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My car typically runs great - I've put 20,000 miles on her without ever experiencing a problem. I went to a car show yesterday, and when I got back to the car to leave, it just wouldn't start. It just cranked and cranked. I didn't smell any gas or anything, so I pulled the top of the air cleaner off, and had my buddy crank it; and I saw that the injectors were not spraying any fuel at all.
I had to tow the car home. So today, I spent all day diagnosing. I started with the fuel pump relay - replaced that (it was super easy), and it made no difference. So I pulled the fuel pump and bench-tested it. It worked. So I plugged it back into the car and turned on the ignition, and I could hear run for the 2 second prime. So I put the pump back in - now I figured I would check the fuel pressure regulator. From researching online, I found out there are two regulators - one inside of each throttle body. I figure the odds of both regulators going out simultaneously are next to impossible. So, I went around the car and checked everywhere for leaks - but couldn't find any. And there was no gas smell anywhere. The car also has a new fuel filter - so I know that's not clogged.
So out of curiosity, I tested the ignition system, and it's also receiving no spark.
So now I am at a loss - I can't find anybody experiencing this problem on the forums. My best guess is some kind of a ECM failure. The check engine light isn't on, and the car ran perfectly - like a new car - up until it simply refused to start. The digital display works perfectly, and I don't have any warning lights on. I have to get this car back on the road ASAP, because I am moving cross country and will be driving it 2000 miles in three weeks. Any advice would be most helpful.
Last edited by lucidardor; 08-20-2018 at 01:05 AM.
I had a similar issue but was intermittent. Crank but no injector pulse. I'm pretty sure the culprit was the pickup coil. It was falling apart, magnet was broken in several spots, and coils looked corroded. While I was in there I replaced the ignition module with a D.U.I. version.
Do you have service manuals? To lose both spark and fuel injector pulse ,problem should center around distributor. Does pink batt wire to distributor have 12v?
I’m looking through the manual, but I don’t have the proper tools to diagnose the voltage. I appreciate the help. I’ll let y’all know if I can get it going.
Do you have service manuals? To lose both spark and fuel injector pulse ,problem should center around distributor. Does pink batt wire to distributor have 12v?
Don't need power to the pink batt wire to distributor to get a pick up signal. If he's got no spark and no inj....he needs to attack diagnosing the p/u coil or the module on early cars...which he says he's already replaced.
Get a universal distributor wrench. Use the 9/16 side and loosen the bolt alittle
as the clamp is slotted.
I went and got one of those tools - worked great. Thanks!
But now I can’t get the roll pin out of the distributor... I’ve beat the hell out of it for the best part of an hour with a punch tool, and it will not budge. Is there some secret to this?
Last edited by lucidardor; 09-02-2018 at 08:01 PM.
I was just being too cautious.. I got frustrated and just took it out on that pin and it came right out.
I unscrewed the old pickup cool and it crumbled into pieces.... the old base is full of old dried up grease that feels like glue now. But now I’m stuck because I can figure out how to get the old cool base off... the service manual mentions a C Washer (of corse, no picture), but I don’t see anything like that. What I do see is a wider sleeve that appears to be pressed onto the shaft. What so I do next?
Last edited by lucidardor; 09-02-2018 at 08:45 PM.
Omg I feel stupid now. I decided to clean it up since I had it in the house, and I see the stupid little washer. It is almost miroscopic, and it was covered with grease so I couldn’t see it. Just ignore the last post. I’ll let y’all know how it turns out.
While I seemed to have solved the problem, now i can’t seem to get it to run smoothly. It idles fine, and it is in time. But it sounds like it has a miss, and when you give it gas it misses, and has the occasional backfire.
I already removed the distributor and tried rotating the gear around, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference no matter which way the gear is installed. I’ve triple checked the plugs and the firing order (I have a service manual), and everything seems correct. I know the distributor is on correctly, and as mentioned, the timing is correct.
Ideas?
Last edited by lucidardor; 09-03-2018 at 07:07 PM.
Start killing each cylinder till you find the miss. To do this I place a piece of vacuum hose between the dist cap terminal & the ign. wire. Start it up a touch the vacuum hose with a grounded test light. You can also use a folded paperclip to kill the cylinder instead of vacuum hose.
That’s a really good idea, but I think there’s something else going on here. It just feels like the timing is way off. Is there a correct procedure for setting the timing that maybe I’m missing?
I unhooked the little connector beside the break booster. Then when I advance the timing, it goes to 15-1600 rpms. I shut the car off, reconnect that connector, and the idle drops and it feels fine u til you give it gas... and it misses and backfires.
Another interesting thing to note - if I disregard the timing completely and rotate the distributor so it is perfectly straight, the idle gets right and the car seems to run fine. The timing mark however goes ridiculously retarded until it dissappears behind the balancer.
I’m sure the gear is correct because when I flip it, it seems to me very very retarded to the point that the distributor must be rotated as far as it a go before you can even see the mark on the balanced. I cannot figure this out.
I wouldn't doubt the balancer has slipped. You might want to verify top dead center and see if the mark lines up to 0. Pull #1 plug, as you turn the engine over by hand use a coat hanger to feel as the piston goes up and begins to go down. If the balancer is good, the mark will line up.
08-20-2018, 01:03 AM
1984 Crossfire won't start - no spark, no fuel
