clyde 1800

i have a sierra sapphire dohc
how it happened
i was out in it one day before the frost and noticed the powersteering was failing
pulled her in and noticed the tensioner had broken
i then parked her up
was at work one day and realised i hadnt put anti freeze in her
went out to her that evening and disconnected the rad pipe

that saturday i then towed her into the shed making sure not to put her in gear etc
while she was inside i changed the tensioner and also the altinator
i took the radiator and the fans out to do this
i pulled some wires off and pushed them to one side
afterwards i connected everything again
but didnt put in any water because i wanted to drive it just outside the shed to the hose for handyness

after a few weeks i went back to her and she was well thawed
i tried to start her with no joy
looked into this and found that she was not getting the spark

what i have done
i have a sister car that is running 100%
i swapped the crankshaft sensor
swapped coil pack
wired fuel pump direct
bought and fitted a new coil
(coil is getting 12v from battery on ignition)
swapped the brain (ecu)
engine is well earthed and all fuses are 100%


any ideas? will start a thread on this car soon it becoming a cosworth replica hopefully in time for the donegal 2011

martysmartie

iTrader: (1)

Check the green ground wire is not broken, this is the switched side of the coil which goes back to ECU, not sure on your model but some models have an ignition amplifier which will be under bonnet somewhere (Trace the wire back) these can fail as well.

Martin

clyde 1800

today i changed all the relays one at at time with the sister car apart from the little ones and the sister still 100%
then wired coil direct and was getting spark
also on the negative side of the coil i swapped alittle black jointer
still no luck

clyde 1800

thanks martin i will try these later
what does the ignition amplifier look like?

martysmartie

iTrader: (1)

TBH I don't think yours would have one, I know the 1.8 does not, the Cosworth has and it's mounted on the passenger inner wing.

If the black "Joiner" is square and has two wires leaving it thats a suppressor.

I presume you know the LT (King) lead is known to be working as the standard car had a coil although you do mention that and a coil pack?

What do you mean you wired the coil direct?

Martin

clyde 1800

yea the king lead is grand
i pulled negative and positive leads from the battery direct to the coil
this resulted in a spark
a friend of mine said to remove the imobilizer which is situated under the side panel at the pedals
is this a good idea?

Mike Kerbey

iTrader: (1)

There is an ignition amp on the dohc. Its on the exhaust side down by the chassis leg, if I remember correctly its under a small heatshield. Try swaping that with your good car. Also make sure you havent damaged the hose going to the MAP sensor, not sure if damaging this would cause it not to spark. Ive had a dodgy one before and it stalls the engine.

martysmartie

iTrader: (1)

Yes change the amp now it's confirmed it has one and the location.

Martin

clyde 1800

thats what i would call the coil pack
i have already changed this and still no luck
i have been studying the haynes manual (its like my bible)
and have followed the green wire back as far as behind the dash
i will remove the dash tomorrow night and see where it goes
is there any way i could possibly test this wire?

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

have you checked to see if your getting fuel. Is the fuel pump werring. Im sure the fuel pumps on the dohc engine are inside the tank.

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

shit sorry just seen u had wired the fuel pump lol. So i take it the pumps working. Are you getting fuel to the fuel rail.

clyde 1800

yea shes pumping fuel
wired the pump direct temporarily by putting a battery in the boot and two wires

clyde 1800

yea is coming to the rail 100%

martysmartie

iTrader: (1)

To the rev counter and also the ECU via the ignition amp

Martin

clyde 1800

are there any relays under the dash?
just a thought

clyde 1800

there is no green wire going to the ECU

martysmartie

iTrader: (1)

I think it's the actual amp that it connects to and from the amp back to the ECU, the green going behind the dash is defo for the rev counter though.

Martin

clyde 1800

thanks marty smartie
what does the amp look like?
brief description of the green wire
from the negative side of the coil there is the spud
this is on a dark green wire which goes down and ends joining into two light green wires
from the haynes manual wiring diagram and from inspection
one wire goes to the dash and the other goes to the coil pack and ends

so tonight i borrowed a voltmeter from a friend
i put it onto the green wire spud and no volts going there with the ignition on
so i followed the green wire back putting the voltmeter onto the bleep setting
between the spud and the joint i am getting a bleep
between the joint and the connection behind the battery there is no bleep
i then stripped a little of the insulation off the wire at the drivers side of the car in the engine bay
i got no response between here and the connector behind the battery

maybe its the voltmeter??
any other suggestions welcome
the car is turning over 100% as normal
could it be the flywheel?

clyde 1800

i tried to add to your rep power marty
not sure how though?

martysmartie

iTrader: (1)

Nope the spark is generated from input from the CPS, this usually gets info from the crank pulley (36-1) in your case I should think, I know the CVH is, that being 36 teeth with 1 missing, this is how TDC is signif.

Heres the ignition amp however this is from a Cosworth but should look similar, from the info said above it's by exhaust on your model.



Remember it's when the coil ground connection is BROKEN the spark is generated due to the voltage collapse.

I forget now with coils but I think if you connect the probe to the earth terminal (Green wire) with the other connected to the live you should see +12V if not I should think the coil, despite it being replaced.

Thanks for the rep, I think you may have to view my profile then add perhaps?

Martin

clyde 1800

shes breathing again!! found the problem and with fingers crossed turned her over and she started literally within one second of turning the key!
so put her up on the lift and gave her a nice wee service

martysmartie

iTrader: (1)

Great news, so what was it...

Martin

clyde 1800

it was from memory the engine loom wires ar the drivers side engine mount the 2 plugs werent connected properly

clyde 1800

i think i seen a broken plug on the thermostat and changed the engine loom