rgs944

The short ground strap from the timing belt cover to coil mount has been broke in two for quite some time on the drives side. How important is that ground strap. The car has been running fine without it.

dr bob

That ground strap is cheap and easy to buy or duplicate. It supplies a short path for spark coil current, which of course varies with engine speed. Without it, current takes the long way around, and any resisitance along the way means that sensors and their circuits that include ground (like temperature, oil pressure, MAF and CPS) risk having the coil current induced on their signals. Bottom line is.... I'd replace both of them while you are there.

jeff spahn

Yeah Rob, what Dr. Bob said. I just went to my local farm store and got a short motorcycle/atv battery ground and used that. Had to drill the hole out just a little bit but I now know the cable is new.

rgs944

Thanks, I'll see what I can find. Today went pretty well. Got the starter/alt harness routed and plugged in. The supercharger bracket made that job a little harder than it would be otherwise.

rgs944

This 14 pin diagram was posted by Bill in a thread that I found in a search. Does this look right for 87 M Y?

TOP (male pins)
PIN - WIRE COLOR/STRIPE - Function
1 - Blue - alternator exciter
2 - Blue/Black - oil pressure
3 - Blue/Yellow - coolant temp
4 - Blue/White - oil pressure
5 - Blue/Green - coolant temp
6 - Green/Blue - oil level
7 - EMPTY except 89+ Brown/Red - oil pressure
8 - EMPTY
9 - Black - AC compressor clutch coil
10 - Green - intake air temp switch for fans
11 - EMPTY
12 - EMPTY
13 - Brown - intake air temp switch for fans (ground)
14 - Yellow - starter solenoid

The BOTTOM (female pins) differs at:
7 - 89+ Brown/Green
10 - Brown/Blue

Alan

Yes that applies to an '87 as well

Alan.

rgs944

Thanks Allan, Hopefully I can see the color coding well enough so there are no hickups. I likely won't finish till Tues. or Wed. due to labor day weekend things and the fricken heat. The big part of the job is done and now I am going to spend some time on cleanup and a a bit of "while I'm in there stuff". Here are a few pics of my work area for those of you following this thread along.

rgs944

No spark after everything got hooked back up. The warning lights are flashing right when I first turned the key to the on position. It is getting fuel. There is power to the coil on both wires when the trying to start.

rgs944

A couple things might be going on that I am not sure about. The 14 pin on the starter/alt harness that I got with my parts was crushed and epoxied at one point. I used the connector from my other car and put the wires where I thought they were correct but the colors are hard to see. Also my fuse panel came with all the relays removed so I might have a relay burned up since I had to use all my old ones.

rgs944

I can hear the Ezk relay clicking when going to the on position. Also fuel pump relay is going when cranking. Should that tell me the computer is doing its job and my problem is most likely under the hood? Maybe at the 14pin?

rgs944

Got it, I misssed the green and white wire plug that sits behind the fuse panel.

rgs944

First drive and all seems well except for the engine oil warning going off for the first few seconds the car is started. I did drop the oil when it was in the air but I know the level is correct. Which sensor would trigger this and where is it located?

jeff spahn

Rob
Engine oil level or engine oil pressure?
Oil level is at the front of the pan on the driver side.
Oil pressure is the sensor right by the drain plug. I think your year is a two wire sensor.

Make sure both are connected. Front one can be easy to miss since it is on the top front lip of the pan.

rgs944

Thanks Jeff, I did check it again and realize it is a bit low yet. Going to store now to get some.

rgs944

I checked the sensor terminals and added another qt of oil and it did not do it again. Looks like this job is done and a big thank you to everyone that helped.