I wish a had a Chevy 350.

Discuss topics related to the CA18DE and CA18DET series engines.
PapaBurgundy
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So I bought a completely disassembled Ca and after months of unexpected problems and missing parts and wiring issues I finally got the thing running. Problem is it just sits there bouncing off the rev limiter at like 4000rpm and I've checked my maf, tps, ecu and everything else that seems related and it all checks out. Somebody help me!!!


articzap
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I had a stupid problem where my throttle return spring on the throttle body wasn't returning the TB to the fully closed position. It was held open the very slightest amount.

Check it out.

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ca18detgabby
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it is stuck at 4k? as in it idles at 4k? or it hits the rev limiter at 4k?

timing, checking and see if one of the secondary valves are open..... may want to check to see if the TB is fulling closing...... though 4k is high.

please when you report back, give us a bit better discription. your info didnt help diagnose much.

playing doctor is fun, but........

PapaBurgundy
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Yeah my throttle was stuck open a tiny bit but of course after I fixed that it wouldnt start at all, and I still got spark and fuel. By secondary valve you mean the secondary butterflies right? Because those are gone. Someone should fully explain the timing procedure to me but the timing belt is on correctly and the cas has to be put on at tdc on the compression stroke correct? As far as a description goes its a rebuilt to stock motor with an sr turbo, a front mount intercooler, full 3" exhaust, and a ka-e tb and maf other than that its all stock. Its not idling at 4k its like its giving itself throttle but then bouncing off a rev limiter that is for reason at about 4k. Part of that could have been the throttle body being slightly open but like I said it wont start all the sudden so I dont know if it helped.

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float_6969
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Pull the codes and tell us what you get.

PapaBurgundy
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Currently getting nothing from the diagnostic lights on the ECU.

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float_6969
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do they light up when the ignition is in the run position?

PapaBurgundy
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Yup. What I dont understand is how it from starting great and running to nothing at all when all I did was mess with the tb and my friend pulled the cas off but put it back on exactly the same. When it wouldnt run we messed with the cas in every way we could think of but to no avail.

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float_6969
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You've got a wiring problem. The ECU isn't getting power, or it's got a bad ground somewhere. Bad ground is much more likely.

PapaBurgundy
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I'm about to blow my car up because Ive been dumping all my money into it for the last six months and every time I take a step forward I take 7/8ths of a step back and Ive been without a car and almost broke the whole time, not cool when you got a wife and a two year old to support. Dammit I want to kill someone!

PapaBurgundy
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I see what your saying about the grounds but we checked all of them not to mention we never messed with them in between the running and not running point.

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float_6969
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Is the bolt tight on the ECU plug?

Do you have instant messenger?

PapaBurgundy
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Yup already messed with the ecu bolt and no on the the IM.

PapaBurgundy
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I just remembered that my cas got dropped somewhere around the time it stopped running but I still have spark and fuel so that doesnt seem related. Are there any major sensors I'm forgetting to check? My tps has proper voltage, my o2 seems unrelated but is also good, my maf has proper voltage and works fine on my friends car, all grounds are good. Anything I'm missing?

PapaBurgundy
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God dammit I hate cars.

zmannz
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PapaBurgundy wrote:By secondary valve you mean the secondary butterflies right? Because those are gone.
When you say this, do you mean gone as in you took them out? Or, left them unhooked and therefore they are always open. Just wondering because on my old supra I was rebuilding my intake and ic fittings, and my friend took this plug out of the manifold that let all the intake pressure leak through it when we tried to start it which caused the ecu to go haywire and start throwing off codes s bad it would just limp. Found the plug, teflon'd abd replaced and the car worked great again. Basically it was a huge boost leak.

articzap
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People are all over the place and assuming the wrong things way to fast. This forum jumps to the wrong conculsions way to quickly.

You messed with the TB and it won't start now. So lets narrow it down to it might not be getting enough air to start. Make sure the TB adjustment screw holds the blade open ever so slightly. Also check your ICV and idle screw on the manifold.

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MeanGreenS13
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was thinking the same exact thing. make sure the throttle body butterfly is open just ever so slightly, thats the only way your car will idle. if its closed all the way, you can start it if your playing with the throttle, but as soon as you try to let it idle, itll die... BEEN THERE, DONE THIS ONE haha

bentvalves
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articzap wrote:People are all over the place and assuming the wrong things way to fast. This forum jumps to the wrong conculsions way to quickly.

You messed with the TB and it won't start now. So lets narrow it down to it might not be getting enough air to start. Make sure the TB adjustment screw holds the blade open ever so slightly. Also check your ICV and idle screw on the manifold.
A tb screw wont keep it from running, just idling.

If you dropped that CAS, I would start with that. I dropped mine a few years back and although it didnt fail, it drove me to the brink of insanity because I wasnt making the power I should have been.

It finally failed on me the other day, all 4 of them. They are 20 year old optical sensors I think??


articzap
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All he has done is change the TB opening so how is there no a completely irrevelant problem coming about from the CAS? Only work with what you changed. Only try one thing at a time and working in reverse order, otherwise you're jumping all over the place.

PapaBurgundy
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Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2007 5:23 pm
Car: 1991 240SX coupe SE CA18DET. 99 Dodge 2500 Cummins TURBO DIESEL 5spd.

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So I'm a moron, I put the cas back in at tdc of the exhuast stroke and the throttle body was slightly open causing it to rev on its own. Idles and runs great now but it still wont rev past 3k rpm leading me to believe its in limp mode but I was too tired to think of that last night. I suppose I'll check and see if its throwing any codes. Any ideas on what would make it run in limp mode are welcome.

articzap
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If it won't rev past 3k that's probably MAF related. Is your TPS adjusted correctly? Double check your connections.

PapaBurgundy
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Car: 1991 240SX coupe SE CA18DET. 99 Dodge 2500 Cummins TURBO DIESEL 5spd.

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Tps is good and adjusted properly and my maf is wired and working. I shouldnt say it wont rev past 3k but its limited at 3k, it revs great up till then without any bogging or hesitation.

articzap
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What happens when it hits 3k? Is it like a rev limiter because of fuel or spark cut or does it just not want to rev any higher?

PapaBurgundy
Posts: 279
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2007 5:23 pm
Car: 1991 240SX coupe SE CA18DET. 99 Dodge 2500 Cummins TURBO DIESEL 5spd.

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Its limited by fuel/spark cut, for a couple seconds after I reinstalled the cas properly it would rev great all the way to 7500 and then went back to limiting at 3k.

PapaBurgundy
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Someone should list the diagnostic light meanings because my computer almost explodes when I try to download the fsm.

articzap
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zerothread?id=270584

Is that what you're looking for?

PapaBurgundy
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Excellent, thanks.

PapaBurgundy
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Car: 1991 240SX coupe SE CA18DET. 99 Dodge 2500 Cummins TURBO DIESEL 5spd.

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She runs! Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions, turned out to be my fault, as most car problems are. Just some bad maf wiring and a huge vacuum leak as well as a stuck open tb. Thanks again for the help.

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ca18detgabby
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If you would list all the things you did to correct your problem(in a bit greater detail) it woudl be very helpful for others...... would really appreciate it.

glad to see your rolling.


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