My buddy is rebuilding a wrecked WRX 2004. He put in a 2002 WRX engine and hooked up all the wires. The motor turns over but no hint of starting. Any ideas on what we should do or check. I looked at the STI manual on line, but it didnt really help that much. any help would be most appreciated. BTW we are using the 2004 computer

I would start by checking for fuel and spark. Go from there.

Have you compared the ECU I/O's between the 2002 & 2004 to see if there's any differences?

 

If not, yeah, I'd start with fuel and spark and work from there.

The car has fuel pressure, they dont know how to check spark as it is signalled by the ECU, and the coils are on top of the plugs. Now, will this give a 12V signal on the connector going to the coils?

Even though it'sa PITA , you could pull 1 coil , stick a plug in it and crank it over to see if you are gettting any spark

Just a question , is the 2002 engine out of a standard or automatic and what is it going into ? (standard or automatic)

 

SEA#3

it is a standard to standard conversion. both cars are WRX