Motor is in: No spark?

[LA_phantom_240]

Okay, so we finally got everything plugged in on the motor, bolted up, pretty... Went to start the motor, and no spark in my friend's s13. Swapped the distributor, and nothing. It was dark and all, so I couldn't check a whole lot, but I'm thinking maybe it has to do with removing all the emissions devices on the back of the head. I need to dig up my DMM so I can make sure we're getting signal to the ignitor.

Also, the last time we tried to start it, the EGI relay started buzzing. I realize its not a good thing to have it buzz... but what does it do?

[LA_phantom_240]

Come on guys...

[JohnnyDrfiter22]

Change the relay, or you have a bad ground somewhere causing it not to start. Check all wires, from the back of the car to the front. On my Sr swap one of my fuel pump wires was touching metal if you changed the pump check in there.

[just1pepsi]

Check for blown fuses, or bad relays, you can usually jumper a relay.. but it may be just as easy to swap it out. Check for loose wires (battery terminals, and grounds especially) Any connectors your plugged in , reseat them and check for bad connections.

[shmiddy]

wait...... sr? ka? rb? what is it....

[LA_phantom_240]

Its a KA. Dumbass friend didn't have the engine grounded to the body or battery, so we grounded it but still no dice. How likely is an ignitor or coil to go out?

Oh, and I'm gonna check to make sure the coil and ignitor are getting signal, so how many volts should I be looking for?

Will low battery voltage cause anything like that to happen? Reason I ask is that he's a retard and left the key in the run position over 14 hours, so the fuel pump flooded the shit out of one of the cylinders and ran the battery down to like 10.5 volts. So now we gotta drain the oil which is now like 25% gas.... and try our luck again.

[just1pepsi]

Definately charge the battery, it wont hurt.. I dunno what the stop point is though for the ignition. I would think if its enough to crank the engine it should start though.

[xplicit240]

battery should be atleast at 12.0. might want to check the spark plugs as well.

[MELLO*SOS]

Its a KA. Dumbass friend didn't have the engine grounded to the body or battery, so we grounded it but still no dice. How likely is an ignitor or coil to go out?

Oh, and I'm gonna check to make sure the coil and ignitor are getting signal, so how many volts should I be looking for?

Will low battery voltage cause anything like that to happen? Reason I ask is that he's a retard and left the key in the run position over 14 hours, so the fuel pump flooded the shit out of one of the cylinders and ran the battery down to like 10.5 volts. So now we gotta drain the oil which is now like 25% gas.... and try our luck again.

Does the engine crank over? Do the injectors fire? Do you get spark on any cylinder? Did you reset the base timing? Is the ECU getting power - red led on the ECU is turning on? Check the connector to the ecu is seated firmly.

I don't see how leaving the key in the on position for 14 hours would flood a cylinder with fuel. Your friend's motor must have a really bad/leaking injector for that to even happen cuz injectors are not supposed to leak any fuel at all if the engine is not running... That's probably going to give him problems once you do get it fired up...

[LA_phantom_240]

Does the engine crank over? Do the injectors fire? Do you get spark on any cylinder? Did you reset the base timing? Is the ECU getting power - red led on the ECU is turning on? Check the connector to the ecu is seated firmly.

I don't see how leaving the key in the on position for 14 hours would flood a cylinder with fuel. Your friend's motor must have a really bad/leaking injector for that to even happen cuz injectors are not supposed to leak any fuel at all if the engine is not running... That's probably going to give him problems once you do get it fired up...

Well this was the first time we tried to fire the car up. 10pm rolled around and we said fuck it, we'll try after work the next day. fiddling in the engine bay, I pulled the dipstick for no real reason, and was overwhelmed by the smell of fuel... so I pulled out my lighter, and it lit rather easily which told me there was a lot of fuel in there.

We're not getting any spark at all, cause I pulled the coil wire and it didn't arc at all. Definitely gonna find my jumper cables. Base timing (I assume you mean mechanical timing) should have been set when the motor was rebuilt at the machine shop. Haven't checked the ECU yet. Like I said, we only work on it at night after we're both off of work and on the weekends. At first the engine cranked over just fine, then he left the key on and drained the battery quite a bit, and now its slow (duh, low voltage).

[Wykydtron]

Ground, distributor cap, rotor, plug wires, spark plugs, coil, wiring wiring wiring.

Check the compression, if this engine's been sitting around for a while maybe you need a little lub on the cylinder walls (a teaspoon for ATF in each cylinder works wonders).

If you cant get spark, then its a wiring issue. Distributors are pretty straight forward. Good luck.

[MELLO*SOS]

If you're not getting any spark at all then somehow the signal isn't getting from the CAS (inside the distributor) to the ECU and back to the coil. Make sure the CAS plug is on tight, otherwise the car will never spark or fire. Also make sure the ECU plug is tightened, I've seen it loose where the car doesn't start. If all that is good, check to see if the exhaust smells like fuel while you're cranking it to determine if the injectors are firing or not (pull a spark plug out after cranking to see if it's wet with fuel). If the injectors are firing, then it's a power/signal problem in your ignition circuit. If the injectors are not firing either then it's probably either an ECU connection or a problem with the CAS inside the distributor. Another possibility is general power/ground issues, check all your fuses and grounds. Also check the ECU to make sure the red LED is turned on with the key on, this will tell you right away if your ecu is getting good power or not...

GL

[focused]

Start with the basics. No spark doesn't always mean a faulty part. Get your volt meter out.

Check all your connectors to make sure they are secure.

Check the battery voltage

Check power to the CAS

Consult a manual to find the color wire for the signal from the CAS. Take your voltmeter, select DC Volts and check the pattern coming off the CAS. You should have a nice square wave up and down if you have a nice meter that shows sign waves. If not you can use the max/min feature or just watch the numbers.

If the CAS is sending a signal, next check the power and ground to your coil.

Usually things like this after a swap are simple but a headache to find.

[LA_phantom_240]

Yeah they are a headache. The injectors are firing, cause we can smell fuel in the exhaust.

[aNskY]

if you have a rom tune make sure the board is well secured.. just happened to my buddy, no spark everything else checked out..

[LA_phantom_240]

He's stock on management.

[LA_phantom_240]

Okay, so the Ignitor turned out the be the culprit. Started getting the timing back to where it needed to be (the machine shop used a cheap eBay pulley with no marks. Gay.), and the motor started making a horrible screeching noise. Pulled the valve cover off, and the cams were kinda dry. The smell of gas in the oil was even more powerful, so I told him to drain it immediately and flush what we could out with fresh oil. So we drained it, and there was easily a gallon of fuel in the crankcase... I'm glad we didn't run it.

[SinisterSntra91]

You need to check your injectors and seals bro, gallon of gas in your oil is not normal at all.

[LA_phantom_240]

You need to check your injectors and seals bro, gallon of gas in your oil is not normal at all.

Yeah. We're gonna go ahead and replace all the injectors. One of them is brand new, but not sure which one it is, cause the machine shop removed them and the fuel rail to have them cleaned. We're doing this motor right, if something isn't right, getting it brand new. This KA is gonna be a solid motor when we're done.