help!

[ces.ornelas]

ok so im new to the forum, also a newb to the 240sx scene. i recently got a
non running 97 s14 5 spd. when i got the car it would loose all electrical power as soon as the key was turned figured it out instantly that it was caused by a bad ground. heres my main concerned it has a 95 ka in it. will this cause any problems with wiring bc i know that 95 are ob1. also when i turn the key nothing happens im not sure its caused bc of a relay or bc of the whole wiring. has 97 wiring harness and computer. but i also have a 95 harness that came with the car. any sugestion guys?

thanks in advance

[ShadowMan]

As I'm not sure to the specifics of the newer models and specifics, a few things are common to all cars. But first things first, did the car ever run with the setup it has now? You already identified that the car has electrical problems so start at your ecu and follow the bundle of wiring. Check grounds to ensure they haven't corroded, check the wires where they turn corners to make sure the metal isn't rubbing through them, check where the wires meet up with their clips as alot of people pull the clips free by yanking on the wires and they tend to start breaking. Yes there are alot of wires but you can skip the long straight runs of wiring and start with the problem areas I mentioned first.

[ces.ornelas]

As far as I know it didn't. the previous owner had just put the motor in. And ran into some "finacial problems" sold it really cheap to me. But anyways the car has constant power even when the key is turned just the motor doesn't turn over also the dash harness is all hacked up not sure what to do about that. The bad ground was at the rear since they relocated the battery to the trunk.

[ces.ornelas]

Forgot to mention did check the wiring harness and all cables where in good condition.

[ShadowMan]

Well then, it seems to be a matter of following thru with the swap. Looks like you have some searching to do to see what is all entailed with that motor in your car. Things are a just a bit more involved than bolting the motor in and plugging it in, which I'm sure you know by now. Time to get dirty. Good luck.

[rcdad123]

i did a 97 ka to a 95 s14 chassis and all i did was swap all of the accessories, intake and exhaust manifolds, and the distributor from the 95 ka to the 97 ka and it ran fine. so if the previous owner or whoever did the swap did the same thing i did, the engine should run. when you say the dash harness is hacked, what part of the harness is messed up? also when you say the engine won`t turnover, do you mean the starter does not turn on or the engine won`t start even if the starter is turning the engine over?

[ces.ornelas]

no idea if he did that honestly i unpluged the wiring harness and made sure all connections went into place and there isnt any unplugged connections everything lines up. but the dash harness wires are just cut off right where the fuses are at in the drivers side. and by not turning over i mean the starter. also i just noticed that the light red bulb on ecu turns on and then turn off. does that mean its not getting power??

[rcdad123]

your gonna have replace the harness that is chopped off. it is much easier than fixing the wires. once all of the wiring is fixed, then you could start diagnosing problems.