Its been awhile..but.. We HAVE A PROBLEM-- AGAIN

[teh_mugen18]

the DA kinda died today, and its def an electrical problem. I was having a bit of fun with the car, went through 1st gear, 2nd gear, and when i got into 3rd gear.. about a second or two after that, the car just completely died, engine lost power, CEL came on, and bam. That was it. I usually would expect this to be a blown fuse believe it or not, and i checked the fuses, which had one of them indeed blown.. replaced it. Still nothing.

Next step was to check the grounds. I only have one on the battery, one on the thermostat, and one on the valve cover.. All are clean. It also has a brand new main relay from the dealership which was put in around August/September '09 or so.

The main relay vibrates very fast, and when you turn the key to the on position, the CEL comes on but doesnt turn off. No start. What's the deal??

[RBS]

a short somewhere, if the CEL stays lit.. try to check the codes.


if nothing comes up or you cant check them at all, then you have a short/badground somewhere/or a bad ecu

[gtikid]

Check the codes first and then post. You should know better than that already man

[teh_mugen18]

Check the codes first and then post. You should know better than that already man

no codes, just the CEL stays on and does nothing else really

[RBS]

I only have one on the battery, one on the thermostat, and one on the valve cover.

wheres the tranny ground?

[gtikid]

wheres the tranny ground?

I was wondering the same thing.

So you already attempted to check for codes?

[teh_mugen18]

about the tranny ground.....uhmm... ill check it real quick, i think it might actually be absent..

and nope, no codes. just solid CEL. I may pull my ecu out and try it on a friends car or something n see what happens.

[RBS]

about the tranny ground.....uhmm... ill check it real quick, i think it might actually be absent..

well now

[bigdare23]

Check your fuses again. Look at the alternator solenoid fuse to see if that is blown. I was battering a problem similar to yours after I installed a walbro 255lph hp fuel pump. It kept blowing that fuse and giving me a constant CEL. I removed the pump and installed an oem one and the problem stopped.

[teh_mugen18]

well now

BUT!

the car has been running daily for +2,000 miles since i put the motor back in it possibly without the tranny ground, soo what would suddenly make the difference?

[RBS]

BUT!

the car has been running daily for +2,000 miles since i put the motor back in it possibly without the tranny ground, soo what would suddenly make the difference?

you running it hard through 1st, 2nd, 3rd. who knows, maybe the car had enough with a ground missing and now its telling you to put it on lol



only assumptions based on what your telling us, we will never know unless we are looking at it personally

[Barefoot]

so u have a solid cel and the car wont do anything.

[teh_mugen18]

so u have a solid cel and the car wont do anything.

as soon as you turn the key to the on position the main relay vibrates and continues to vibrate, thats it. when you try to crank it, the starter does turn, but of course the engine wont fire because of the relay issue. The CEL does not turn off as it normally would.

[RBS]

could be ecu then if not ground. id check for a short though before replacing it

[gtikid]

as soon as you turn the key to the on position the main relay vibrates and continues to vibrate, thats it. when you try to crank it, the starter does turn, but of course the engine wont fire because of the relay issue. The CEL does not turn off as it normally would.

You're still not answering the question about CHECKING the codes. Did you TRY to check the codes? Plug in a wire or a paper clip into the green plug by the ECU and count the blinks?

[teh_mugen18]

You're still not answering the question about CHECKING the codes. Did you TRY to check the codes? Plug in a wire or a paper clip into the green plug by the ECU and count the blinks?

about the tranny ground.....uhmm... ill check it real quick, i think it might actually be absent..

and nope, no codes. just solid CEL. I may pull my ecu out and try it on a friends car or something n see what happens.

^^here?

[gtikid]

^^here?

We can never be sure with you. You like to ask questions like "I have no gas in my car, why doesn't it start?".

[teh_mugen18]

We can never be sure with you. You like to ask questions like "I have no gas in my car, why doesn't it start?".

oh. lol, sorry, i wasnt specific enough... my brain is goin at about a million miles a second right now trying to figure this out


Here is a pic of my tranny, and clutch bracket...now in the circle is an empty hole and looks like a nice 10mm bolt could fit in there, is this where my transmission ground would be located? I cant remember where it is..

[RBS]

oh. lol, sorry, i wasnt specific enough... my brain is goin at about a million miles a second right now trying to figure this out


Here is a pic of my tranny, and clutch bracket...now in the circle is an empty hole and looks like a nice 10mm bolt could fit in there, is this where my transmission ground would be located? I cant remember where it is..

yeah, thats your tranny ground.. well what used to be

[teh_mugen18]

ahh im an idiot, lolol....

Let me replace the ground, and hopefully that'll be it. IF its not that, then itll definately be a short somewhere, or bad ecu.
Where would i start looking for the short, if indeed there is one?? Main relay circuit?

[RBS]

ahh im an idiot, lolol....

