Before posting here ive spent the last 3 days stuffing around with this CA18DET S13 of mine...

Long story short, we blew the motor so we swapped it out for another ca18det that was running and came out of a wreck.

The problem im having ( at least i think it is ) no injector pulse to the injector plugs, All we have done is swap ca18det for another ca18det, all the wiring is the same and nothing has been changed or cut / spliced from last time...

Fuel pump works -
Checked this by taking of the feed line and it sprays fuel when ignition is on

The fuel rail is not blocked
I removed the rail, and then the injectors, turned extended the feed and return fuel lines and moved the rail outside the engine bay, when ignition is on the rail does fill with fuel.

Injectors are NOT blocked -
Took injectors out and they click and squirt fuel when provided with a direct power source

Drop down resistor harness is getting power but not sure if there is continuity to the injector harness -

When connecting 1 end of the test light to the middle wire on the harness from the car ( the white wire out of the 5 wires ) and the other end of the test light to a ground, it lights up.

I plug in my resistor pack, cut a little bit of the white wire on the resistor pack end and it lights up also, so does this mean the pack actually IS getting 12v? So its not a faulty resistor pack ?

Should i also be seeing continuity if i put one end of the test light on the injector plug and the other end on 1 of the 4 signal wires from the resistor pack ?

Engine isnt broken -
Engine used to run fine, and the car does fire for a few seconds if i spray some fuel ( or a can of "START YA BASTARD" into the throttle body.

I have tried 2 resistor packs so far, and 2 ECU's with the exact same problem, Could i be so unlucky as to have either blown 2 resistor packs or 2 ecus ?

Can i bypass the resistor pack ? I tried splicing all 4 signal wires on the pack, and then supplying the white wire with contact 12v and still have the same issue.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Hi guys it appears i have fixed my problem!

After pulling of half the stuff on the head to replace / check all these parts and not having any luck.... I decided to play with the timing...It was off by about half a mm clockwise ( i dont know how many degrees as i didnt use a timing light, i just had someone crank the engine while i turn the CAS clockwise very slowly....It now starts and runs, and runs bloody good too !

I cant believe i messed around for so long with all that other crap.

I dont know why the timing was off as the engine came out of a running car before?.. Oh well lesson learned!

Glad you got it sorted out!

It was a short lives victory guys

I went to start it again today, and its doing the exact same thing..I left the timing the same as when i got it to start, but now its not starting again..

Any ideas guys? Any weird sensors that will just not let the car fire if they are not hooked up? anything specific that would do this..

hey guys i dont know how to edit post sorry for bumping again..

Have checked the injectors again and now they are getting no pulse..... have checked with a noid light, they were getting pulse before but now its suddenly gone...

the grounds next to the intake plenum are hooked up, the resistor pack is hooked up too... The only error code that comes up is "Coolant engine sensor", but i dont think that would cause injector pulse to stop...

i dunno where to go with this thing anymore

Have you pulled codes? It's unlikely the ECU isn't "pulsing". It's much more likely that the aren't getting power. Check for 12V+ at the injectors. IIRC, it's the striped color wire.

Hi float thanks for the reply!

Fault codes on ECU just say Coolant temp sensor.

Believe it or not the pulse is back again...Sometimes they pulse and sometimes they dont, According to the noid light, Ive also spun the CAS while its out of the engine and still plugged in and all the injectors now click.

One thing i just noticed today, Looks like the half moon on my exhaust cam is snapped off!...Does this make the timing 180deg out? and can i still fix my timing without it? Why did the car used to run with a snapped half moon and now doesnt? This is driving me insane haha.

Ahh, That is starting to make sense now. Do you have ALL of the bolts in the front timing cover as well as the alignment pins? It is REALLY important that everything is there. If it's not, the CAS doesn't sit in there properly. This can make the alignment pin inside the exhaust cam break off. It also often damages the CAS, which would explain the intermittent issues with the injectors.

I swapped out the cam today, while i was at it i put everything to TDC as well, Bolted everything back on properly, guess what, still the same problem.

I think ive wasted to much time on this damn engine, My other two silvias are powered by Rb25;s, so i think i will just chuck this ca18 in the bin and drop another 25 in it lol. Completely over it.

I think you missed my point. The CAS is likely damaged and is the cause of the problems. That alignment pin in the exhaust cam doesn't usually fail unless there is an alignment problem, or an issue with the CAS.

( do you mean alignment pin that the cam gear slides on? or the half moon in the cas ? )

The alignment pin is not broken on either of my cams, it was the half moon on the cam ( that slides over the half moon on the cas ). I have 3 CAS here and they all do the same thing, i dont think they are broken as when i spin the shaft the injectors and coils click.

I was talking about the half moon inside the cam for the CAS. It sounds like you have eliminated that though. If you have fuel and spark, then it HAS to be a timing issue. Have you set the timing with a timing light using a spark plug wire and an inductive timing light? The CAR should set in the center position.

Hi float thanks again for replying, i appreciate it!

And yup i have got a new exhaust cam in the car now with an in-tact half moon.

Ok well here is some info on the timing and how i set it.

First i set the crank to 0 TDC, the second mark on the crank pully going from left to right. there is no white mark on the 5ATDC mark but there is a notch in the crank pulley.



I then loosened the timing belt and removed the rocker covers and turned each cam separately to the crank untill the little marker on the cams was pointing to the indicator on the rear cam timing cover / plate, Then put everything back on, is this the correct way ?

i took the timing cover off again to double check it all and the intake cam looks a little bit off but the exhaust cam is almost 2 teeth off, i will try re-align them again tomorrow and see how it goes, its a little difficult because when i line them up the slightest movement makes them bouch back a few notches, kind of like they are under pressure or constant tension.






it manages to run and start now with great difficulty, here is a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLdnJY4 ... UDOsezb-Ww

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJT7GS8 ... UDOsezb-Ww

The exhaust cam is way off, but the intake is fine. It's normal that they want to move. That's the pressure from the valve springs acting on the cams. Anymore, I pull the valve covers and use a large adjustable wrench on the cams to turn them to where I want them. It's REALLY helpful to have an extra set of hands to hold both cams still. Once you get them lined up, put the belt on and have the friend continue to hold the cams. Now here is the trick that I use. Get two small vice grips. Not the needle nose kind. Once you have the belt on where you want it, use the vice grips to clamp the belt to the gears. I usually do the lower crank gear first, then the exhaust, then the intake. Once you have it all where you want it, set the tensioner. At this point your helper can let go of the cams. Remove the vice grips, slide the crank pulley back on and turn it two revolutions clockwise. Remove the crank pulley and try to see if all three marks line up again. (The dots on the cams should line up with the dashes on the rear timing cover, and the dot on the crank gear should line up with the notch on the oil pump housing.) If they don't all line up, rotate the engine clockwise again until the dot on the crank gear lines up with the notch in the oil pump housing, loosen the tensioner, remove the belt, and start over.

Improper cam timing seems to be a common issue when people change/remove the timing belt. Don't be discouraged. It's not hard to do, it's just easy to do wrong. Once you have the cam timing sorted out, I believe your issues will be resolved.