sidewayz soobaroo Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 so i'm working on my 88 gl wagon. spfi. i bought it from a friend after it had been sitting for over a year. anyways, i've been working on it becuase it doesn't run as of yet. yesterday i put in a new oil filter and air filter. i also drained out what was left of the oil (which was only a couple drops due to the car sitting so long) and put in new 20-50 oil. i changed the battery and spark plugs and put the gap in the spark plugs to 44 thousandths. anyways, i've tried starting it but got nothing. it turned over but just wouldn't start. so what i did to see if it was getting any spark was took off the coil and put a screw driver up to one of the spark plugs and turned the key mind you i did this with help)..then i put the screw driver up to the coil and tried it again to see if there was any spark, but there was none. anyoneknow why i'm not getting spark? do i need a new coil? plus the reason i also took off the coil and started it was to get some oil up to it since itd prolly be dry. ok, so thats my first problem... my second problem is that i thought maybe it wasn't getting fuel to the engine. so i had the key turned and listened for the fuel pump underneath the car, but didn't hear a thing. anyone know why i'm not getting fuel? or is it just that you can't hear the pump at all. So these are my current problems i hope someone can help me out with... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loyale 2.7 Turbo Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 Well... Normally you CAN hear the fuel pump workin` (A quiet noise) near the Gas Tank... Did the Car got Gasoline or is Empty? Check if it works, by disconecting the Fuel hose from the Intake (Carb. or FI ) and put the Key in "ON" ... if it`s O.K. you`ll see fuel comin` out of it... also: Are all the Red Lights coming on in that position? so... Maybe: You got burnt / rusted Fuses... or Water instead of Fuel. ( One year sitting is one Year... it was inside a Garage or Outside? ) So, I Suggest to check the Fuses, the Fuses` Main Links (near the Battery, a Black box) the Fuel Tank`s Status, and the Coil... Check the coil in another car... Maybe is not the coil, maybe it got rusted connections, so check `em too. Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewayz soobaroo Posted June 5, 2006 Author Share Posted June 5, 2006 the car is FI. and the gas gauge said it has half a tank. It was sitting in a garage for abuot half of the year then got moved outside. So your saying the rain got into the tank and its now mostly water? I'm going up to work on it tomorrow (it is located in Gig Harbor, WA right now becuase i dont want to tow it and it doesn't run yet) so i will do that and i'm also bringing my handy-dandy mechanic friend so we should hopefully get it started. I'll keep you guys updated tho. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewayz soobaroo Posted June 6, 2006 Author Share Posted June 6, 2006 so i did actually manage to get out to my non-running car. I took of the fuel hose and turned the key to "on" and fuel did come out so i'm not worried about fuel not getting to the engine. My main worry now is the spark. THe car is not getting any spark. like i've said i changed the battery, spark plugs, and wires. I'm got a new rotor and cap to install but i'm gonna do that tomorrow. Anyone have any other ideas whats wrong? besides maybe the distributor, coil maybe? any help would be appreciated. Plus, i've only been working with subaru's for a sort time. so any help is always appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john in KY Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 Verify the distributor rotor turns when the engine is cranked. No rotatation means a broken timing belt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manxsta Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 forget screwing with the fuel system until you get spark..like everything else if its not getting spark..it does not matter what you do..it WONT run...spark is your first goal...chers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sister7 Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 Did you take the coil bracket off? If so that's why you're not getting spark. There is a little transistor on the bottom of the coil bracket that amplifies the signal to the distributor. The bracket is used to ground it, so it will not work if the bracket is removed. I have a spare bracket/transistor and coil if you want to try (I live in GH) pm me and I'll give you my cell #. ps- by gig harbor, you don't mean key peninsula, do you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewayz soobaroo Posted June 6, 2006 Author Share Posted June 6, 2006 i haven't messed with the coil bracket yet. thats actually what i'm doing today. i'm going up there to gh with a friend of mine who's a real mechanic and were gonna look at the coil and distributor and all that grand stuff. so i'll keep ya updated on how things go... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 To see if the coil is ok you should have voltage on both sides of the coil when the key is "ON". If you don't have voltage on either side then check the fuses for a blown fuse. Also check the fusible links. If you have voltage on both sides then you should check the trsistor ignitor. They can go bad. The fuel pump will not work after the initial charge up if the ignition isn't working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revbill Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 I would check the rotor if you haven't already. I'm sure many hours have been collectively wasted diagnosing spark problems in Subarus because that stupid screw came out. I know it's gotten me before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellow65 Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 Ignition control module. I had the same problems. Not only was that bad but the resistor near the coil was bad also. I was able to find both at the junk yard with no problems. Also the easy way to see if it is sparking is to pull the distributor and turn it by hand. If you have the coil wire near a ground it should spark each time a cylinder would. that way you dont have to crank it and try to see if its sparking. Good luck, this one pissed me off for a few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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