coil 1 and injector 1 only firing?

[rccardude04]

I had mentioned this in another thread but I'm afraid it's being overlooked.

I have a ca18det in a 1990 240sx. It won't start. Only coil #1 is firing as well as what seems to be injector 1. We pulled out the cas to see what happens when it's turned, and coil 1 actually fires every 90 degrees. 4 times per revolution of the cas. Injector 1 also fires 4 times, right with the spark. When the fuel pump kicks on, the injector only ticks once per rev of the cas, but the coil keeps sparking 4 times per rev. None of the other coils fire unless you hook ecu's #1 output to any other coil on the ecu side of the ignitor. So all of the coil wiring after the ignitor is right. The coils work. We just get no 2,3,4 output from the ecu. The ecu has been taken apart and has no burning. It looks good.

Is there a good way to test the cas without a scope? Anything elde I should look for? I'm about to gocrazy.

Please, any help is greatly appreciated.

-Eric

[float_6969]

sounds like a bad CAS.

[rccardude04]

I've had that thought wandering around in my little head for a while now, but I wish there was a way to test it without just buying another one.

-Eric

[rccardude04]

Well, I put the test light on the cas and the plug sparking directly corresponds with the 180deg wire. Obviously the cams spin half the speed of the crank, which is why the 180deg fires every 90 on the cas. But why it only fires #1, and 4 times more than it should?

-Eric

[ca18detgabby]

how about..........

I can send you 1 for 50 shipped. if it doesnt work, I will refund the 50 bucks.

lets you test it, and if it isnt your issue, all you are out out will be the cost to ship it back to me.....

I have 2 spare CASs right now so lmk.

[rccardude04]

how about..........

I can send you 1 for 50 shipped. if it doesnt work, I will refund the 50 bucks.

lets you test it, and if it isnt your issue, all you are out out will be the cost to ship it back to me.....

I have 2 spare CASs right now so lmk.

That's an awesome offer. We have a third party who has done several ca18 swaps who is going to look at it Wednesday. If he can't get it running and thinks it's the cas, I might have to take you up on the offer :-)

Thanks!

-Eric

[ca18detgabby]

np,

always willing to help when I can.

if you end up not needing it, I can always find someone else who will buy it.

[boost_boy]

I had mentioned this in another thread but I'm afraid it's being overlooked.

I have a ca18det in a 1990 240sx. It won't start. Only coil #1 is firing as well as what seems to be injector 1. We pulled out the cas to see what happens when it's turned, and coil 1 actually fires every 90 degrees. 4 times per revolution of the cas. Injector 1 also fires 4 times, right with the spark. When the fuel pump kicks on, the injector only ticks once per rev of the cas, but the coil keeps sparking 4 times per rev. None of the other coils fire unless you hook ecu's #1 output to any other coil on the ecu side of the ignitor. So all of the coil wiring after the ignitor is right. The coils work. We just get no 2,3,4 output from the ecu. The ecu has been taken apart and has no burning. It looks good.

Is there a good way to test the cas without a scope? Anything elde I should look for? I'm about to gocrazy.

Please, any help is greatly appreciated.

-Eric

Did you check the codes on the ECU? This is to the CA18 Vets: I know you guys love to help folks, but you can't always baby-sit them with a gang of useless information if they don't search threads or our forum to see what's best to do in this situation. A simple check of the ecu will determine if indeed the crank angle sensor is bad. I mean you vets know that's the first bit of advice to give if you're going to help solve some problems. The reason for this me chiming in is the fact that as of late, I'm seeing the lazy trend of not searching increasing in the CA community. Plenty of cheap boosters are buying these engines and flocking to NICO which is all fine and dandy, but they are not taking advantage of all the info available that we have assemilated in the archives. My response to all and they can get upset all they want is: YOU DID NOT WIRE THE CAR CORRECTLY. Just putting in some mod work by trying to make some of these folks get back into reading all the information we have here.

Dee

[rccardude04]

Did you check the codes on the ECU? This is to the CA18 Vets: I know you guys love to help folks, but you can't always baby-sit them with a gang of useless information if they don't search threads or our forum to see what's best to do in this situation. A simple check of the ecu will determine if indeed the crank angle sensor is bad. I mean you vets know that's the first bit of advice to give if you're going to help solve some problems. The reason for this me chiming in is the fact that as of late, I'm seeing the lazy trend of not searching increasing in the CA community. Plenty of cheap boosters are buying these engines and flocking to NICO which is all fine and dandy, but they are not taking advantage of all the info available that we have assemilated in the archives. My response to all and they can get upset all they want is: YOU DID NOT WIRE THE CAR CORRECTLY. Just putting in some mod work by trying to make some of these folks get back into reading all the information we have here.

