Post some good pictures of the ecu board. Both sides.

Does the crank angle sensor not send the spark signal? He said it was up to 3k RPM that it would sputter.

It's probably not the plug order, but does it really take that long to check the plug order that it wouldn't be worth a check?

There is nothing wrong with checking anything and everything. But blindly throwing parts at a car is just guessing. Test and check away.

And you probably want to lower your plug heat range. The is no need for 7's with the mods you have.

Yea I put in 6ES now. I will take pics of the board today after work and post them.

And I think the sputtering could be from old spark plugs. The car was sitting for a while.

If you think it's the wires, you can check them with an ohm meter.

What's the procedure to check the wires? And by wires you mean the spark plug wires?

I'd be happy to provide you an explanation, but given that it does not pertain to this thread, I would rather do it elsewhere. I don't mean to be offensive, I just notice that every new DSMer that comes on here with an issue gets sent down a half dozen blind alleys.


Awais - If you would like to check your wires, that is your prerogative. You will find they are in the right order.

Testing spark plug wires with an ohm meter is pointless. Given that there's nothing wrong with your wires, testing them by any procedure at this point would also be pointless.

You checked for fuel. Good. Now check for spark.

No offense taken. However when I was changing the plugs I noticed one of the wire was loose meaning it doesn't click into the distributor properly. They are taylor 8mm wires. I widened the clip end of the wire and now it's a little better but still no go. And the boot on the end of two wire boot came off when pulling them from the spark plugs.

I appreciate the help and I understand where you are coming from. I don't want to go checking or purchasing parts blindly either. Will check for spark today and will report back. Also will confirm if I have fuel coming by removing the spark plug after a try at starting the car.

Might be a dumb question but you did replace the 4 year fuel in the tank?

It most likely wouldnt cause your sometimes runs fine problem but it could be cause of the others.

That can be problematic so it's good you noticed it. The reason I'm saying your wires are fine is because you say it runs perfectly fine at times, other than the fact that it stalls after 5 seconds. That wouldn't be possible with wires in a bad order, or an unplugged wire, etc. Also, our engines are perfectly capable of running without one cylinder, so you're looking for something that affects at least two of them, intermittently.

However, as a side note, I would replace your Taylor wires with the factory NGKs found here as soon as possible.

Yes there was barely any in the car. Ran it out and put fresh 91 to the top.

Trying to post a pic here but have no idea how to do so. Any help please

You will need to chose a place to upload your stuff first then post the link.
My two choices are google picasa and dropbox.

Awais, you can email me miles556@hotmail.com and i will post them for you

Perfect

Here we go...

Guys we have spark on all 4 wires. The spark plugs I put in 2 days ago and u can see they're fowling really badly. They're brand new plugs. They were black and smelled funky and the black gunk is like oil.

Getting gas going to the fuel rail. Took the line that goes from the fuel filter into the fuel rail off, asked my brother to crank it and gas went pouring into the cloth I was covering the line with.

So the picture of the plugs up there are plugs that were brand new a few days ago, and have only seen the car cranking?

Yes

I dunno what's going on. The car started once and it was running so smooth. Then just died 5 secs later.

Your ECU looks perfectly fine. But it would be a good preventative measure to change the three capacitors anyway. There may be minor leakage under them that can't be seen, and they are about 23 years old.

And get a socket under that eprom!

What's a socket? And I know the ecu looks fine to the eye but could there be something funky going on electronically? I mean I have spark and I am getting fuel. Thing just doesn't wanna start. Could it be the CAS? Thank god this isn't my daily lol. Have a 89 probe. Phew lol

Just looked socketing will do later. Need the car going for now

The biggest concerns with ECU's are leaking capacitors and the second concern are burnt drivers. Capacitors could be leaking underneath that you can't see. Drivers are the six black rectangles on the left, they look OK. All the chips look undamaged as well. Most problems with ECU's are actually visible.

The chip that says E931 is an Eprom, which means it can be reprogrammed. If you get the electronic place to install a socket underneath the eprom you can change it any time you want, including installing DSM Link.

Understood. I will do some more tests tomorrow or Sunday I havent checked the injectors yet. Could my coil pack me going? And I am not sure when the last owner did the timing belt job. Car has 142000 kms.

I visually looked all the belt by removing the cover and the belt looks fine.

Your plugs look like they have dry carbon build up, or are they oily? What did you gap them to?

The ECU looks good as Robert stated. Do the timing marks line up on the belt? How much fuel pressure does a rag full of fuel equal? The plugs dont look that wet. Could be your fuel pressure or compression is low.

The plugs are oily. I just wiped them clean. And I gaped them to around .028.
Gas came pouring out with a bit of pressure. And when I disconnected the line there wasn't any pressure on the fuel rail. I will do a compression test soon.

There wasnt any pressure in your fuel rail? But cranking with the line off you had pressure? If so try pinching off the return line after the regulator. And see if it starts.

Yea when I took the line from fuel rail there was no pressure it just opened up without any dramatic effects. However when I aksed my brother to crank the car gas came pouring out that it wet the whole rag in about 2 seconds.

The ECU looks fine.

I would also suggest pinching your fuel return line to see what happens. If your regulator isn't holding enough pressure, you won't get enough fuel to keep the car running. Pinching the line is a makeshift way of applying the pressure to the rail when your regulator cannot.

Gasoline is a cleaner; last time I was flooding, my plugs came out with a mirror finish.

Only one plug was semi clean. The rest dark and black and gunky. I think it could be the fuel pump or the fuel pressure regulator. I will pinch the wire and check.

GUYS!!!!! I pinched the return line and the car started like it was nothing. U guys are great help. What should the next step be?

It stayed on and didn't turn off when I gave it gas.

most likely weak pump or failed pressure regulator. How is your fuel system? type of pump ? rewire ?

Replace your CAS and wires..... just kidding. Get a new regulator.

Or do an actual fuel pressure test.

Oh man I'm so relieved. I will look it up how to do a fuel pressure test. I just hope I don't have to change the fuel pump. Cuz from what I heard its a pain to do it.