The Garage Queen won't run again. Help?

[Ivan Skare]

Check fuel filter

[CamWeiss]

Okay, so some more work on my part... but no progress.

I've swapped the following:
-Coil Pack
-Power Transistor
-Cam Angle Sensor (x2)
-MAF (back to stock, known good)
-Injectors (back to stock, were good when they came out)
-EPROM chip (back to stock)
-Ignition Wires

I've confirmed that the timing hash marks @ TDC are lined up (cam gears and pulley to cover).
Fuel pump is functioning and gives pressure. I've got the fuel filter fittings soaking in lube so that I can change it tomorrow (although symptoms do not indicate a fuel supply issue).

About the only other ideas I've got are a failed fuel injector resistor pack... or ecu. I've pulled the ecu again and inspected the board again...The bottom side of the board honestly does look very good. The top side of the board has one very small area around an otherwise good looking cap that *could* be suspect - It's slightly darkened.

At this point the ECU makes the most sense to me, and I don't have a spare to check with. So before I send mine off to ECM Tuning to have them look it over, does anyone have a spare 91-94 ECU that I could borrow (or buy)? I'm in Victoria, which always puts a wrench into things, but I could of course pay shipping both ways to get one over here and back.

[John Hartman]

almost has to be the ECU, or the wiring harness, connectors etc between the ECU and various sensors(CAS would be the most important on the 1g)

I would have started with the CAS like you did, but after that, and the basic timing check, I would say ECU.

[Travis Koch]

I have a spare stock ECU that you could test out.  My wife is going to be in Saanich for the last week of Auqust and I could get her to take it with her.  You can use it to test and then return it when you are done.

[CamWeiss]

Travis + Vlad

I'm going out tomorrow to take an ecu out of an acquaintances car.

Thanks for the offers! There's a good chance I'll be looking for one to purchase soon, but I'll wait until I know for sure.

 

[Brett Haviland]

Ohhh, looks like my 2nd post guess may be correct. Hopefully u can get a new ecu in there and see for sure. I have a 91-94 ecu and a few 90 ecu's as well (will run car with two wires switched). Keep me posted.

[CamWeiss]

Well, I'm not sure if I've made backwards progress or not, here...

Yesterday I picked up an ecu out of a 91 FWD, non eprom (but yes, turbo).
I also finished changing the fuel filter, and buttoned everything back up.

Went to fire it up, and it would seem I'm worse off than before. Car cranks but will not even catch now.
I don't have time to look at it today, but I will swap MY ecu back into the car and see if it'll try and catch, or if I've missed something in the engine bay.

The 91 ecu that I borrowed did look like it may have a bit of damage on it... I'll hopefully be able to look further into it on Monday.


*next day edit* Yep, my ecu still tries to start the car, almost catches. Other one does not - Injectors don't seem to fire, plugs are dry when I pull them. Back to the last step that I was at, seeing if another ecu will get me going.

[Brett Haviland]

Yeah, sounds like a dud Ecu. Try, try again. Too badd u don't have another dsm to swap it into and try that spare ecu

[CamWeiss]

Vlad's ECU arrived at my doorstep today. Plugged it in and it fired right up. Will take it down off jack stands tomorrow and see how it drives.

CONFIRMED, ECU!

Guess I'll contact ECMLink about getting mine repaired. Thank you to everyone who contributed ideas and input.

[KevinBuckham]

Vlad's ECU arrived at my doorstep today. Plugged it in and it fired right up. Will take it down off jack stands tomorrow and see how it drives.

CONFIRMED, ECU!

I'm glad you've been able to verify the problem!  (Oh, I need the CAS back as I need to get DSM #2 running.)

[Ryan Singh]

Congrats man, that's great news!

[Brett Haviland]

Good to hear!  Glad you got it figured out.  Damn DSM ecu's!

[Vlad Busta]

This is why I bought a spare 

Later, Vlad.

[CamWeiss]

Got a report from ECM today. Glad to have what I thought validated, even though the cap leakage was *barely* visible.

Your ECU is suffering from capacitor-leakage damage that has affected the 5v regulator circuit.  Often this causes significant damage to the 5v components in the ECU, but surprisingly there is no visible evidence of such additional damage.  We'll go ahead and replace the capacitors and repair the leakage damage (covered by our 20 minute minimum paid with the service request) and hope that we find no other damage once we can test the ECU with normal voltages present.

[Ryan Singh]

Awesome, and with everything else you've done to track down the problem...you can definitely sleep better at night knowing everything else is in tip top shape.