weird no start. have spark&fuel

[ANVIL]

so today i ran into a weird issue where my car wouldnt start up. s13 rb25det s1. yesterday my car was running really rough so i adjusted the CAS in attempt to make it run better and it did. i let it run for a few minutes. its too loud to run for longer... im only running off the dump pipe until i put the rest of my exhaust on. i shut it off and tried again today and it started up and then died. tried to start it up but it wouldnt. i tried a few times before i decided i think i flooded it. so i take out all the plugs and they all have just a little fuel on them. i dry them off and spray air into the cylinders. disconnect fuel pump and cranked for a few seconds. then put everything back together, except the fuel pump relay and attemt to start. cranks ok. hooked up the relay again and try but it cranks and right as it would about to start, the lights go dim and after cranking its making this weird winding noise. i try again a few times but same thing keeps happening. checked the battery voltage, 12.09v. tried again and same thing. i really dont know what it is and never seen anything like it. i dont even know what to check.

usually its like, crank-crank-startsits now doing crank-crank-lights dim and weird winding sound

[moso240]

somthing similar happened to me...it would just crank and not start but i alsohad fuel and spark..and no ECU codes...i found out by disconnected my injectors and it purred like a kitten for about 5 secounds that it was flooding out badly with fuel...a new MAF fixed it tho

[240z4u]

Sounds like the injector compensation is not set correctly for those injectors you got from me. Try playing with that.

Your battery might be crapping out too.

[ANVIL]

so i played with the injector settings in FC-edit (im pretty sure they are right now), fully charged the battery, made sure the cylinders werent flooded and re-aligned the CAS and still the same results. getting really irritating.

so i decide to try to check the CAS per FSM but im a little confused. im going by this:



im trying to follow it but its a little confusing to me. i can hear the injectors going off when i spin the shaft... when i check the voltage to #2 i get battery voltage, 3 and 4 depending on the position of the shaft its 5v or lower. nothing at 1.

is my CAS ok?

im just so fustrated with my car, it was literally just running and now it wont even start.

[ANVIL]

offering a small paypal reward to who ever leads me in the right direction.... i need this car running and back on the road!

[ANVIL]

$40 paypal to who ever puts me on the right track to fixing it. yeah its not much...but hey its something

[noodl35]

Your battery is probably dying, that's why it won't crank up. For the flooding issue, that sounds exactly what my sr20det was doing. It would flood but would flood due to a loose connection to my coolant temp. sensor. Try making sure that sensor is in working order and plugged in firmly. Also, after getting your cranking issue fixed, try taking each injector out and turn the key to ign. on position. At this point see if you hear fuel go through the lines but make sure to look at each injector to see if fuel leaks out the injector....it SHOULD NOT! If it leaks then you found your flooding culprit. Fix injector as necessary. These are problems i have fixed in the past when it came to flooding issues.

[noodl35]

Also a good tip on letting fuel dry out of the cylinders is take each plug out and let the cylinders dry completely....even if it takes all night. If there is too much fuel in there then the fuel will not atomize enough to cause spark.

[ANVIL]

well it cranks but it just wont get that first initial fire up. ive been making sure the battery is fully charged everytime i try to tackle this. using an actual battery charger, not jumpstarting it. just checked the CTS, its plugged in good. it should still start with a bad cts though right? i know these injectors are good, evan wouldnt sell me bad injectors and hes been trying to help me figure this thing out too through emails.

im pretty sure its not a flooding issue. i also been making sure the cylinders arent flooded when i try to diag the problem, i left the plugs out and blew air into them several times over a 24 hr period. a few times after cranking i check the plugs and they are pretty dry, and i even tried a few different times without the fuel pump relay in

some other things ive tried were, loading my old pfc map and trying, trying the pfc base map. trying settings i adjusted for the new injectors. also tried with the maf unplugged. tried lower and raising fuel pressure. double checked and tightend all the bolts/fittings on the intake manifold for possible leaks

any other advise would be helpful... im so close to getting back on the road.

[ANVIL]

no one else has any suggestions on what i can check?

checked the timing and its dead on, also compression tested 155-160 on all cylinders. i really need some help....

[240daveTX]

set the CAS back to te center and try from there...

if you havent done that already

[ANVIL]

yeah i tried that. the alignment key for my CAS broke off though from previously not running spacers or an upper timing cover. can someone post up a pic of the cam key inside the cam gear and also a pic of inside their CAS? to use as a reference to make sure 100% im putting on aligned correctly

its really killing me to not have this thing running, especially when the roads are all clear and everybody in town is bringing out their summer cars. if i cant figure out my car within probablly a week or if no one can help me i will be highly considering just towing it to my tuner (nissan specialty shop) and have him do the diag. sucks though because pockets are getting tight and i still need to save up for my tuning session

[240daveTX]

i have a 20 i can go get a few pics if you need them. dont know if they are the same though.

is the ignitor properly grounded?
Modified by 240daveTX at 6:27 PM 4/18/2009

[240daveTX]

if you look about half way down you can see the other half moon piece used to properly align the CAS.

oh and i just noticed my CAS has a mitsu logo on the front of it.

