car wont start

[NightKids2]

Car was working fine last night, even took it for a test drive. Today, we disconnected the battery cable, wired up the fans, and connected the other end of the white plug under the dash with all wires taped up except the black we grounded... and now the car will not start. The fuel pump wont even come on. We removed the other end of the white plug and unpluged the fans and still nothing. Fuses look good. What could the problem be?

[NightKids2]

Survey says I fried my ECU.

[Slo_240sx]

unplug what you wired up recently and try to start it then. If not ya blew something.

[CKs240sxNC]

What was the car before the swap? auto? manuel?

[Joe]

Survey says I fried my ECU.

what survey? how did you come to that conclusion? contrary to populary belief its very hard to fry an ecu.

did you TEST all your fuses? not check them. you probably blew a fuse, check the engine bay and the dash boxes.

[NightKids2]

All I know is the fuel pump isnt comming on so the car wont crank. The few gauge lights that did work do not work not. The blinking red light on the ECU does not come on with key in the ignition and it does not respond when trying to do a self test... so Im thinking its ****ed.

[Joe]

the fuel pump is controlled by the ignition, along with power to the ECU, along with the starter.

TEST your fuses with a multimeter. each one. under the dash and in the engine bay.

[dekand]

yeah man its really easy to test them all in minutes, get a multimeter, put it on the mode that makes a beep when there is a connection, put the 2 leads on the 2 spots on top of each fuse, beep = good nothing = blown ... simple.

or you can have my jump to conclusions mat? its a mat with different conclusions you can, jump to lol

[NightKids2]

Where is the ignition relay?

[JonPowell]

or you can have my jump to conclusions mat? its a mat with different conclusions you can, jump to lol

That sounds almost as good as the Pet Rock.....I bet you could make a million with that thing!

[rb250sx]

That sounds almost as good as the Pet Rock.....I bet you could make a million with that thing!

its funny because im sitting in a cubical right now developing software....doesnt get any better than that! At least i have NICO...and my stapler:)

btw, check your master fuse, its prob a 75 amp gray fuse in the fusebox that will prevent anything from working. Theyre about $10 from nissan which sucks. and if its a series 2 motor you wont have an ignition relay.

[Wulfgang]

You have gauge lights that aren't working??? How do you conclude the ECU is fried when you have other unrelated issues that also point to a blown fuse?

On 2nd thought... yep, your ECU is toast. But since I am such a good guy, I'll buy your "fried" ECU for $25.

[totoro001]

yeh dude, i'd be willing to bet dollars to donuts that it's the master fuse.. those things are bishez.

did your battery spark when you put it back in? even if it didn't, you could have very easily fried one of those master fuses. I don't know exactly hwo many there are on the standard 20, but on most cars there are 2, one for all the big engine stuff, and a majority of the internals, then there's a second that controls some of the relays and other assorted things.

[NightKids2]

I have no idea what a master fuse is, but if your talking about the big relays in the fuse box on the passenger side of the engine bay, I replaced two of the three of them and still nothing. The middle one by my guide is a headlight retract relay, so I doubt thats it.

[USMCgetsome]

If your still looking for the ignition relay and eccs relay if you find any 95 and up nissans the relays are compatible. I got mine at a junkyard for free from a 95 sentra.

Well your on your way to fixing this sob. Check every damn fuse pull them out and reseat them in thier spots. Power in the system is easy to figure out it starts from the battery to the main fuse box and to the relay system. There is also an ign fuse on the drivers side under the dash check those as well. If you need more ideas. Email me at [email protected] and i'll give you my phone number so i can walk you through it for electrical issues.

[rb250sx]

your master fuse is not a relay(not the really big ones in the fuse box) I belive it may be called the altenator fuse or something. It should be 75amps and gray with a clear window on top of it. if that fuse is burned out(and can be blown by a bad ground, i know because ive done it) then nothing in the car will work.

[NightKids2]

I just went out and checked it and all the others with clear tops. They all beep with the multimeter =( I have no clue what the problem is...

[rb250sx]

kinda sounds stupid and im sure you already have, but have you checked your battery? if you said your lights were working before, but now arent...

also, if your battery has a charge, just start tracing the wires back to the ecu. theres nothing in between your battery and your eccs relay so make sure you are getting power to there. If you are, then see if there is power going to all the white wires going into your ecu. But like its been said before, if you dont have lights or anything it really has to be a fuse, bad connection at the terminal, or dead battery.

btw, you said you were test driving the car the night before THEN hooked up the white plug. just curious how you were doing this without the plug hooked up. that is what grounds your fuel pump.

[NightKids2]

Battery is fine, power windows work.

My white plug has never been connected to anything and it started up and ran fine. Wasent till I tried to put it in did I have problems, but I dont think thats related. Im talking about the 240s white/brown plug in the dash just so were clear.

[rb250sx]

I appologize, i thought you were talking about the ecu plug. even if your power windows work, you may want to load test your battery, just to rule that out. then possibly look at diagrams and see what circuit everything that isnt working has in common. I know its a pita, but you are going to have to start tracing and testing. thats the only way to find your problem.

[NightKids2]

Still working on the car, I still have nothing.

Im almost positive its the ECU now. We found out the the fuel pump wasn't working because of a bad ground. We got it to turn on by bypassing the black/pink ground but the car still wont crank. Following that wire, there is only around .4 ohms of resistance between the relay, and the eccu. So we are guessing its either the ECCU or a faulty ground for it. We took off the top and discovered that there is no spark either, so this reiterates the two theories we had.. Anyone got any ideas, or know of a place where we can get the ECCU tested?....
Modified by NightKids2 at 5:03 PM 4/27/2005

[goofynick6]

I'm still voting for an ignition relay. Look under the dash below steering wheel and check all fuses. Then check the large fuses and small ones under the hood in the fuse box.

Nick

[biglipzit]

ummmmm a fried ecu will mean it will crank but not start... the ecu doesnt control the starter motor as far as i know. I think somehting disconnected or blew but it isnt the ecu. Have you checked the ground wires?

[NightKids2]

Thats exactly what its doing, the starter is comming on but its isnt cranking up.

Will someone tell me exactly where the ignition relay is cause I have no idea. I have no dash, Im looking under the steering wheel and I see nothing. If you mean in the fuse box in the kick panel I checked everything there.

[biglipzit]

what do u mean by cranking up? The starter is winding but not engaging on the flywheel? Or is it cranking the engine but just no ignition. You have me confused with the term "cranking up."

Also is it an S13?

[Slo_240sx]

Thats exactly what its doing, the starter is comming on but its isnt cranking up.

You are canceling yourself out. Does it crank over - meaning does the engine turn when you hit the key. Or does it just click and the motor doesn't turn at all?

-Alex

[biglipzit]

dunno if it helps at all

[NightKids2]

I dont know how else to say that, our terms are just different. I turn the key, it sounds like its trying to fire up but it wont. No ignition, no spark.

I think I found those relays, or at least I see 4 relays behind the fusebox right against the wall where I cant get to them. Im thinking the bottom blue one is what your talking about, and Ill swap it as soon as I find a way to get the damn thing out...

The car is an 89 S13, Series 1 RB25DET I believe.
Modified by NightKids2 at 6:14 PM 4/27/2005

[NightKids2]

Changed ignition relay with another relay I had laying around... nothing.

[Ramius83]

Do you know anyone around you that has a similar swap that you could maybe borrow an ECU from? If you have un-done anything that you have changed, then you shouldn't harm their ECU. Are you getting any spark at the coil packs, are the injectors clicking, etc......