123quattro

So, I messed up my ignition system somehow when I pulled the engine last week. I'm sure it's something simple but I've worked on it so much now I'm starting to miss obvious stuff.

There is no spark when it cranks (verified with a timing gun). The distributor is sending an output as you can hear the injectors fire when the green wire is plugged in, and not when it's unplugged. There is a distinct smell of fuel also so I'm sure the injectors are firing. The coil is getting 13v with the key on. There is continuity in the #1 and #15 wires to the connector on the ignition module. The coil isn't bad because I swapped the one in from my other running car. However, I don't know what the pinout is on the ignition connector. That would help a lot.

I don't know where to go with it. I'm frustrated and it has to be running now as I have a 3000 mile road trip planned with this car that starts in 6 days...

Any and all ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,
John

GlenL

Is there power to the coil and is the wire from the coil to the cap connected?

SharkSkin

Might be a good idea to start here: http://members.rennlist.com/sharkski...leShooting.htm

mark kibort

see if coil wires are reversed (the two terminals on the side.) they are poorly marked and will cause a no start condition.

What do you mean the distributor is sending an output because you can hear the injectors fire. the injectors fire of another signal,not the distrubutor. I think when the coil low voltage connections are reversed, you still get a spark,but a weak one. pull a plug and ground the eletrode to see if you have spark.

what did you do to need to look at the ignition pin out? make sure all the temp II, water temp and other two pin connections are correct. you can burn the temp II if it is pluged into the water temp circuit. (ask me how I know )
then, if you do that, you can use a resistor to get it starte that has the value on the spec. (1k ohm or something, I forgot,bt it obviously changes as the temp of the engine goes up for mixture control)

Mrmerlin

Dave thats a nice link you put togther

SharkSkin

Thanks Stan.

John, the WSM wiring diagram does show what each pin on the ignition control unit connects to. See page 1A, area 3B. The link I posted has the most important functional tests.

123quattro

Hi guys,

Thanks so much for the info, you especially Dave.

I went through the 16v troubleshooting guide and everything checked out ok. Plugged it all back in and and it had spark. It coughed to life on a few injectors and slowly got 7 going. A little fiddling and the 8th came in. I have one O-ring leaking on the #1 injectors a bit and the clutch is really dragging. Should be doable to get that stuff buttoned up over the next couple nights.

Thanks,
John

SharkSkin

Glad it helped, John. If you didn't find anything during the procedure, it was probably just a connector that needed wiggling. Time for some BWAAAHHH...

mark kibort

Why the fiddling with the injectors? back connections at the injector rail?
anyway, the Ljet should fire right up with no issues ,even with only 5 injectors running
when we had the low voltage wires mixed up , we still had spark, just too weak to do anything. it sputtered and wanted to start, and the mechanic added ether and eventually it siezed.

mk

123quattro

I put used 86 injectors in with newer style fuel rails. It certainly wasn't a drop in solution but can be made to work. The injectors needed the contacts cleaned.

mark kibort

It should fire right up. bright spark at the plugs too, along with fuel in the injectors almost immediately. did you check the coil wires? check the tempII sensor. (with an ohm meter) are they wired correctly?

123quattro

The injectors weren't new, so they needed a little love to get working correctly. When I have spark, it's plenty powerful. It was just a bad connection. It runs perfectly now. I will dyno it probably on Thursday with a wideband mounted just after the Y pipe.