Sr20DET installed, ran, but wont start now!!!!!

[kickertu]

We installed an sr20det and it ran, very well actually, i was surprized. the boost was nice, it pulled very well. the kid that has the car said that something is wrong with it, so i went to his house to look at it, and it wont start. we pulled the plugs, and its not getting spark at all. we changed the plugs when we swapped the motor, but we tried to swap them again, and they still dont work. I checked the fuses under the hood, and the eng (something) fuse was blown, so we swapped it, and it still wont fire. what would cause this. the only thing I can think of is the ignitor chip.

Please help me guys!

[sayuki]

It might be your starter.  You guys sound like me two weeks ago.  All the same problems - no spark etc.   New starter fixed everything.  

I'm jealous tho - my car ran really hard when it did start up, no idle etc.  - had to put in a bigger fuel pump and piggy back the ECU.

[ATL S13]

When you say it wont start.. does the motor turn over??  Also, when you removed the spark plug.. was there fuel on it??  I think we need more details.

[kickertu]

it will turn over, thats about it. when we pulled the plugs, i didnt notice any fuel, but i didnt really look either. like i said, we replaced the plugs when we installed it, and that was about 2-3 mo ago, and now the plugs are BLACK!!! i dont know if this is normal or not.

Thanks for the input so far.

P.s. i dont think its the starter. the motor will turn over just fine. we pulled ALL of the plugs out and none of them have spark, but you can really hear the motor turning over.

The kid also replaced the battery about 2 weeks ago, and he got new posts. he cut the old wires, and re-crimped them onto the new posts. (looks alright to me).

[RedlineRacer]

Man, thats the exact thing that has happened to my car right now. I took off my vavle cover to try to clean it and put it back on and it cranked perfect right after I did and and I came back a day later and it didn't crank. I took off my spark plugs also and they were also black. I thought it might have been my gasket under my valve cover, but it looked in good condition. I even had a good mechanic come over to my house to look at my car and he didn't know what happened. He thinks somehow oil is getting to my spark plugs. It acts like it tries to turn over but wont fire right.

[luke91]

The proper methods for testing the ignitor chip, ECU, and CAS are all in the S14 FSM.  I don't have the link, but there is a website where you can download the entire FSM in english.  

Pull the engine harness, and use an ohm meter to check for continuity.  Check continuity through the ignitor chip.  You'll have to check all the plugs that run to the fuel injectors, coil packs, ignitor chip, and fuse box.  

Check all fuses, connections, and grounds in the lower harness (transmission, alternator, starter, fuse box, etc.).  I can't stress this enough.  9 times out of 10, this is the problem.  It's not easy, but you can do it.  

For how long was the swap running well?  Is the battery in the engine bay, or the trunk?  

Hope this helps.  Let us know
--luke

[S13Grl]

If none of that works, I'd check the distributor and the Crank Angle Sensor. Do you own a volt meter?

[kickertu]

yes I own a volt meter. I found the codes, i will try to see if the ecu says anything. thanks for all the help so far!!!

[kickertu]

sorry, i forgot, the battery is in the engine bay, and the car was running well for about 2 months

[RedlineRacer]

My engine is doing the exact same thing and the only thing I did was take off the valve cover. How would all those harnesses have been effected with what I did?

[Boosted240]

I had a similar problem but, I was driving and the car just died... It would turn over and over and would NOT start. Well for some reason i decided to check my ECU. Well somehow water got on the board. We plugged up another ECU and it started rite up. So if you can get your hands on another SR20DET ECU long enough to start it up then I would give that a shot. Mine ran for little over a month before this happened.
Also.. check and make sure that your CAS plug is all the way on.. I once disconnected mine and when i put it on i didn't get it all the way on it was just like a 1mm off and caused the car to cut out and foul out the plug cause it threw the timing off and made it run rich. I pressed on it and it snapped the rest of the way down and the car ran fine. Like i said though.. mine was only a little off so it messed up the timing a little bit.
If it is dissconnected to much it will in turn not deliver spark to the plugs at all.
So check that out...

[luke91]

I'm almost certain this is the problem:

You've got a loose ground or power wire on either the alternator or starter, that caused a short in the system.

These will come loose in time.  I've had it happen to me.  They usually blow fuses when they do, so check that.  
--luke