gaaah, first car trouble with the mr2 :( suggestions welcome!

[Ryan S]

right, new ecu on and now I don't have a spark, I don't think the 2 are related, gonna swap out the coil and igniter, it has a new coil but the igniter was off a celica and is a NA one. never been any issue until now. No spark usually points to this though.

head is done in with this, wouldn't be so bad if i wasn't out in the rain trying to sort it

[2mad]

Bl00dy hell mate .. and it runs fine with the blitz .. this makes no sense

[Ryan S]

no, i reckon putting the blitz in it now would make no difference, i think the fisrt (suspect) ecu has done something to the ignition system, the second ecu run the car for a bit but was undriveable, I reckon it's been down to the ignition system though. I still had a spark with the second ecu and fuel but I'm wondering if the spark has been intermittent or something, got a friend coming round to help tonight. such a pain in the ass

[2mad]

wish i could help mate but i'm literally clue less how this has happened .. best of luck bud .. keep us informed .. might help someone else .

[Ryan S]

wish i could help mate but i'm literally clue less how this has happened .. best of luck bud .. keep us informed .. might help someone else .

same here man, i can't understand what's caused this at all, I can only put it down to the first dodgy ECU, So I suspect that ECU no.2 actually works fine, I reckon the car has been severely flooded due to possible intermittent spark then has stopped sparking, but realistically you don't really check for a spark once you know you have a spark. i'm glad I did now. I'll get this sorted tonight, It;s down at my carwash so I'll pull the shutters down early and rip in about it. I'd rather be spending money on new engine parts for project GTX too Not f*cking coils and igniters etc.....

[Ryan S]

anyone got any input before I try and sort this tonight??

[SonicSW20]

Blimey, you are having a right time of it.

Everything else electrical working OK? Cranking fine, etc? I'm just thinking perhaps there's a bad ground, that can cause all kinds of funky issues.

[Ryan S]

Blimey, you are having a right time of it.

Everything else electrical working OK? Cranking fine, etc? I'm just thinking perhaps there's a bad ground, that can cause all kinds of funky issues.

everything appears to be yeah working as it should, deffo getting fuel, I WAS getting a spark but not now...the coil is new, plugs are new, i'm fairly sure the dud ecu has done something to the ignition, I have a multimeter so will test the coil, Just to add i;ve checked all the according fuses, AM2, ecu, efi etc

[Fozzy]

Hi Ryan

My ECU had been running fine up until I broke the car. It was fitted up until about March this year, the last time I fired the engine, since then it has sat in a box in the house so it wouldn't get damp.

It's possible that my ecu is from a rev4 car, but from what I remember when I did the conversion the wiring harness was the same as rev3, so in theory it shouldn't have any issues.

Beyond that I don't know if I can help at all, it seems quite random the way things are playing up. Is there a chance you can borrow your friends ecu that you originally tried, just to rule out anything else having messed up. If not, see if he can check the part number off his ecu to make sure it matches my one

[Ryan S]

I think your ecu is actually fine man, Either way i'll make sure you are returned a fully working one, your part number is in fact the same as a rev3 turbo, i'll get the coil and hopefully the igniter changed tonight and see what gives, i think it's just a terrible coincidence that one of them has failed or the faulty ecu has caused one of them to fail, i took the new plugs out today and they were soaked in fuel, i dried them out, cranked the car to get fuel out the cylinders then tried to start the car with no joy. That's when i checked for a spark and didn't have one I'll keep this updated anyway. Wish i'd just kept the Blitz ecu now this is not worth the hassle at all! Coil and igniter is easy but i find it's location a total pain!!

[Fozzy]

God luck with it. It is very fiddled, especially keeping the little resistor pack located when you bolt it back on the bulkhead. At least you only have to remove 1 bolt, as the other side is slottted

[thomp1983]

How are you testing for spark? If you've been constantly flooding the plugs then there quite possibly ruined. Remove a plug lead and remove the plug, either put a screwdriver in the end of the lead and earth that and check for spark or hold your finger near the end of the ht lead and check for spark. If no spark then repeat the test at the king lead.

You need to be testing the system to understand what is/isn't happening not just chucking parts at it

[Ryan S]

been testing for spark using the old plugs with the assumption that the brand new plugs were fine, they were not, horribly weak spark off them, some dodgy wiring in the rear fuse box was the cause of no spark, obviously knocked it when I was removing the EFI fuse to check for spark. Put the old plugs back in and it runs, they are horribly sooted up so it's still cutting in and out of 3/4 cylinders.

Fozzy, i will test your ecu tomorrow mate but as I said I no longer think that's the problem, I'll also get it sent back to you this week, thanks a lot for the loan, I may as well give it a quick test to make sure so you can sell it on with complete peace of mind after my (non ecu related) issue.

the good news in this whole debacle is that we compression tested the car and all cylinders are great

1.172psi
2. 167psi
3.172psi
4.171psi

Just for reference the new plugs I put in were NGK BCR8ES. Useless.

Massive thanks to Kris on here (MR2C8CYA) for coming down to help/diagnose my woes and soldering my dodgy wires and generally being a local hero

[Ryan S]

hold your finger near the end of the ht lead and check for spark. If no spark then repeat the test at the king lead.

Did you learn that on your first or second day as an apprentice mechanic?

[thomp1983]

Neither but it is effective in proving that there is a spark.

Well done for persevering

[Ryan S]

Neither but it is effective in proving that there is a spark.

Well done for persevering

Haha, well yeah i suppose it is, i'm in no rush to test it that way, so pi$$ed off about they new plugs!! I'll be using stock plugs from now on

[2mad]

hold your finger near the end of the ht lead and check for spark. If no spark then repeat the test at the king lead.

Holy tasered batman .. shocking way of testing for spark



I've always held the ht leads next to the head and looked for the spark ... electrocuting my self .. not high on my list lol

[Ryan S]

My advice to anyone when changing plugs from now on is, when checking for spark, check using the plugs you are actually using

[2mad]

How you getting on shep ... sorted it mate ??

[Ryan S]

How you getting on shep ... sorted it mate ??

well, car wouldn't start this morning so went and bought new plugs, same ones as stock, still won;t start not checked the spark or anything, same bother as before really except hotter (BKR6E) plugs. i'll have to make sure they're not all duds again

oh, just to add to this, the car wouldn't run properly last night until it was up to temp. even then it was cutting in and out which I put down to the old plugs being sooted up brand new plugs in today and not even a cough