Charlie

Went to start my 88 Turbo and have no spark. Coil has 12 volts with ignition on and I can ground green wire and coil sparks. What would be possible cause? DME?

divil

Does the tach do this while cranking?


If not, check for power at the DME harness. If you have power to the DME and no tach bounce, then you likely have bad crank sensors or a bad crank sensor harness (this is very common - more so than a bad DME).

If you don't have power to the DME, check your DME relay.

If you have tach bounce, then unplug the KLR, and connect pins 9 and 16 on the harness together, and see if you can start the engine. If you can, you have a problem with the KLR. Does your boost gauge needle jump to the middle when you turn the key?

Charlie

The first thing I did was jump the DME relay and car would not start. I then checked fuel pressure and it is fine. The tach bounces when trying to crank. I checked spark and have none. I will check the boost gauge needle and KLR tomorrow, car is 15 miles away. What does the boost gauge jumping indicate, KLR is good?

divil

Yes, the boost gauge jumping to the middle shows that the KLR is at least getting power. That doesn't prove that it doesn't have a problem though! The ignition signal goes through these stages:

1. From DME to KLR and tach
2. From KLR to coil driver (inside DME box)
3. From coil driver to coil

Since you're getting tach movement, you must have #1. Shorting pins 9 and 16 of the KLR connector together takes the KLR out of the equation, so you know you're getting an signal to the coil driver. If that works, the KLR must be the issue. If not, the coil driver in the DME might be the problem. You might just have to reflow the solder joints. There's an old thread with pics about that, I'll see if I can find it.

EDIT: this is the one I was thinking of.

Charlie

Thanks, I will jump 9 and 16 tomorrow and let you know.

Charlie

Well I could not wait till tomorrow. I went and jumped 9 and 16 and the car cranked. I will reflow the solder joints and see what that does. Thanks for the help, much appreciated.