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my 87 gl wagon spfi was runnin fine. it had no radio so yesterday i took one out of a junker and put it in, worked fine. went to start car, cranked but would not fire. pulled coil wire and checked for spark.

no spark even though it ran perfect 1 hour before.

 

im good at changin parts but not diagnosing, so i put in a known good coil and a known good disty.

still no spark.

i put a test light on the positive side of the coil and it lights when i turn on the ignition, so i guess i got juice at the coil...

 

i am running out of ideas.

 

should i try to get error codes from ecu?

i know this has been asked but how do i hook up the ecu connectors? the haynes says to hook them up but does not say where they are or what to hook to what.

 

any other ideas or things to look for?

 

thanks for any replies.

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o.k. there are 2 white and 2 green connectors on the drivers side firewall, i did not connect anything yet.

 

 

when you turn on the ignition, there is no light on the ecu, no flashes or anything.

 

where do i go from here?

 

sorry so dumb with car computers.

i am tempted to put on a carb manifold and disty...

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no light on ecu with greens plugged together. no light on ecu no matter what..

 

fried computer, bummer.

 

thank you very much for your timely assistance calebz.

 

what do you think about converting to carb? i know you are partial to fuel injection, but i have a bunch of carbs, distys and intakes around. you do not need a computer to run a carb system do you?

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:lol: Thats right Mark, I forgot about that! You were the discoverer of that particular oddity a while back weren't you?

 

Additionally, check the rest of your fuses and your fusible links.(the links are in the black box attached to the coolant tank)

 

Snowstormer.. You're right. I am partial to fuel injection.. a lot of that has to do with me knowing a lot more about FI than carbs. The only way I would convert backwards is if I had no other option.

 

Of my last 25 or so cars, only 3 of them have been carb'd.. My 73 chevy truck, 69 Dart GTS and 56 Pontiac star chief.. had any of them come available in a Fuel injected setup, I probably would have changed them.

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the horn fuse was blown.

 

the noise under the dash must be a relay kicking on the fuel pump as the fuel pump goes on at the same time,doh!

 

still no spark.

 

i just keep getting 8 short flashes over and over and over to infinity...

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no , the crank sensor thread was not mine but i have been reading it.

 

 

i changed the disty 1st thing cause i figgered that is what the problem was, as crank sensor and all other parts relating to spark production is in the disty, right?

 

since i still get the crank sensor code, do you think i should try another disty?

 

a horn fuse did blow, i did put a radio in the car at the same time, all fusible links are good, i have voltage at the coil, the computer now lights up, but still no spark.

 

can it be anything other than the disty? or coil?

 

or wiring leading to these devices?

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this may have been mentioned but see if your disty is turning. i got a CAS code on a broken t-belt before.

thats what mine did when it snaped the other day.

 

you may also want to test the neg. side of the coil.

if the light flickers that means you have pulses going to it.

no light means open coil. steady light means no signal to coil.

 

dont forget about the transistor on the coil bracket.

 

what about the radio instalation? how did you wire that up?

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well, i gave up on the spfi, crank angle disty and ecu controlled car and am in the process of going back to the stone age on this beloved lifted wagon.

 

i guess that stuff is kinda over my head and i dont want to spend a bunch of money i dont have on changin parts.

 

 

 

so far, i have the carb intake on, the old fashion disty in, and it has spark!!! lots of spark!!! i am in the process of changin over the fuel pump.

 

then i hafta take a carb off one of my beaters. im hoping to get it runnin tonight or tommorrow, unless something unexpected comes up.

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  • 2 years later...

It's the stero install - These Soobs don't have much reserve amperage. My son's 87 GL wagaon had same prob 10min after installing new system. Too much of a drain, not enough juice for good spark. Un-hooked stero, -VROOOMM! Found better "hot" lead, all was well.

-Good Luck!!:banana:

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I have to reply to this one.......what:eek: !!!

 

I need to keep this post in my glovebox, no way will I ever remember that when it goes.....

 

one good way to remember it is simple.. i grew up with a test up my sleeve. Gevernally speaking, if a car has enough battery power to run the horn and the headlights without serious difficulties (the headlights would get dim and horn sound weird when both on at the same time) then it should be able to start.. so if you turning a key and getting nothing, thats the first thing i always do. if headlights and horn work, i know its not a dead battery (and that i need to smack the starter, and pray) so the horn has always been like a barometer to me anyhow.. when this info bubbled up, i latched it on to that group of brain cells and it found an instant home :- )

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  • 4 months later...

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