank is.

[Ross]

Being an '83, it wont have a cas, just a magnetic/hall effect pickup.

[85Sub4WD]

Being an '83, it wont have a cas, just a magnetic/hall effect pickup.

correct (that's what I had) - CAS is *usually* optical, but more importantly they deliver a signal to a computer that determines the ignition pulse to the coil, rather than having the distributor deliver the igniton pulse itself - the disty on this delivers the ignition pulse itself, so the computer is a non-issue (the black box checks it for carb operation, but cannot control ignition)

 

I would look under '84 or some later EA81 engine after that - they went to a simple, reliable 2-wire pickup system at some point (all non-turbo EA82 distys are like that), and all you have to do with that one is have a connector to ground and the (-) side of the coil - it is a far simpler, more reliable system than earlier ones - the EA81 gurus can probably tell you what years/models are best for the distys. I know the 2WD cars had a better advance curve than the 4WD cars, and there were other differences along the model years

 

I would put a simple 2-wire disty on, and eventually a Weber 32/36 DGEV carb (rid yourself of Hitachi carb), you'll get more power, better performance, and if the carb is tuned right, better fuel economy. You can only do this in an emissions-test/check free state.

enjoy the car (if you like electronics, fabrication and want to make it a project car for a while - convert it to SPFI - it is difficult, but possible)

 

Good Luck!!