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URGENT HELP!

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 4:54 am
by sandals
so tonight car died... thought it had just ran out of gas, but after running 5 miles with a 5 gallon gas can, i realized that wasn't the case... over a 1/4 tank now... and it won't start.

the check engine light gave me error code 12, a starter switch...
never had that before... won't it just default or something?

i connected the test connectors thinking the fuel lines weren't primed, but i can smell gas under the hood. it wants to kick over, but won't... this leads me to believe there's no spark... even on two plugs, it would fire, right?

so i'm thinking maybe it might be my ignition coil or some faulty wiring... argh! please help, need this car running in less than 6 hours, lol.

if it is the coil, i have another one an hour away i can go pick up, but i was wondering if you guys might be able to point out a simpler solution.

i'd just replace the engine, however i didn't replace the wiring harness or any sensors.

thanks!

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 5:27 am
by douglas vincent
Auto or manual?

Year?

Color?

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 5:28 am
by sandals
auto, 91, grey.

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 5:36 am
by douglas vincent
Thats it, it grey. Sorry but you are out of luck....



Just kidding.


Pop open the hood, pull off one of the plug wires at the coil on the drivers side and leave it about 1/4" from the coil pack and turn it over. Since its night, you should able to look through the hood gap and see if you are getting any spark.

If not, check the connectors at both the coil pack and the ignightor.

okay...

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 6:17 am
by sandals
outta luck, eh? lol... kinda threw me for a loop as i had a few shots of tequila. lol.

i have spark at all four points on the coil pack. now what? :/

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 6:42 am
by IronMonkeyL255
Check to see if it's getting gas.

I'd do this by pulling off the fuel line coming from the filter to a hard line on the manifold and point it away from the car. Now have someone turn the key to 'ON' without turning it over.

If nothing comes out, then there may be a problem with the fuel pump.

I had a similar problem a while back. I replaced the fuel pump, and no problems since.

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 6:42 am
by douglas vincent
Whats your phone number?

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 3:25 pm
by vrg3
The starter switch is the wire that tells the ECU when you're cranking the engine. It goes into "cranking mode" where it throws in a lot of extra fuel and fixes spark timing at 10 degrees before top dead center. Without this, I think it'll still try to spark and fuel but won't necessarily succeed in starting the engine.

While that needs to be fixed, there's a chance you could get the car to start now by pulling off the intake snorkel, spraying some starting fluid in, and playing with the gas pedal while cranking.

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 10:00 pm
by sandals
another question then... (since i lost my manual)

which wire is it? could it just be spliced with a new wire or would i be better off buying one?

oh, and sorry it's take so long to reply... didn't have car ready in time, so i had to mtn. bike 12 miles each way to work today. lol. :P

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 3:44 am
by vrg3
There's a copy of the relevant parts of the manual in the Stuff You Need to Know forum.

You certainly could just splice in a new wire. It goes from the low-current starting circuit to the "Starter switch" wire of the ECU. The way I might do it would be to tap into the thin wire right at the starter and tap into the ECU's starter switch wire as close as possible to the ECU's connector, and connect them with a long wire.

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 5:25 am
by sandals
argh! so it's getting fuel... and it's getting spark... and it won't do shit. i think the battery might be worn down from me dicking around with it tonight, so i'm going to charge that in the morning...

when i was driving, it seemed like it didn't want to go, but then it went as i passed a truck, seconds after, it seemed to be stuck in gear, then it hard shifted and then when i pulled off (no power at all) and put it in park all the lights came on. thought i was out of gas, but when that ended up not being the problem, i did a quick error check and came up with a 12. i cleared the ecu and then i got a knock sensor code... right now, with the black connectors connected, it's giving me a 23... with the green connectors connected, i'm getting 22... anyone know the exact purpose of the black connectors?

i'll try the wire thing tomorrow after work... but maybe it's something completely different with the trouble i had right before it stopped (unless it was completely out of gas...)

any other ideas would be greatly appreciated... oh, and i think i saw sparks coming from some of the connectors towards the firewall on the passenger side at one point tonight... my bro thought he saw them at one point also, but he wasn't sure. when i saw them, i was checking the spark on the plugs and thought it might be some arcing off of that... but i didn't have any plugs out when he saw it.

thanks,
devin