legacycentral bbs

my car seems destined to thwart me...... car started fine in the morning, so i was like yeah!! then i put the exhaust and the bumper on (bumpers just sitting in place) and took it for a spin around the parking lot. worked great. took it out for a couple more and each and each time the car would die more, but i didnt notice at the time, then i finally parked it and when to go get lunch, came back and it would start but idled really low and then when the gas was pressed down it would slowly rev up to about 750 and then die (it also clicked at the throttle body). let it sit over the weekend and came back to see if it would run (still didnt run) so we checked the basic stuff (see if it was getting any gas, spark, and stuff) it turns out there is no spark. i'm stumped so far and again i am calling out for help. thanks,

jake

Just for the hell of it, check your crankshaft pulley and bolt. See if the bolt is tightened enough. Even though you should still be able to get a spark with a loose bolt, your symptoms sound like they could be caused the pulley.... Might as well check it to clear that off the list of possibilities....

Andrew

Checked the crankshaft pulley/bolt, but thats not the culprit. if it is any help i did repair the cam/crank/knock sensor wires due to them being all brittle from being right next to the turbo..... i really need help, this car has to be up and running by the middle of october. thanks,

jake

Is the battery in good shape?

Can you hook a scope or at least an analog voltmeter to the crank and cam position sensor signal lines to see if they're both outputting a signal?

Have you checked to see if the ECU stored any trouble codes?

Do you have access to a spare ignitor and/or ignition coil pack that you could swap in?

Does the Check Engine light come on when you turn the ignition on?

Are the injectors pulsing?

i just took the intercooler off (major PITA) and guess what i found... the camshaft sensor plug had wiggled loose i'm not sure if it was the sensor or not so i will run some "tests", but hopefully it was just from being unplugged. thanks for your suggestions,especially vrg3 (my car wouldnt be running if it wasnt for you). thanks again

jake

You're welcome.

Woah, a disconnected cam angle sensor... that's almost certain to cause some trouble. Plug it back in and let us know.

*update*
i took the i/c off and plugged in the cam sensor, put it back together and it still didnt start, check today and the car now has spark and gas, but it still doesnt run......... i'm still very confused

Hm. Does it even start to catch when cranking?

The battery's well charged, right?

battery is kind of dead, but when starting it had a jumper box on it. it turns over and sometimes it catches and starts but dies immediatley. no codes are thrown and it doesn't run long enough to check everything on the scanner.

Is it possible the cam belt jumped a few teeth or is otherwise damaged?

it is possible, but i just replaced it...

Hm. It's worth taking a look at...

The ECU didn't store any trouble codes?

nope, the ecu is free of all codes, history and all.

i will look at the timing belt, it cant hurt

the car now works!!!!! we figured out it was a combination of one plug that was barely plugged in, my re-wiring of the knock sensor (rewired them again), and the spark plugs being completely black )(from running rich). fixed it all and so far so good. i need to cut up my spare hood for the hoodscoop and get my hands on a boost controller 12psi here i come thanks for all the help... again

Cool, glad you figured it out. So the spark plugs just weren't firing?

yeah i guess so... it had weak spark before from the not so good rewiring job i did, so i think the combination of that just caused the spark plugs to not fire. i took it for a drive and it runs and drives good and pulls nicely for the stock boost levels