Starting issues

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xjokux

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I've just almost completed my conversion on my cb lancer. I've put this in the vr4 section since its a vr4 engine + loom.

Atm its not starting. I have spark and fuel. I've previously done this conversion in my other lancer which got defected and i've done a straight swap into my current lancer. Now i've come across this issue. Im stumped on ideas now. I've been working on it all wkend.

It cranks but doesnt wanna detonate and keeps flooding the spark plugs. Ecu has been check no bad smell nor burn marks.Tested 12v from all ecu power pins.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
 
pretty sure the cas work cause i can adjust the timing

as for ignitor you mean the coil pack? it produces sparks
 
So you can set and adjust timing, and you have spark. Disconnect the Cas and pull the plugs out, crank it for a little bit to dry out the excess fuel, then put the plugs back in and reconnect the Cas and try again.

Check all you wiring for the temp sensors, there is 1 that must be connected as it tells the ecu the temp, if this wire is broken then the ecu goes into failsafe mode and won't start
 
So you can set and adjust timing, and you have spark. Disconnect the Cas and pull the plugs out, crank it for a little bit to dry out the excess fuel, then put the plugs back in and reconnect the Cas and try again.

Check all you wiring for the temp sensors, there is 1 that must be connected as it tells the ecu the temp, if this wire is broken then the ecu goes into failsafe mode and won't start

There's your answer Jono.
Craig, I laughed at Nigel for listening to your advice, but just sometimes you come out with some good ancient info from the VR4 archives that is your brain lol. :p

Do you know which plug it is? As in what it's for? I thought there might be something like that but I wasn't sure.

The night before I went over because he couldn't get it running and he didn't have his injector resistor pack hooked up (he had it switched with the idle stepper motor). After connecting the resistor pack up, the engine fired up which makes me think it's gotta be something simple, cos it was working then, which was like 24hrs before and he said he didn't change anything since apart from putting the exhaust on and filling the radiator with water.
I was annoyed that I couldn't get it started but there were so many things wrong with his car it was kinda futile and seeing I rode there I didn't have anything with me so I gave up lol.

His wiring loom is an absolute mess and virtually nothing is hooked up apart from the essentials.
Two of his coil pack terminals are way corroded (looks like electrolysis), and he's getting a weak spark on the plug (dead battery). His injectors are firing but it seems they are spitting out heaps of fuel and extinguishing the spark. I know the ECU allows the injectors to pass more fuel than usual during start-up and he is using 560cc injectors, but his fuel pressure is ~32psi and he says his ECU is 'chipped' for 560's.

Having said that, it should still run, it'll just run like shit.

We motored the engine without the spark plugs or fuel injecting, cleaned and filed the spark plugs, rotated the crank to TDC and checked the alignment of the CAS. Whacked it all back together and threw aerostart down the butterfly but it didn't even splutter.
I'm not sure if the spark plug leads were in the right order but considering the ignition is a waste-spark system, I just plugged cyl 1&4 to one coil and 2&3 to the other. Then swapped them to the other coils as there was no success.

What you're saying would make sense though dude. Good luck finding the plug in that mess Jono! lol
Let me know how you go buddy, I'll have more time after Thursday if you need any more help. :)

Cheers. :)
 
What advice did I give Nigel that would cause you to laugh at it?

The plug is a 2 pin plug from memory, on the thermostat housing you should have the following
1 pin plug - temp gauge in dash
1 pin plug - fan over ride
2 pin plug (T style) - ecu signal
2 pin plug (small terminals) - air con (if you don't have aircon then this one isn't necessary.

As rob said if the timing belt has jumped you will get the same results
If the Cas is 180° out you will get the same results
If you aren't getting a strong enough spark you may see similar results

Mo if you have a spare coil and ignitor that you know work then drop them in just to eliminate them as being the cause
 
Cheers guys.

Brian, I checked the ECU GND wires, they're connected.

Rob, I didn't have a compression tester handy but the engine seems to struggle against cylinder compression compared to easy rotation when the spark plugs are removed.

Craig, idk man I just laughed at the whole idea of you giving someone advice. Hehehe
Relax man. :p

If Jono hasn't got it sorted by Thursday I'll go over with some proper tools and spare ignition parts, I'll also check the camshaft timing marks against TDC.

The two prong connector ontop of the thermostat housing, isn't that for turning the A/C fan on?
And the other two prong one is the coolant temp. sensor for the ECU. A VR4 will run without both of those. It will run in failsafe mode whereby it assumes the engine is cold (Hi Z), so it will consume more fuel but will run. I just ran my VR4 without both of these plugs to confirm it and my car is stock.

EDIT: Sorry Craig I just read your plug description lol

Still don't know which connector it is though.
 
The one on the top is ac, my vr4 wouldn't start with the ecu one disconnected.

Check compression, make sure you open the throttle body when you do it, remember my red one was showing good compression but wouldn't start, we found that the intake valves were bent when we lifted the head.

It's goin to be a process of elimination, if your not getting good spark then start there
 
The one on the top is ac, my vr4 wouldn't start with the ecu one disconnected.

Check compression, make sure you open the throttle body when you do it, remember my red one was showing good compression but wouldn't start, we found that the intake valves were bent when we lifted the head.

It's goin to be a process of elimination, if your not getting good spark then start there

Mmm, wow is that why it wouldn't start? I thought you never found out why.
How does that work though?
Firstly, how did the engine maintain compression with compromised valve sealing?
And secondly, if it had good compression, why didn't the engine start (assuming fuel and spark were good)?
I'm really confused now lol
 
keep in mind that the engine work and driven jus over a week ago and running few days ago. I just can't see why it wont now.

I've bought a bigger battery too mo and I'm gonna just go back to my old 4g61na loom and add the extra wires needed. Im guessing I've probably splice or damage a wire whilst feed it from engine bay into chassis. It wont take long to add few more wires. I probably should of left my loom and did that but i thought swapping loom equals to works already done.
 
The valves were only slightly bent, so when we did a compression test it was showing up with ok compression, I can't remember if we opened the throttle though.
 

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