SR20DET running on 2 cylinders?

[newtonty]

My SR is running on 2 cylinders, when i first got the car i had the engine on its side. so i had to bleed the lifters. after doing that i put the valve cover back on fired it up, no tick. but 2 cylinders, so i messed with the coilpacks and moved somethings around. fired right up and was running on all 4. a few days later i was driving down the road, and i started to hear a noise. i was worried that it was a knock, or the tick had returned. but it went away and i thought it was just my side skirts rattling a bit. then i noticed it dying between shifts, and i went to pull into my buddies house. it just died, i noticed the coolant was a bit low so i filled it up (no the temp was no higher than half way). when i went to start the key it wouldnt turn over, it turned over a tiny bit but wouldnt do a full cycle. so i jumped it and it was running on 2 cylinders, so i shut it off to mess around a bit. and then it wouldnt start at all, so i trailered it up to my new home town 12 hours north. and tried starting it when i got there, she started, but only on 2 cylinders. i moved the spark plugs around seeing if the 2 firing would switch. and they did, so i bought some new BKR6E plugs gapped to .034, same problem. i've grounded the shit out of the engine. I have also relocated the battery to the trunk, and have been told that i should have a ground running from my engine directly to the battery. instead of grounding the engine and chassis to the body. this makes no sense to me.
I have searched and searched and done everything to avoid posting as i never seem to get straight up answers. but any help is appreciated.

[newtonty]

I decided to pull off the ECU plug and test the connections to the plug that plugs into the coilpack harness. after testing all the signal wires, it seemed as though the resistance never moved from 1. i tested pin 1, 8, 2, 9. and never saw a change in resistance. to make sure the multimeter was working i tested a few grounds and known working wires. So now, i have cut the plug off, and I'm running my own signal wires connected directly to the ignitor chip, and then ECU. if this does not work this problem may be beyond me. as running my own signal wires, and ensuring the constant 12 is to the coils will remove all chances of it having anything to do with that. i looked at my sensor ground (pin 29, 21) and there was no ground there either, so i cut that and grounded both ends of the wire, from the ECU, and the one which is already supposed to be grounded.

[cotbu]

Please solicit a shop or someone to help you. Your thinking is kinda correct, but your approach is fail. Could get costly! If you can't comprehend that, G/L too You.

[newtonty]

Please solicit a shop or someone to help you. Your thinking is kinda correct, but your approach is fail. Could get costly! If you can't comprehend that, G/L too You.

Lol, i`ve built alot of cars with no problems like this. from ca 240s, to ej20 imprezas. after testing the resistance on the ignitor chip as directed in the FSM the results came up bad. the fsm says that with the positive of your multimeter on the middle prong there should be no continuity. however, i get around 500-600 ohms of resistance. when the negative is on E and the positive is on any other number there should be continuity, i get none. i`m feeling this is correct, as it was tested the way the fsm directed. no `mechanic` can do much more than that. if you would like a picture of the plugs to see why they were replaced you would understand what 6+ years of corrosion on a set of iridiums can do..

[jdm213]

u said u have low coolant .. have u checked your oil ... this happened to me before and i had water in my oil and befre i noticed it felt like it was dying

[cotbu]

I'm glad you found the problem, but instead of me just assuming or trying to guess what you might know, I suggested you take it to someone. Not really an attack on you.
See there have been an abundance of lame post lately. Although this wasn't one of them, it just wasn't in me to teach you how to work an MM or find a FSM.

If I were the mechanic you brought it to, I would have shown you how to use unicorns and fairies to diagnose an electrical problem.;)

[newtonty]

the coolant was low because i had the engine completely drained a few days before. as i rebuilt the engine, but i`m hoping the ignitor chip is the problem. i`ve read a few things about people having no continuity on chips that seem to be perfectly fine. i found a relatively cheap one and i might aswell test it out. cant go wrong for 45 bucks shipped

[cotbu]

So you didn't fix it! I would probably start with that coil pack harness. Don't throw money at it, sheeesh! While you waiting put that MM to work. I'll send you some unicorn blood, and Tinkerbell dust.

[newtonty]

Lol, the coilpack harness was the first thing i tested. and then the wiring harness to the ignitor chip, and then the harness from the chip to the ecu. it all checked out, i even pulled apart the coilpack harness to make sure there was nothing wrong. of course i already knew there was nothing wrong from the MM, I tested the coils for resistance, they were all good. only thing in the entire setup that seems to be bad is the ignitor chip, and usually when i use the FSM recommended way to test the ignitor chip and it fails that test it seems to be the problem. still haven`t gotten a new ignitor chip to test it with, tested the CAS, coils, plugs, injectors, all harnesses, only thing that failed was the ignitor chip.. lol