Engine running on 2 cylinders

[datsunboy]

Hey Guys,

I have a mate that has installed a CA18DET ECU, loom, and sensors e.t.c. onto an old Z18ET ( single cam EFI turbo Nissan engine ).He is using all the CA18 bits, inc injectors coil packs, Ignitor, MAF, CAS e.t.c.

We've tried changing all the sensors around before, then he sent me up the loom (lives in a different city), and I went over every single wire, and tidied the whole thing up for him....so we are now 100% certain the wiring is fine.

The CAS is mounted to where the distributor used to be with a custom bracket.

So far, we have got the engine running on cylinders 1 & 4.2 & 3 wont spark with engine running ( but he said they do spark a couple of times as the engine starts ).

We have tried swapping coils over, swapping plugs e.t.c., and the problem still stays with cylinders 2 & 3.

any ideas we can try?

PS. There are no error codes from the ECU.

Knock sensor is not attached, we have wired a 1Mohm resistor in place.I read somewhere that this was OK, but not 100% on that.

[davidricardo86]

Check your ignition module aka igniter. Check your wiring from the computer to the igniter and back. Check the wiring for the CAS too! Make sure the CAS is good. Download the FSM and check out the diagnoses they have in there for the various vital sensors the engine uses to run correctly. Set timing to 15 degrees plus or minus 2 degrees. Double check you coils.

Try starting it with the MAF sensor pluged, then unpluged. See if it makes a difference.

Hopefully this helps a bit...

[datsunboy]

yeah as I said, the loom wiring is 100% fine.We both have a copy of the FSM.He has been testing the components, and so far found nothing.

He txt me last night tho, and said he found out his TPS was adjusted incorrectly so it was saying it was open throttle when it was actulaay closed.I dont think that would change it tho, but he's going to adjust it and try again.I will tell him to try unlplugging MAF

[datsunboy]

no luck with trying those things out....any other ideas?

[float_6969]

does he have a known, good, ignitor he can try putting in it?

[kiwi510]

Hey thanks Dan......(my engine)

Yeh i have tried all the above suggested, although i am going to try replacing the ignitor and ecu as i was thinking a dud ignitor could have fried my ecu's??? what do you think?

When i checked the outputs from the ecu with and osilloscope there was no signal coming out of the ecu for cylinders 2 and 3. This was before the signal reached the ignitor.

I am a bit lost for ideas at the moment.

[float_6969]

Ouch, if you're not getting a signal for 2 & 3 from the ECU, but you are for 1 & 4, I would think it would have to be a problem with the ECU. Have you tried taking it apart and looking for any burnt traces or anything?

And I can't imagine how a bad ignitor could damage the ECU.

[kiwi510]

Yeh is really confusing.I have tried about 3 apparently good ECU's and all have the same issue. Also 3 x CAS's.I have looked at each ECU and found no burn't components......... are there any other sensors or components that could damage an ECU?

What makes things really confusing is if spin the CAS by hand slowly i get firing signals for all 4 cylinders, however if i spin it fast with my hand cylinder 2 and 3's signals stop???????? odd!
Modified by kiwi510 at 8:45 PM 7/22/2007

[datsunboy]

quick update.We have just found out that the way the CAS is mounted to the dizzy shaft, the CAS is actually spinning backwards to what it should be.So over the next couple of days, he's gonna try open up the CAS, and somehow flip the Disc over to correct that issue.

Hopefully this is whats causing it to run on only 2 cylinders!

[Liquid_Neon]

does ur other post still apply? the heat related one?

cause if it gets hot and the car craps out that is most likely ignitor or a coil(or two). lotsa the pulsar guys from aussy land complain about that

[datsunboy]

what other post?

[Liquid_Neon]

what other post?

huh, i went looking and i guess i completly went insane and thought u had another post about missing. saw ur name under something else that mentioned missing under heat... BLOND MOMENT!

[datsunboy]

hahapossibly, I used to have a CA18DET in my Datsun 510, But I have since sold that car.

[datsunboy]

update:We have figured out that the CAS is spinning the wrong direction, ( CAS moved from cam to distributor mounting ).So Hayden is going to open up the CAS this week, and flip the disc inside the CAS, so that it should hopefully fire up and run on all 4!