Can't Start My Car

[daisu]

Hello people,

This is the situation. A31, originally auto RB20E, now RB20DET manual from an R32

Just got the wiring loom back from being modified, plugged it into the engine bay, and to the ecu, and two plugs under the dash. There is one plug left from under the dash, but the loom didn't have a plug to connect to it... not sure if it is auto related or what not. The car wouldn't crank at first, had to bridge two wires that plug into the fuse box (inhibitor or something?). Now it is cranking but it's not firing. So I pulled the coilpack cover off, pulled out a coil and plug and held it against the engine while trying to start the car, no spark happening on the spark plug.

So I put my ignitor on my mates R32, his car starts and runs fine with my ignitor. Swapped the ECU over too, no problems there. I took the Crank Angle Sensor off and spun it by hand with the ignition on, can hear the injectors firing. AFM was plugged in, but it should start up in limp mode without it anyways.

Also, I can't remove the key from the ignition barrell, I'm assuming this is related to the lack of my auto gearbox. Can the solenoid be easily removed from the barrell? I also have no reverse lights, and the gear selection on the instrument cluster shows nothing.

Only thing I can think of is I need the gear selector switch off my auto box? Or is that just there for the inhibitor (which I've already bridged out). Or that there is some more auto related wiring that needs to be modified?

As always, any help greatly appreciated

Cheers, luke

Edited November 27, 2006 by daisu

[huddy]

hmmm i'm stumped.

conversion are sometimes a bit tricky...

no spark - and you have eliminated ecu / coilpacks / ignitor pack / plugs / afm / injectors.

sounds like a wiring issue.

i had a similar problem with my ceffy not starting, but this was with Power FC - would not start as my water temp connector was a bit buggered. one of the red lights on the dash lit up to tell me a warning, but didnt know until laptop software was able to trace it (no handcontroller). BUT - with the stocky computer it started first time as it has a limp mode etc...

[daisu]

Well it could be coilpacks and plugs, but I wouldn't expect all 6 not to work. I'd hear some stuttering if any of them were working. Apparently RB20 and 25 have the same ECU pinout, I'm looking at an engine wiring diagram here http://www.gweeds.net/carpage2/rb25diagram.jpg

If you look down the very bottom, and a little to the right of where the coils are drawn, you will see "Test Point (No1 Spark)" Looks like it's connected after the ignitor, but before the coils. Should give me more of an idea as to where the problem lies.

Has anyone done a test on this point? Should I test with a light bulb or something?

Hopefully I'll find something tomorrow/

[huddy]

even if u get a test light inside the coilpack connectors, you should be able to check they've got power - might have to do this with car trying to crank / accessories on. ( i did this on mine when i had trouble with #2 not sparking but it was getting power still :S )

i know the RB25DE (32 type i think) is compatible with the rb20det loom/ecu but not sure about the DET versions. as some have internal ignitor pack on coilpacks or something (S2 r33)

when cranking individually check each coilpack to a cooler pipe (bottom of coilpack about 1cm away from cooler pipe) to see if they are sparking. Sounds strange if all of them arent sparking though.

Check the plugs arent fouled aswell and/or really dirty. if they arent gapped properly it should still start i think, just miss and not run smooth.

maybe post up in the forced induction section with another link to this thread

-Matt

[etbenno]

Hello,

when i did this conversion myself I had a similar problem except I had spark and no fuel its all to do with that one plug u plug in in the engine bay over near the airflow meter that provides power to fuel injectors, ignitor etc just make sure that all them are correct I found that going from a31 to r32 in that plug they were similar colors anyways but yeah thats what was wrong with mine

Have fun

Benno

[daisu]

Turns out my CAS plug wasn't connected properly. When I pulled it off the engine to test if the injectors were firing I plugged it in properly, and then when I put it back on the engine, I didn't put the plug in properly again. So now I have spark, and the injectors were firing, so tomorrow when I get some fuel lines I'll beable to fire her up. Fingers crossed.

Thanks

[huddy]

good stuff!