cash job needed

[.samol.]

Car ae101 4ageblacktop wagon (so standard engine)

Hey im having a bit of trouble starting my car. Its been acting pretty weird and i have tried various things to get it working.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when i thought my battery was dead as the car didnt start one time, we crash started it and it went fine.

It sometimes starts and goes completely fine (except twice it has after started up and warmed up missed for about a second before regaining composure), other times it wont start but does turn over.

The engine light was acting weird (comes on clear but after trying to start it and failing flashes really fast, then if you take the key out and put it in again it will come on solidly again) so i took it in to toyota in dunedin. After their tech's hooking it up to the engine diagnostic they said it came up multiple times that the engine had no problem, but obviously did as it wouldnt start. After a while of looking at it one of their tech's said it was probably the computer and i could go try changing that, i did and its still no different.

It is not the battery, it has an optima yellow that is pretty fresh in it.
Its not the distributor cap have replaced that with a new one.
Its not the computer, i have tried another one.
Its not the alarm i have bypassed the immobilisers on it.
Its not the distributor, i tried one from a mates car (working) and it still didnt go.
Its not the coil we threw in the coil from the same mates car.

When we tried to check it, it didnt spark.

If anyone in dunedin wants to drop around and give me a hand on saturday or sunday i would be much appreciative.
I will pay upwards of $20 an hour cash (depending on qualifications etc pay will potentially go up) and would really appreciate at least knowing what needs done. because i have no clue. Tools will probably be needed as i just have the regular junk (ie flat head and spanner )

If you are interested please txt/call me and im sure we can sort something out 0276989516
i live down by the university in Dunedin, and there is no gaurantee if i can or cant move the car because it works some times and doesnt others.
Depending how efficient you are i can potentially shout a box of any beer too

Oh if you arent in dunedin and have any ideas to try then i would love to hear them... and if your suggestion fixes it ill send some money for the beers

Sam B

[tsoob]

check your alternator and its wiring

[.samol.]

No wiring has been changed since it was running great every time.

How would i check the alternator? a mobile sparky?

Sam

[levinguy]

did you replace the rotor at the same time as the cap?

edit, didnt see u tried another dizzy, have u tried opening the ecu to look at the caps? both the ecus could be faulty?

[.samol.]

im not 100% on that, the guy helping me was JT (off here was a mod maybe? a while back from christchurch)
I know he tried his cap with my rotor and it went but that was just because the problem is intermittant., when i put a brand new tgp dizzy cap on it wouldnt start

Sam

[.samol.]

Yes i have opened both ecu's. dont really know too much of what i am looking for but there is nothing that i can see is out of the ordinary (no holes in the black things like some threads show) no burn marks nothing, this is with both ecu's

Sam

[tsoob]

No wiring has been changed since it was running great every time.

How would i check the alternator? a mobile sparky?

Sam

it sounds like your alternator has died. you need a multimeter to check if its charging when the car is running you can put the probes on the battery and it should read 14.4 volts

[rollaholic]

havent seen many alternators reading that high

but should be 13.5+

strange that it would be so intermittent though. when it does start, is it turning over rapidly as it should, or is it sluggish and only just 'catching'

[tsoob]

hmm mine reads at that im sure, ill check once its back together, i could be wrong tho.

[sergei]

14.4V is perfectly fine.
Car does not need alternator to start or run.
If you have jumper leads (real ones not cheap chinese fake ones), you could just start the car from other car (must be running for best result).

Ecu should be able to fire coil and injectors from as low as 10V.

What it looks like ECU does not have ground (or bad ground). There are two grounding points (one for sensors) another for ECU. Sensor ground points are located not far from dizzy. ECU ground point is located somewhere in the ECU area (fixed to chassis/frame for stereo/dash).

How do you know the battery is good (apart from being Optima)?
Does it crank the engine?

[.samol.]

The battery will crank over the motor all day and never slow down. But there is no point in doing that. Also the car has a standard voltage gauge and it never gets to the red even when cranking for ages.

When the car does start it starts nice and fast like usual.

I can check the ground points no worries, i will do that after my 2 exams tomorrow, is there any kind of photo for the engine bay ground? Or a little closer description of where to look?

What colour wire should i be chasing out of the ecu to find the one in the dash?

Thanks for all the help so far guys really appreciate it

[sergei]

Sensor grounds are brown wires and ECU/Power grounds are white with black stripe. Sensor ground is located next to Water Temperature Sensor.

Do you have compression? Have you checked if dizzy actually spinning?
Perhaps your cambelt went snap?

[touge_ae101]

had the same problem to lesser extent with my trueno. turns out it was just the leads corroding a bit and extra resistnace = no spark. replaced the leads and it ran way smoother and starts all the time now!

not saying this is the answer but would be worth a try for some $130 leads?

[rollaholic]

yeh theres nothing wrong with 14.4 (in fact its great) just IME most cars are a little less.

if its cranking fine then forget all this alternator talk anyway.

i dunno about the blacktops but 16v 4ages wont go if the water temp sensor for the ECU is not functioning properly, im pretty sure it disables spark to do this

[Glancn]

ezy10s

[.samol.]

ezy10s

??

I gave lloyd a txt, hopefully he is keen to help out

Sam

[dusk93]

Was the battery tested in or out of the car?

Have you checked the terminals are tight and free from oxidation build up.
I had a similar problem in my corolla, I could jump start it and crash start it but it wouldnt start on its own because the terminals had effectively become "high resistance terminals". I checked the voltage across the battery and that was 12.7V but the feed to the fuse box only indicated 5V, so we checked between the battery terminal post and the terminal clamp and there was a huge voltdrop (7V).

Cleaned up the terminals with an AA battery and some wet and dry sandpaper and it runs sweet as now
also although my negative was tight the clamp was slightly too large for the teminal post and allowing oxidation to build up so I made a brass shim and fixed the problem.

hope this helps

[ChaosAD]

does the rev counter work when your cranking the engine over?

If its not starting, is there fuel in the cylinders? (check the plugs)

[.samol.]

Was the battery tested in or out of the car?

Have you checked the terminals are tight and free from oxidation build up.
I had a similar problem in my corolla, I could jump start it and crash start it but it wouldnt start on its own because the terminals had effectively become "high resistance terminals". I checked the voltage across the battery and that was 12.7V but the feed to the fuse box only indicated 5V, so we checked between the battery terminal post and the terminal clamp and there was a huge voltdrop (7V).

Cleaned up the terminals with an AA battery and some wet and dry sandpaper and it runs sweet as now
also although my negative was tight the clamp was slightly too large for the teminal post and allowing oxidation to build up so I made a brass shim and fixed the problem.

hope this helps

Brand new terminals are on it and they are a perfect fit.

The rev counter doesnt move when cranking the engine as its not firing at all

[Trls250s]

[quote=".samol]Brand new terminals are on it and they are a perfect fit.

The rev counter doesnt move when cranking the engine as its not firing at all[/quote]

The rev counter wont move as the engine cranks at like 50 - 60rpm anyways.

Is your ignitor grounded? Have you checked spark from spark plug out of the engine?

Another test is when its cranking is it fueling?

If it cranks and the injectors DONT fire then there is something wrong with the distributor telling the ecu that the engine is turning over. Id look at replacing the dizzy, or looking for breaks in the CAS wire.

If they do fire and its fueling the engine when you crank it you will have a spark only problem, id start with the ignitor, then look at the cap and rotor, leads, earth leads etc.[/quote]