Help me solve this spark problem, please

[bgsr240]

I have an 89 s13 hatch with a s14 sr20det motorset. Everything is finished with the installation, but it wont start because the ECU will not fire the coilpacks. I previously built an S13 with a redtop sr20 in it so I have a fair amount of experience as far as wiring goes.

I did all the wiring for the s14 into s13 swap using the s14 ECU pinout and various other charts. After connecting all of the necessary wires it still wont start, or at least fire the coilpacks. All sensors have power and correct voltage, all four fuel injectors fire. I have a friend with a 95 S14 with a s14 sr20 so I hooked my ECU and ignitor chip up to his harness and his car will run just fine.

After finding that out I decided that the problem has to be in the splicing of the two harness or in the S14 engine harness itself so I broke down and bought one of the 240sx Tech DVDs on sr20 wiring for the S13 that is advertised at the top of this forum and basically did the connections all over again. It was helpful, but didnt really tell me anything that I already didnt know. I did make a few small tweaks that the DVD pointed out though.

After all that there is still no power to the ignitor chip on either side (coilpack side or ECU side). There is power to the coilpacks coming off of one of the ECU relays, but the fire signal wires from ignitor chip to the coils have no power.

So PLEASE anyone that has had this type of problem or has an idea about what might be wrong please give me a little info on how to fix it. I finished the swap in July and still havent got it to run because of this problem and that I'm in school. I am so frustrated with it that I can barely even look at it anymore. Thanks for any information.

[bgsr240]

F**k it. I'm just going to save up some money and buy a new harness and a Power FC w/ commander !

[Hijacker]

I'm not trying to sound patronizing, but I just want to double check that you are absolutely certain you have power going to the ECU.

From the sounds of it, the main power to the ECU isn't connected, so the ECU isn't supplying voltage to the ignitor. I'd also double check at the coil packs for voltage as well. The packs have 3 plugs. A constant, a ground, and a signal from the igintor to fire.

I would get a continuity tester out and start checking for broken lines somewhere. For all you know, there could be a sliced wire inside the harness from when it was pulled out of the donor car.

[drmerdp]

Did you try your buddies ecu on your car...

[bgsr240]

I'm not trying to sound patronizing, but I just want to double check that you are absolutely certain you have power going to the ECU.

From the sounds of it, the main power to the ECU isn't connected, so the ECU isn't supplying voltage to the ignitor. I'd also double check at the coil packs for voltage as well. The packs have 3 plugs. A constant, a ground, and a signal from the igintor to fire.

I would get a continuity tester out and start checking for broken lines somewhere. For all you know, there could be a sliced wire inside the harness from when it was pulled out of the donor car.

Yes, sounds very logical but I'm certain there is power (constant and switched) because I've checked both right at the ECU plug with a multimeter. All four coil power wires have power. I havent checked for continuity yet because I find it hard to believe that all four signal wires to the ignitor could be broken, but I will check it anyway.

I'm going to try to talk my buddy into letting me plug his ECU into my harness to see what happens, but I have a feeling that he isnt going to want to because he is afraid it might get fried. But anyway hopefully it will run on his ECU so I know the harness is good. If my ECU is bad there is no reason to spend $300 to get a new one and then $500 to have Enthalpy tune it so I'll still just get the Power FC w/commander for less $$$. Thanks guys...

[fast_s14]

hey ben, did you get your wiring issue resolved yet?

[supreamS14]

Im not getting power to my q45 igniter! My car starts and runs but It smokes bad and I can see and smell gas out my exhaust bad! I dont want to wash the rings off or dump fuel in the oil so I NEED HELP!!! It first started running bad and I smelt gas so I checked the plugs and #4 plug was gas soaked. I thought I was maxing out the duty cycle and it got stuck open. I changed the plugs o2 sensor and #4 injector and it ran 10 times better but not how it was at 100%! After I drove it I drove it again and while I was driving it started smoking gas bad so I parked it, changed the injector again it was good again but I was out of gas so I went 2 get 3 gallons and I start it and GAS SMOKE AGAIN!!!

Im thinking maby just maby there is not enuff volts to combust all the fuel and its dumping out the exhaust. Im not good at finding out problems some1 please HELP!!! Yes I used dielectric greece and vaseline and the o rings look good.

[supreamS14]

Injector # 4 wire was loose and shorting and dumping fuel! It was also draining my batt! Got a free AAA tow to xatracing in tampa and they fixed it in 1 hour!

[fast_s13]

hey ben i ordered my apexi power fc finally...did you ever take that cas out of your car and check it or are you still using the extra one