Dee

It threw code 21 and 22, but only 22 once. 21 is some sort of ignition failure code IIRC. And 22 doesn't exist so I just assume(d) we saw it wrong, since it took a couple tries to actually pull the codes correctly.

Yes, I've searched. I've looked through the entire FSM posted here cover to cover, searching for the diagram that could help. Anything I can tell in the feedback loop between CAS, injectors, coils, everything... It's all correct according to the paperwork I've seen everywhere, and I can't find any shorts. I have LOTS of grounds, the CAS even flashes a test light like I'd expect it to. I guess I'm not sure how the ECU knows that the CAS is telling it which cylinder is which. The test light gives no indication at all.

How does the ECU know which cylinder is which, based on the CAS output?

I suppose I Should have mentioned that we had pulled the codes, but it only told us what we already know.

-Eric

[RedDragun]

Did you check the codes on the ECU? This is to the CA18 Vets: I know you guys love to help folks, but you can't always baby-sit them with a gang of useless information if they don't search threads or our forum to see what's best to do in this situation. A simple check of the ecu will determine if indeed the crank angle sensor is bad. I mean you vets know that's the first bit of advice to give if you're going to help solve some problems. The reason for this me chiming in is the fact that as of late, I'm seeing the lazy trend of not searching increasing in the CA community. Plenty of cheap boosters are buying these engines and flocking to NICO which is all fine and dandy, but they are not taking advantage of all the info available that we have assemilated in the archives. My response to all and they can get upset all they want is: YOU DID NOT WIRE THE CAR CORRECTLY. Just putting in some mod work by trying to make some of these folks get back into reading all the information we have here.

Dee

Really? Yea so my opinion of this forum has just changed.

We posted that we read all of the diagrams. If you are SO SURE that it is wired wrong, then please enlighten us on what the problem with the wiring could be.

[sjbsuperman1425]

ok, idk how your harness looked when you got it, but im assuming everything going to the ECU was there and there were no wires missing from the ECU socket..So i'll make a story here and HYPOTHETICALLY, you just say you are making a new harness from scratch.

You should be able to look at the FSM (pages EL-877 to EL-881) and be able to take the wires from the ECU and match them where the need to go. It shows the wire color and the Pin it goes to for the ECU. You should be able to use that in conjunction with the link i provided in one of your previous threads to finish up the wiring into the car.

It seems maybe you tried wiring the engine into the car while fixing the harness and maybe have gotten mixed up on a few things. If you are 100% sure that it is wired correctly, then move on, but us here on the internet can only help you so much.

[RedDragun]

The wiring is 100% the same as all of the ca18det diagrams we have looked at, and I used the link you gave me in the other thread and the wires matched up perfectly. Thanks for that link again.

[sjbsuperman1425]

was your harness "hacked", as in did you have to repair any of the regular harness not included in the swap wiring?

[rccardude04]

was your harness "hacked", as in did you have to repair any of the regular harness not included in the swap wiring?

We had to wire the body harness to the ecu on the right side of the engine bay. The injectors, coils, a bunch of grounds. The rest was continuous and uncut. A bit of crap by the ecu to the dash harness that was done and we re-did it properly.

Sorry if I seem like I'm not trying here. I just am very new and quite lost. We've got a third set of eyes to look at it this week. Hopefully he can figure it out or else we're going to build a new one from scratch lol

-Eric

[boost_boy]

Really? Yea so my opinion of this forum has just changed

. You're entitled to your opinion. Because it's your opinion, in my world, it's neither good nor bad; just your opinion.

We posted that we read all of the diagrams. If you are SO SURE that it is wired wrong, then please enlighten us on what the problem with the wiring could be.

But the OP nor you stated that you guys did a diagnostic check of the ecu which would've more than likely helped you help us understand your problem, so that we may better direct you guys on what to do to correct your issue. SOOOOOO, REALLY I am 150% sure something is wired wrong or just not wired, but checking the ecu and getting code 21 is priceless and now you guys are going in the right direction.

Dee

[rccardude04]

This will probably sound really stupid, but I noticed the coolant temp gauge will jump around while turning the cas. Everyone told me to ignore it but noe that the thing won't start, I may have to make sure it's not pukking power away from where it needs to go.

Thanks for the replies. I think sometimes these threads turn into brainstorming sessions, which is what we need right now.

-Eric

[boost_boy]

This will probably sound really stupid, but I noticed the coolant temp gauge will jump around while turning the cas. Everyone told me to ignore it but noe that the thing won't start, I may have to make sure it's not pukking power away from where it needs to go.