Let me replace the ground, and hopefully that'll be it. IF its not that, then itll definately be a short somewhere, or bad ecu.
Where would i start looking for the short, if indeed there is one?? Main relay circuit?

well if the problem persists after replacing the ground. try another main relay... or better yet, i think you may have water in your relay. it happened to a friend of mines, he left the "fresh air vent" open and water came in and soaked his relay causing it to jiggle and vibrate whenever it gets power.

its just a thought but pop it open and see if there is any water inside

[teh_mugen18]

^^^its dry as a bone inside there, no water in the relay.

[RBS]

^^^its dry as a bone inside there, no water in the relay.

did you fix the ground already?



check for obvious shorts.. any wires you messed with, any wires you never wrapped up securely, anything hanging loose.

[teh_mugen18]

did you fix the ground already?



check for obvious shorts.. any wires you messed with, any wires you never wrapped up securely, anything hanging loose.

Not yet, i just got my hands on a proper gauged wire, i think 10gauge should be okay?

[RBS]

Not yet, i just got my hands on a proper gauged wire, i think 10gauge should be okay?

i guess, lol ive seen much smaller wires and more ghetto methods that worked

[teh_mugen18]

i guess, lol ive seen much smaller wires and more ghetto methods that worked

oh wow lololol..... well, idk, most of the stuff i do i like to do it right cuz i KNOW wiring is almost always a PITA to deal with when theres problems...

[RBS]

oh wow lololol..... well, idk, most of the stuff i do i like to do it right cuz i KNOW wiring is almost always a PITA to deal with when theres problems...

it is deff a PITA if you have a wiring issue, try to fix it and then the fix makes it worse lol



ive had countless cars come to me because of that. but fix the ground.. update what happens

[teh_mugen18]

^^will do...

[teh_mugen18]

ahh, no goood. Newly installed tranny ground to chassis wire changed absolutely nothing.

I even went back and checked all the fuses, they're all clean as well. Now, i guess next thing for me to check for is possible shorting... gah, time to pull out the wiring diagrams

[Vteckidd]

Your ecu is bad or your ground on the thermostat is broken

pull ecu and put it in another car see if it works

solid cel means open circuit, bad ground, bad ecu

but not to be a dick with you it could be anything

[teh_mugen18]

^^I know...

im thinking about just taking it to a shop, and letting them go through it, repair whatever is wrong..instead of wasting my time and energy just prodding around the wires with a multi-meter

[preferredduck]

hey would a 4 guage streetwires power cable work good for a ground, i was thinking of redoing my grounds(tranny included) even one on the exhaust but it may be overkill, i actually have read a ground on the exhaust system helps for some reason? if you can get the CEL to flash then the problem can be found. i have a repair manual i can go through and see if it says anything about your prblem. there will be no CEL if the ECU is bad for sure though.

[Theycall_Metue]

this is what happen when you pawn on the car
like they say no pain no game

[teh_mugen18]

okay, BUMP/UPDATE--

i unplugged my fuel pump from the rest of the wiring, and my main relay somewhat acted normally. It buzzed, but only for an instant; after that instant, it acted completely normal. You could hear the click and my CEL in the dashboard would turn off.

Does this mean that there is a short between the main relay and the fuel pump? only due to the fact that i removed it from the equation and part of the odd behaviour went away.

[RBS]

okay, BUMP/UPDATE--

i unplugged my fuel pump from the rest of the wiring, and my main relay somewhat acted normally. It buzzed, but only for an instant; after that instant, it acted completely normal. You could hear the click and my CEL in the dashboard would turn off.

Does this mean that there is a short between the main relay and the fuel pump? only due to the fact that i removed it from the equation and part of the odd behaviour went away.

your fuel pump could be bad, go grab a working one if you want and plug it in... see if alls normal

[teh_mugen18]

your fuel pump could be bad, go grab a working one if you want and plug it in... see if alls normal

lol easier said than done...

Is there a way i can just keep testing the circuitry first to eliminate a possible short? What i was going to do is try to run a few continuity tests on the wires where they meet at the components and where they start at the main relay... does that sound like it would work?

[teh_mugen18]

UPDATE, again... a WTF moment; first off, im testing for voltage at each and every plug as its telling me to in the manual... and my first finding is that there is 0.00V at the prong #1, which in the manual says that there IS supposed to be battery voltage there...


finding number 2, which is a wtf moment.. as i go to test prong #5, which is supposed to have voltage when the key is in the START position... it does have the voltage, but with no main relay and with no fuel pump plugged in, my engine turned over as soon as i activated the starter...!!!

[teh_mugen18]

alright.... ive got this narrowed down to...

either, a short betweeen the battery and the under-hood fuse box which goes to main relay terminal plug #1, or between the fuse box and the actual relay itself. which is a yel/wht wire and its supposd to be ''hot at all times''.

OR

a short between main relay (+) terminal plug and the power to the fuel pump. Which is the yel/blk wire. I tested the voltage, and there is only .12V of power getting to the fuel pump, isnt there supposed to be 12V direct to the fuel pump from the main relay when its activated??

[Starrfire]

You may have you volt meter set wrong.

And the cel staying on solid means no codes, not bad ecu.

[teh_mugen18]

You may have you volt meter set wrong.

And the cel staying on solid means no codes, not bad ecu.

I've got it set on the "20" under the DCV section.