lastchance

do you know how to get to chad's gap?

alright, battery is all charged, grounds are cleaned/checked, started the car up and after sitting for a solid 3-4 months it idle perfectly for 5 minutes. check engine light is still stuck on, though.

yeah, that first ground you mentioned is the one i pulled and cleaned really well. i replaced the battery cables with some big ol 2 or 4 gauge ones just a few months ago (it hasn't been driven since) so i know i'm good there. testing the ECU plugs seems like a good next step, is that done with my multimeter set to OHMS for resistance or is that a test done for voltage?

negative. replaced the contacts/loop connectors on the - side of the coil. no change. the ECU's trouble code light is also still stuck on. does anyone have a diagram of all the grounding locations for an ea81t by any chance?

I found that ground, cleaned it up really well and have my fingers crossed. I also noticed the - side wires on the coil were all beat up, barely making contact with the coil post. Between those two things I'm hoping that will do the trick.

oh, that wire is definitely frayed/ugly/beaten up. that's probably the culprit right there.

ohhhhh, gotcha. i've been down in that area a lot lately, noticed some oil buildup/blow-by under the intake, good call. i'll dig around this afternoon, hopefully i can find the one you're talking about. hahaha!

I found a ground above two relays, passenger side engine bay, towards the front of the car from the shock mount/hat... two wires going to it, both black. i pulled and cleaned the connections really well, inspected them well, and reinstalled. still a no-go. trouble light blinked code 11, then code 12, then went back to being stuck on. is there anything else i look for before i buy another ecu to drop in?

oh, cool... i'll see if that does the trick, had no idea! at least pulling codes will help me identify what the issue is with the car running like complete crap, i don't think a bad ground connection would be the cause for the car running poorly, do you? thanks man, i have a line on a few others if need be.

the trouble code light on the front of my 1984 turbo wagon's ecu/ecm stays on, could the computer be failing and/or has failed? i've done a hard reset by disconnecting the battery and leaving it overnight that way, no change. the car can be running or with the key in the ON position, the green t-connector connected or not - it doesn't make a difference, the red light on the front of the ecu just stays on. car runs like crap, idles poorly and has an inconsistent misfire under load.

Thanks man, it sounds like Shawn has 2 also and since he's really close to me I'll see how those work out first.

i'm pulling injectors this weekend to get them bench tested, hopefully that's the cure!

still got them?

i bought a cheap spark tester tool over the weekend, tested all the cylinders for spark and all seem to be strong and consistent. perhaps it is in fact a leaky injector... i'll bench test the cylinder that's giving me issues and see if that's the issue.

that's my next step, pulling that injector and putting it on another cylinder to see if the misfire/richness follows it. my initial thought was a spark issue but resistance across the wire(s) is fine, new coil, new cap and rotor, no play in the disty shaft. what else is there to check?

i've been having issues (misfire, rough running - totally intermittent) with my 1984 turbo wagon and i think i've tracked down the issue... when i pulled the spark plugs to inspect them #2 and #4 showed normal wear, but #1 seemed to have some fuel on it, and #3 seemed to be mostly saturated in gas. i did the poor man's stethoscope trick (my ear up to a long-handled screwdriver) against each of the injectors and all seemed to be firing as normal with a consistent pulse, same volume. leaky injectors maybe? is there a way to test the injectors with a multimeter, maybe for resistance?

I left the battery disconnected overnight, reconnected it this afternoon and it throws codes 11 and 12, then the light stays on as before. I did a voltage check on the battery just in case, both sitting and also running - good power coming from that Optima! I also checked the resistence on the plug wires: 2,200 2,410 4,770 5,260 9,270 Obviously from shortest to longest, so those are fine. I started the car and it idled fine for as long as I let it, only after a few starts in which I'd turn the key, let the car rev naturally to ~1200 rpm, then watch the RPM's fall off like it couldn't hold onto the cold start RPM range on it's own. Weird.

kinda funny considering i got the trouble codes reset, pulled code 11 and 12, then the light went back to being stuck on. i'm wondering if it's the ECU that's dying, i left the battery unhooked overnight and will see if it does the same thing again this afternoon. otherwise... $$$ ???

i've owned the car since 1999 and only ever ran premium gas, the timing however... i don't know. i've never timed a car or looked at the timing on this one. it's not possible for a pushrod engine to "fall out" of timing is it? i'll check the resistance on the coil wires when i get home, figured that'd be a quick thing to rule out.

installed the new coil, same issues. I noticed one of the negative ( - ) wires on the coil was a cracked and seemed to be holding on by just a few strands of wire inside the insulation. it's probably in my best interest to fix that just to rule out the coil and wiring.

great info, thanks for that. i picked up a new coil last night and will install this afternoon, will keep you guys posted on the outcome.

like the blaster 2 type? not the huuuuuge racing one, right?

the plugs are new (about 100 miles old) and all seem to have about the same amount of 'wear'. i'll check the fuel pressure, didn't think of that. that's what i'm hoping, that the coil just died due to age rather than internal failure, etc. on a side note, years ago (probably 2002-ish) i ran an accel super stock for about a week before it died and left me stranded, i put the stock unit back in and it's lasted this long. hahaha!

gotcha. makes sense. i'll hunt one down and see what happens. thanks again.

ooops, i just realized you can test resistance at the 20k setting between one of the posts (+ i believe) and the center main disty cap wire. i'm getting 8,560 ohms there... normal or not?