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Wasted Spark - Constant Sparking

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Old 27-03-2011, 08:59 PM
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onslack
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Default Wasted Spark - Constant Sparking

need a little help or some info on this

just re fitted my engine and in the process of starting it, but ive noticed that i have a constant buzz from my coil pack and when i check for a spark i have a constant one!

anyone got any ideas why this is and what causes it?
Old 27-03-2011, 09:06 PM
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try the crank sencer m8
Old 28-03-2011, 09:14 AM
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Bounce for the batty
Old 28-03-2011, 09:35 AM
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cheers dave i'll have a look at that

alex -
Old 28-03-2011, 09:21 PM
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Had this once on an L8 equipped Escort Cos. The connector from baby board to main board was not making proper contact. A slap to the ECU made it work initially then I fixed it properly.
Old 29-03-2011, 07:05 PM
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Anyone else got any ideas ?

The ecu hasnt been touched !
Old 29-03-2011, 09:30 PM
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Neither had this one...
Old 29-03-2011, 09:52 PM
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It must be powered in some way?Check the wiring is correct,not snagged when you put the motor back in etc.
If you have a wiring diagram,I can tell you the most likely place to look for faults.
Old 30-03-2011, 06:26 PM
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cheers for the replys guys

i have access to wiring diagrams, any suggestions on where to look for faults are welcome

when the engine was removed and put back in my loom was tucked out the way so i'm pretty sure its not snagged, but i'll check that as well

would this constant sparking make the car hard to start as i'm having issues starting the thing!

Last edited by onslack; 30-03-2011 at 06:29 PM.
Old 30-03-2011, 09:09 PM
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Have you checked the ECU like I said?

Dead coil driver board or baby board connections. Thats my experience of this fault. As soon as the ignition is on, a buzzing and a constant spark. The car will not run like that.
Old 30-03-2011, 09:16 PM
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ive not had a chance to check it yet daz, i went to the garage to find out why my fuel pump wasnt priming so that took up most of my time before i had to head home as it was getting dark, having no lighting is shiiit

i'm off tomorrow so i'll grab it and crack it open and have a look
Old 30-03-2011, 09:19 PM
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I've seen it twice now and it's been the board plug. One car hadn't even been worked on. Just came to go out in it and nothing but a buzzing everytime the ignition was switched on and just cranks over and over and over.
Old 30-03-2011, 09:24 PM
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that is pretty much exactly what i have right now

it pops when turning over and if i crank it over long enough and then switch it off and the ign back on i get a massive bang out the exhaust!
Old 30-03-2011, 09:26 PM
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Sounds exactly the same. Just take the lid off, with the ignition off, un plug it and plug it back in and then see if it starts.
Old 30-03-2011, 09:30 PM
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i'll give that a try tomorrrow, thanks again for you help

i'll keep you updated
Old 31-03-2011, 01:30 PM
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ive taken the lid off the ecu and had a poke around, i cant seem to see anything that loose. i have given all the connections and chip a push to make sure they were all making contact

not had a chance to start the car yet, so i'll give that a go today if i get a chance, if not it'll be tomorrow
Old 31-03-2011, 01:42 PM
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How many plugs is it constantly sparking on all four or just two ??
Old 31-03-2011, 01:48 PM
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i only checked plug no.1, i just presumed it would be doing it on all of them
Old 31-03-2011, 02:31 PM
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strange, if you need, feel free to fire the ecu in for testing.
Old 31-03-2011, 02:38 PM
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cheers James - its very strange as i cant remember it doing this before my engine came out for a rebuild!

i'll give it another go after we've re-checked the timing is 100% and see if it fired up, if not i'll drop you a pm and get it send in for testing
Old 31-03-2011, 03:14 PM
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Isn't this what Alex's did when teh wasted spark board blew?
Old 31-03-2011, 03:16 PM
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yup thats what fatty told me and he said it was still doing it, yet i dont remember it making the buzzing noise!

then again you cant hear shit over that loud chavtastic exhaust he has
Old 31-03-2011, 07:17 PM
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check if its sparking constantly on all cylinders if its just 1 and 3 then its one of your ignition amps if all four its a different problem.

Check the 2 wires that go through the bulkhead to the ecu pins 21 and 26 make sure they are not shorting to earth.

Check that you have battery voltage at pin 4 on both 7 way connetors (centre pin)
Old 31-03-2011, 08:26 PM
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did u cure the fuel pump fault?i had this once,i also lost the fuel pump relay earth(think it goes to ecu pin 28 if i remember right?)
i dont exactly know what the fault was but i went into the ecu and resoldered the wasted spark connections and it never did it again,maybe disturbed something back in ecu??either way i would deffo say mine was ecu related
Old 31-03-2011, 10:06 PM
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Originally Posted by SilverBullet
check if its sparking constantly on all cylinders if its just 1 and 3 then its one of your ignition amps if all four its a different problem.

Check the 2 wires that go through the bulkhead to the ecu pins 21 and 26 make sure they are not shorting to earth.

Check that you have battery voltage at pin 4 on both 7 way connetors (centre pin)
didnt think of the ign amps, i'll check the other cylinders tomorrow and see what they are doing!

i checked pins 21 and 26 but i'll re check them and i'll check for voltage to the middle pins as i didnt do that

Originally Posted by roop
did u cure the fuel pump fault?i had this once,i also lost the fuel pump relay earth(think it goes to ecu pin 28 if i remember right?)
i dont exactly know what the fault was but i went into the ecu and resoldered the wasted spark connections and it never did it again,maybe disturbed something back in ecu??either way i would deffo say mine was ecu related
yeah i did in the end, well it appears to have been sorted, i found an earth pin had come out a reply which i think might have been the ecu relay? as my mate alex had his iaw connected and it wasnt picking the ecu up at all ( not tried the iaw since i reconnected the pin though)

ive had my ecu apart today and it all looks ok, so i'm going to give it another go and see how we get on

we're going to re check the timing first off just to make sure and then go from there to checking the other plugs to see if they constantly spar or not, so i'll keep this thread updated
Old 04-04-2011, 08:51 AM
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just wanted to update this

i took my ecu apart last week and everything seemed to be seated ok, so yesterday morning the ecu was re-connected to the car and a mate of mine helped me check the constant sparking issue

we checked all 4 cylinders and the constant sparking issue had gone, not sure how as i didnt really do anything to the ecu other than look at it and prod it a few times

we then re checked the timing and found the dizzy was out slightly so we re-adjusted that and with another mtes iaw software connected i turned the key and she fired up pretty much on the button

cheers to everyone who helped me out
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