Losing Faith

[78zcar_blue]

Have you thought of replacing the "Black Box" with a GM HEI ignition? this is what I did and have been very happy with it, it is very reliable, and cost about $20 from any parts store. Just my 2cent. The black wire will go to a ground source on a 5 wire setup.

Edited December 15, 2010 by 78zcar_blue

[SledgehammerX]

The problem was I wired the ICM in the wrong order and I had the coil wires reversed. I have all the wires in the correct places now. Now it turns over and faster than before and you can hear it combusting in the chamber like it's wanting to start but won't.

[FastWoman]

If it fires and then dies, fires and dies, fires and dies, then it could be the injectors aren't firing. What little bit of fuel you get might be from the cold start valve and/or leakage from old injectors. (Been there, done that, own the T-shirt.)

Check for continuity between your negative coil terminal and the #1 pin on your ECU connector. No connectivity = no fuel. You could easily have messed up that connection when messing with the wiring in your system. If you can measure coil resistance between the coil's (-) and the #1, then you might have your #1 hooked to the (+) of the coil.

Juice your intake with starter fluid, start your engine briefly, and see if your tach does anything. Same circuit.

These are all important diagnostic steps. I keep typing the same thing over and over for you, as though they're sort of important. Perhaps you could give them a try? Either that, or perhaps I should stop typing.

Edited December 15, 2010 by FastWoman

[SledgehammerX]

It won't fire and die, just turn over and you can hear combustion in the chamber but it won't hit

[FastWoman]

OK, then. I'll take that as a "probably" that your ignition really works. (You've never really confirmed this, and it takes much longer for me to type the same thing over and over than for you to squirt a bit of starter fluid in the intake and give it a quick try.) Without knowing more (like real confirmation that your ignition really does work), I can't really help you anymore.

Given that your ignition PROBABLY works, I suppose your next step is fuel.

Take a look at the EFI diagnostics. Notice that there are multitudes of reasons an engine might not start. Notice that there are multitudes of diagnostic procedures that must be done in order to determine the cause(s) of the no-start condition. Without useful diagnostic information from you, there's nobody here who can tell you why your engine doesn't start.

My sincere advice: Take it to a good mechanic.

[Zed Head]

Sounds like either fuel or timing, or both. Did you mess with anything else while you were trying to get spark?

FastWoman offers a simple, effective test to see if timing and spark are correct. Buy or borrow a can of Starting Fluid, spray some in the manifold and crank it over. You could spray it through a vacuum line if you don't want to pull the big hoses in front of the AFM. Or pour a little raw gasoline in there. If timing and spark are close, it will rev up for a second or two, before dying again.

[FastWoman]

... and I'm sorry, Sledge. Bad attitude on my part. Hopefully we can get your car running right, eh?

[SledgehammerX]

As it stands, I am waiting on someone to be free who has knowledge on how to time the engine. Tomm I will be buying a bottle of starting fluid to give that a shot as well. I'm hoping that I can get this narrowed down. I really want to drive this car. I just wish it wasn't so complicated to me. I built my 300zx and did everything to it, rebuilt engine, auto to 5spd conversion, new ecu, timing belt job, it was all a breeze, this car makes it seem so difficult. So if I spray starting fluid in the TB, and she runs it's a fuel issue? If that doesn't work it's timing? Well so far anyways. Btw, FastWoman its all good. I'm not taking anything to personal, I'm just stressed that's all. (obviously about a lot more than this car)

[FastWoman]

Yeah, these early L-Jetronic systems are quite "simple" in their design, but that makes them strangely tricky to diagnose. Plus they use all analog circuitry, not digital, and Cozye and I have found that can make them a bit problematic.

Yes, if you try the starter fluid and the engine runs (briefly), then you've ruled out everything but fuel/air. There are a few ways you can introduce it. The easiest way might be to pull off a small vacuum tube (e.g. the smaller one near the rear of the intake manifold) and spray the stuff through the fitting. Another way would be to open the air cleaner box, pull out the filter, and spray the fluid through the hole at the bottom. It will pool at the air flow meter, but that's fine.

BTW, starter fluid is a good thing to have on hand with any car that's tempermental. When a car won't start for almost any reason (except spark), starter fluid will at least get it to hit.

Fingers crossed for you...

[SledgehammerX]

I just sprayed starting fluid in the upper hose piece in between the AFM and the Throttle Body, it gave a light backfire from the exhaust and the AFM made some racket. It DID NOT start. Now what?

[FastWoman]

Ah, gee, I really thought it might work. OK, then, we did this test for a reason. I suspect your ignition still isn't working. Could be timing, though (but probably not).

OK, try pulling the center wire off of the distributor and placing the end with the metal about 1/8" from a tower bolt. Weight the wire with a tool so that it stays there. Then crank the engine for several seconds. Do you get a continuous series of sparks or only just a few? Are the sparks reasonably strong?

[cozye]

I'm thinking he does have spark, and it did fire. He did get a backfire, which wouldn't have happened without a spark?

how much starter fluid did you spray in there?