[whoareu]

yeah i tried that. the alignment key for my CAS broke off though from previously not running spacers or an upper timing cover. can someone post up a pic of the cam key inside the cam gear and also a pic of inside their CAS? to use as a reference to make sure 100% im putting on aligned correctly

its really killing me to not have this thing running, especially when the roads are all clear and everybody in town is bringing out their summer cars. if i cant figure out my car within probablly a week or if no one can help me i will be highly considering just towing it to my tuner (nissan specialty shop) and have him do the diag. sucks though because pockets are getting tight and i still need to save up for my tuning session

i feel your pain man, its killing me not having mine up and running either. is it completely stock?have you checked the tps?

[vin diesel]

do you have another MAF to try?

[Kansei240sx]

These are in no specific order, its 3:23 am and i am tired as it is. Hopefully this mild check list will help.

Check your grounds to the battery, check for corrosion.

Test the resistance of the ground cable too.

Another thing, sometimes you can charge a battery and it will have 12 volts all day but you might burn the electrolytes and hydrogen(gassing) which will severely drop the Cold/Crank amps of the battery. Try jumping the car.

With that out of the way, make sure you have 12 volts to the alternator, and that your alternator is grounded properly.

Also, have you tried starting the engine without the MAF plugged in?

What is fuel pressure?

Check all of your fusible links and fuses.

If you can, or if you have access, try and see if you can find a machine or test your starter to see how many amps it is pulling when you crank it.

If the windings in the armature have high resistance it pulls a ridiculous amount of current and can cause a massive voltage drop depriving the ECU of its minumum voltage to start and run properly.

[ANVIL]

i do have the stock maf i can try, im using a z32 one now... but it should be good... plus it doesnt start with our without it plugged in. i also tried with different fuel pressures, right now its at like 40. ived checked most of that stuff...except the starter thing.... i havent checked all the fuses but im pretty sure they are all good... i will double check them. thanks for the suggestions

and 240daveTX thanks for the pics... but can u get one better lit on the cam area?

[s13_240_rb20]

$40 paypal to who ever puts me on the right track to fixing it. yeah its not much...but hey its something

How bout $30 just to get it running but with no explanation I can figure out? lol

This is going to blow your mind (if it is the same problem I have). When mine absolutely positively refuses to start, I take the pos+ battery terminal COMPLETELY off the post for about 10 seconds. Reconnect it, and it starts right up for me... Whatever my problem is, I think my ECU eventually compensates for it and tries to run on screwy settings....

Just try it....

--TJ$$$ = [email protected]

[Kansei240sx]

^Sounds like you have an intermittent problem that you're not actually fixing.

His problem sounds like a high electrical load on the system, and taking the battery cables off for 10 seconds and putting them back on doesnt seem like a plausible fix. I'd do an AMP draw test too to see if you've got a current draw with the system off.

If you need any other info just send me an email [email protected]

[ANVIL]

How bout $30 just to get it running but with no explanation I can figure out? lol

This is going to blow your mind (if it is the same problem I have). When mine absolutely positively refuses to start, I take the pos+ battery terminal COMPLETELY off the post for about 10 seconds. Reconnect it, and it starts right up for me... Whatever my problem is, I think my ECU eventually compensates for it and tries to run on screwy settings....

Just try it....

--TJ$$$ = [email protected]

doesnt work. im using a Power FC btw.

i hate my car.

[silviasgp06]

just wondering, have you checked the sensor check menu on your PFC to see if anything is highlighted?

[Thanielson]

ya check code's for sure im having like the same problem i pluged my laptop in and i have a code 11 and im feeling your pain if i get it working ill let ya know let me know if you get yours fixed and what it was. i did like nothing to get mine messed moved the ecu like 4 inchs then the next morning went to start it get's fuel but no spark tho cranks just fine tho.
Modified by Thanielson at 7:46 PM 4/22/2009

[ANVIL]

nothing highlighted.... just dots next to IGN, ECC and NTR

[s13_240_rb20]

just out of curiosity...have you checked for voltages on the ECU's main signal wires, such as that IGN, memory, etc??

--TJ

[ANVIL]

no i havent... which should i check and why?

[Sil240]

Hey,

Have you checked your TIMING???I had the same exact problem when I first started my car.

I re-did the timing then I also made sure the CAS was good.It turned out that since I too had broken the key off, the CAS was 180 deg off.So all of the fuel was just going through your exhaust.

Check that bro, hopefully that helps!!!

The next time I'm in Alaska, I want a ride in the whip!!

[s13_240_rb20]

no i havent... which should i check and why?

I am a little fuzzy on the details, but some wires power the ecu, tell it when to operate, and even have constant battery voltage so the ecu retains its "memory" of your engine's performance/whatever (so it can better manage your engine's performance/whatever).....

Just common sense to make sure your ecu is wired up well, since everything else seems to work fine...without the ecu working, I am pretty sure it won't ever start....just turn and turn and turn....but that is only because the STARTER tells it to turn over..

--TJ??

[ANVIL]

well im pretty sure the ecu is powered correctly. it still has all my old info on there, and its not showing any errors with any sensors

[ANVIL]

if anyone has time, can you take a pic of the cam with the valve cover off...and a pic of where they cam key is so i can get an idea what it should look like when the key is at a certain position? the key off my camshaft broke and its just flat now.