In severe need of help.

[GoingHam]

Hey guys, I really could use some help.

This is another Cranks No Start thread but a very strange one.

S13 w/ SR20DET Red Top and a Power FC D-Jetro

I have no spark when cranking, however when i turn the ignition key to the on position, a spark goes off on all coils. I literally have pulled all of the harnesses out of the car to try and find a short in this thing. I'm really out of ideas and I am running very low on motivation to work on the car anymore.

please help zilvia!! :sadwavey:

[bataangpinoy]

take your coil pack harness apart, and check that the crimps for the signal and ground aren't touching.

I went through mine last night because I wasnt getting power to two coils, the crimp for the common ground was only connected by two strands of copper. But i had noticed how close the signal and ground wires were to each other.

[GoingHam]

bataangpinoy, im going to go take it apart now and chekc thank you!

btw heres the other weird thing, it started one day, then 5 days later i trailered it to the dyno to get it tuned and thats when it didnt start, no major changes in the car aside from a fuel pressure regulator which is not electrical so im just assuming there is no problems there.

[bataangpinoy]

it sounds like your coil harness is getting constant 12v.

[GoingHam]

yeah no luck on the coil pack harness =[ it all looks good.

[Mikester]

Long shot... but Wonder if your igniter is shorted internally... or if there are wires shorting out before/after the igniter?

The coilpack subharness seems like it would have to be FUBAR to cause all 4 coils to spark simultaneously.

Weird.

[ultimateirving]

Also have the coils ever worked? It's possible they could be bad and not popping off hot enough spark to fire for real. Borrow a friends working sub harness first, then if that does nothing get his coilpacks. Swap them in and repeat

[Croustibat]

Do you have an alarm / an immobilizer or something like that ?

[GoingHam]

hey guys sorry i was away from a computer this weekend, let me give you some more details on this, when i wrotet he initial post i was extremely exhausted and my brain was frying from working on the car.

the car is a purpose built drift car, metal interior, cage, suspension, cheap chaser aero and a flashy $400 maaco paintjob. the only electronic device in it is the FC Commander on the Power FC. It had a bone stock red top SR20DET with all the bolt on goodies. Ran great, made about 270whp which i feel was really strong however i really wanted to make more power. So i added an HKS manifold, Garrett GT2871R, Aeromotive adjustable FPR, and some 1000cc FiveO Motorsports injectors (big injectors because i switched to E85 ethanol). Now it started up and ran for a few seconds on this setup but only because i ran it to clear out the fuel lines of all gasoline so i could fill the system with E85. After all this i had my neighbor, who is an ASE certified master technician for Acura come over and fix some things that didnt work, such as the tachometer, speedometer, and fuel level guage. The car was not started after this point because the tank was completely dry and was presumed that it wouldnt start anyways. Four days later i trailered the car up to west chester pennsylvania to Matt Waldin @ Import Intelligence to get a fresh E85 tune, when i got there we rolled the car off the trailer and Matt asked me start it up (on the way there i filled the tank up with E85). It didnt start, at first we thought it was because my injectors were too big so he scaled them down through the apexi software and it still didnt start. To make the remainder of the story short we check the CAS, the igniter, the coils, etc. He offered to hold on to the car to fix it for me but in my moment of defeat i decided i wanted to bring the car home to try to finish the diag myself. The cars coils ARE firing however they only fire one time, and they all fire together when the ignition is put into the ON position. they DO NOT fire when cranking. In fact, i had to unplug the injectors because after cranking there would be fuel in the cylinders so if i had turned the key off then back on, it would create a nasty backfire that was so loud it made my buddy nauseous.

I've cut out all wiring done by my neighbor and now i only have the engine bay harness and the engine harness itself hooked up, the ECU has no burns in it and everything seems to be working with it, I literally took every harness apart and resoldered almost every connection in it and any loose ends were shrink tubed and sealed.

To me, this seems like a grounding issue. I disconnected the ground on the subharness and the coils stopped firing completely. If i turn the key to the ON position and slowly move the ground towards the valve cover, it ends up arcing and firing all 4 coils. I cant seem to find any short anywhere but i dont know if i'm looking in the right place.

i appreciate and info or thoughts you guys can give me i just want to drive my car again!!! haha.

Thank you Zilvia!!

[ultimateirving]

I read ur post, but it made me think did you change the fuel filter when you switched to e85? It has a tendency to clear out gas tanks of a lot of crap.

[GoingHam]

yes i put in a brand new Z32 fuel filter after i used the old one to clear all of the lines, my problem is spark related though not fuel, i know for sure im getting fuel.

[slideslidegnarslide]

just trace all the wiring back until you find something. make sure your not forgetting something stupid like a ground or the ignitor is good.