The Forgotten On

^^ I installed the harness by pulling it through the firewall into the engine bay A bit hard to get the plug through but doable. You can get better access to it under the car though.

The PO of my 89 also installed those newer spring clips onto the harness (totally worth it BTW) and you can clip them together while the male end is in the bracket. You just really have to push them together.

jwbeck17

Latest update. got all the connectors through the firewall and the grommet seated. Some suggestions:

• While some say it is easier from underneath the car (which may be true), it can be done from above as well like i did
• Start with the largest connectors first then proceed through in order to the smallest
• If you are pushing through from the top, you will need some form of rod to push the connectors through the firewall since most human arms cannot reach and exert enough pressure. I found that some long socket extensions worked very well.
• Take your time. Once a plug goes through, pull it through from the cabin to make sure it clears the firewall.
• once the full harness is through and you just need to seat the grommet (and i would recommend using a new one due to its elasticity). consider lubricating it to ease insertion. Some recommend dishwashing liquid. I used Molykote as I had it on hand and it penetrates and protects the grommet from aging and drying.

VERY glad to be successful with that. Now I need to correct some slight installation mistakes in the engine bay and connect a few more plugs. Then rebuild the cabin mechanism and test it all out.

jwbeck17

So the good news is that I have reattached the harness brackets correctly, connected the ignition relay sensor wires behind the engine, reattached the green wire to the top of the intake connector (it got knocked out), and reconnected all the cabin connections for the EZK, LH and others.

The bad news is that it's not starting. Could be a host of things - a poor connection somewhere, fuel not getting to the engine since I had to remove some of the fuel lines and reattach, or even a harness wire issue.

I guess the next step is to follow the steps of uncovering why the car is not turning over, so I'll start to look for those.

jwbeck17

I rechecked all of my injector harness connections, verified that there is fuel going in the fuel rail, but still no spark. UGH. Not sure what else to look for and hope I don't have to get the LH/EZK rebuilt since it was done only a few years ago!

John Speake

There are flying connectors above the fuse relay panel that take the signals to the coil amplifiers.....

jwbeck17

So I didn't understand your recommendation as I am unsure of what a flying connector is, but I back into the fuse box area to look around. Only odd thing I noticed was that one of the ground screws seemed a little loose, so I torqued it down. I had also been trickle charging the battery and unplugging/re-plugging the connectors checking for issues. I tried the key again and it actually turned over after a bit!

So the good news is that it now starts up and the engine does run. It runs horribly and stalls when I take the foot off of the throttle (not too surprising as the car has been sitting with no movement in the elements for months) but it does start, which is a huge win.

That was all I could do today in the rain, so once things dry out I will try to figure out why the car is running poorly...which is basically back to square one.

jwbeck17

Update: I'm going to amend this post, as I don't t think I can say definitively "no spark". The harness connections are correct and tight, there is fuel in the fuel rail, but last I checked the plugs were dry, and I don't think my spark plug light connects correctly with these plug wires. I have another plug light coming in that should fit these better and will verify if there is spark on either bank. If there is and the plugs are dry, I would assume that the issue is with the fuel injector process itself. To me that could mean that the injectors are bad (not likely as they are two years old), the harness has a connection issue (possible, but the connections were tested as functional, its all new wiring and connections, and it did start on this before), or the LH or EZK are have a failure (however they were rebuilt 5+ years ago). The related 53B relays have been tested and swapped and fuses checked (all new), grounds cleaned, so I don't think they are participating in the issue.

The thing is, my no start may not even be related to the injector harness at all. The trouble I had with the old harness has some indications of an injection module failure. They included slow, rough start/idle, at times not getting past 3,000 RPM when it was running, and at present I cannot tell if the fuel pump starts when I try to start the car (though it runs when I jumper it), and I hear a single tick per crankover in the starter process. I do not hear the rapid fuel injector ticking that I am used to when the car is running.

My next diagnostic steps are the following:
- Confirm that i have spark (if I do, EZK and EZK relay should be good)
- Get a diagnostic run on the LH (or include EZK if I am not getting spark)

Any other LH diagnostic tests I see seem possibly out of my skill set, equipment set or are high risk, so thinking that sending the LH to Electronik Repair for testing and analysis if it comes to that.

jwbeck17

Well I got a new in-line spark plug tester and confirmed that there is a spark present at initial start. Also noticed the Tach jump as well, so CPS is good (better be, since it is only 2 years old).

Time to get the LH checked out.

Wisconsin Joe

Have you tried a noid light on the injector connector to see if you're getting an injector pulse?

jwbeck17

Nope, because I don't have a noid light. I guess that would be useful

What I have found is that when I pull a spark plug after cranking and not starting, it is dry.

The interesting bit for today is that Sean Ratts reached out to me with a suggestion that it could be a faulty ignition circuit relay, as he has seen a few of those. Apparently there may be a bypass plug that could be used for testing reasons.

On that note, I went back, unplugged it and plugged it back in and it ALMOST started. I couldn't recreate it the next start attempt, but it was close.

jwbeck17

Bear in mind that I am fully aware that an ignition control relay bypass would put a catalytic converter in jeopardy, however I had mine removed, so not an issue.

jwbeck17

NOW I AM GETTING SOMEWHERE!

Making a hypothesis that the IC Relay could be the problem, i ordered a bypass from roger for testing. In addition, I coated the prongs on the IC Relay with Deoxit 100 and plugged the connector back on.

It struggled, but it started!

I has a horrific idle (I can post videos), but I was able keep it running on its own, allowing me to check the a few things in the engine bay.
- I took a stethoscope and listened to each injector. Each one was clicking.
- I did not see any evidence of any fuel leakage, however I did see some light white smoke for from the passenger side rear engine (I have a video). It seemed to stop later in the idle, like it was burning off something.
- I tapped many of the connections to see if i affected the idle, but nothing did.
- I saw no lights on the IC relay, though the engine sounded rough

Ultimately after 5-10 minutes of running, it stalled out. However if could be coaxed to restart again, and with some gentle throttle management, it goes back to idling.

I will add my videos and welcome any deductions or suggestions you have here.

Wisconsin Joe

They aren't terribly expensive, and most FLAPS have them in the 'tool loan' programs.

A very handly little doo-dad for this sort of diagnostic work.

jwbeck17

Here are some videos of the rough running, as your eyes and ears are way more expert than mine.

The videos include the view of the startup from the cabin, then engine bay at idle, and the temporary white smoke underneath the passenger side of the intake.

jwbeck17

Update: I got the IC Relay Bypass two days ago and tested it. There is no perceptible performance difference from when the bypass is plugged in to when the IC Relay is plugged in. The car starts with difficulty and runs poorly, as in my vids.

To rule any IC Relay issue out would be to test for resistance at the pins in the connector, and also check performance when the unit is unplugged from the IC Relay. If the IC relay cable was unplugged, should the car even start?

Another thought is to put together a list of things that would allow the car to start, but have a rough running engine. Any thoughts on that would be a help too.