Thanks for the replies. I think sometimes these threads turn into brainstorming sessions, which is what we need right now.

-Eric

Your temperature gauge should not be jumping around, regardless of your alleged Crank Angle Sensor fault. Just make sure the water temperature sensor is connected or it's not going to crank. Beware of harnesses coming from Japan with hacked wires by the ecu plug. This usually happens when some type of piggy back whatever was removed before the car was scrapped.

Dee

[rccardude04]

Your temperature gauge should not be jumping around, regardless of your alleged Crank Angle Sensor fault. Just make sure the water temperature sensor is connected or it's not going to crank. Beware of harnesses coming from Japan with hacked wires by the ecu plug. This usually happens when some type of piggy back whatever was removed before the car was scrapped.

Dee

See, that's what I thought but everyone just kinda thought I should blow it off.

As far as the harness being hacked up, it was a bit. But that's why we went through all the trouble of ohming each individual wire out to each ecu pin according to the diagrams and pinouts we found.

I'll almost bet the problem is somewhere in that stupid dash harness that was pre-wired. We never really thought to re-check it because we didn't think it would really affect anything significant, but if there's a chance I'll definitely take a look at it. Does the gauge read from the ECU output I assume? (Don't worry I'll look it up. )

I really wish the car was more easily accessible to me. It's at a shop that we're working on it at. I can't just go outside and check wires as I get ideas, which really drives me crazy. I might have to go screw with it tomorrow even though our help is coming Wednesday.

-Eric

[fabio240]

Ok read this carefully I have been watching this thread and the other one also. Ok the dash plug has nothing to do with the car starting all it does is read to your cluster. I have a pretty good explanation of why your temp gauge is jumping... (ready) YOU ARE MISSING SOME GROUNDS. the reason I say that is because the same thing happened to me on my friends car. Same exact problem you are having he had spark issues it would get a very weak spark and when the car would be running the temp gauge would go crazy when he revved it. There is a ground on the harness where the 2 main plugs are just stare at it until you find it I belive that this particular ground that I am speaking of is cut somewhere. Just find it and trace it to see if its cut.

[RedDragun]

If it's a ground coming from any of the ecu pins then they are all hooked up. Are you talking about the body harness, or in the cab where the ecu plug and dash plug are?

[fabio240]

Personally if I wanted to eliminate a bad ground I would make new grounds how are all the pins grounded on the ecu have you traced those wires to make sure that everything is kosher. The one Im talking about is on the main wire harness that runs to the intake manifold.

[RedDragun]

We used a volt/ohmmeter to test continuity from the ground pins to a bolt on the chassis (or whatever metal was bare nearby). We didn't physically examine each wire yet. At this point it might be easier to make a harness from scratch...

[fabio240]

Check the harness out and see if its broken anywhere or get another one

[fabio240]

and the part of the harness that Im talking about is in the engine bay.

[rccardude04]

Well, my friend with the shop and his buddy with the CA18 knowledge FINALLY got to look at the thing. Apparently most of the wiring is correct, although a couple sensors were in question. But he thought it should start.

So they pulled out my ECU, put it into a good running vehicle, and it does basically the same thing mine does.

What are my options besides another stock ECU? The guy suggested maybe trying to find an SR ecu, but that sounds like even more wiring. I can't seem to find a plug-n-play AEM on their website for a CA18DET. Plenty of stuff out there for the KA24, but CA18 appears to be lacking.

What else is there?

Thanks for the help y'all. Hopefully our wiring isn't what killed the ecu... Time will tell on that one, but for now I need to find a computer.

-Eric

[ca18detgabby]

new stock ECU

I believe the apexi replaces the stock ECU..... but dont quote me on that

megasquirt+ megasquirt harness+EDIS system

rebuilt stock ECU

It might be worth sending it off fo a Nistune setup and rebuild......... idk enough about that system to say for sure.

PS I wouldnt be toying around too much with a suspect harness...... get that shiz straighted out and it will solve alot of headaches.

[ca18donny]

AEM dose have a plug and play for the ca.I am using one in my car.the model number is 1622.

[rccardude04]

Thanks guys. We'll definitely go through the harness again to make sure, and have our guru compare it with his diagrams to make sure it's all right before we try again.

Donny, thanks! I hadn't had much luck finding that for some reason. I may actually skip past the stock ECU and just sell off some other toys (r/c stuff) and spring for an AEM system. I think it'll end up saving me money in the long run, and will be easier to get set up since the guy helping me is quite good with the AEM systems.

-Eric