Ca18det Won't Start

[ignuz]

Ok I'm pretty new to electronics/fixing my own car etc so this was a new experience for me

Ok so here's the situation..

My CA18DET decided out of nowhere that it didn't want to start last night..

Originally I thought this was becuase, I was low on fuel and parked in a street which sloped to the left heavily.. So all the fuel was drained away from the pump??!

After repeated attempts to start it and no luck I pushed it onto flat ground where it still didn't want to start.. Next enters christian.

Christian from ns.com came over to help.. After alot of testing he managed to start the car after removing a spark plug. He then thought there may have been some sort of over fueling in the cylinder which needed to be released via removing the spark plug I think while starting the car..

Now anyway, after we got it running I went for a simple little drive and everything seemed fine, stopped at service stations and restarted like normal too..

Now all of a sudden today the same problem has occured and it doesn't want to start..

Thing I have done to try and fix this..

Checked spark plugs ( they seem pretty f**ked/fouled - Quite heavily burnt in areas and all grey/black around the spark part. White paint/stuff leaking from the top.

Checked and found I have no or very little coolant

Did a self diagnosis with the ECU (it's a mines ecu)

Got fault code 13.. engine temperature sensor circuit wiring fault

This supposedly can result in Ecu engine stalls, lack of power, low economy.

Tried again a few more times, and kept getting 55.. ( No problems..) NO PROBLEMS?!! it won't start!!

Now whether that was because I accidentally deleted any fault codes by accidentally going to mode 4 is out there, but i'm 99% sure i didn't accidentally enter mode 4..

Also, when Christian managed to start the car, he found that if he moved the wiring for injector 2 or 4 the car would idle really rough and also want to stall..

Now.. The conclusions..

There is a spark..(tested with a screwdriver) , There is fuel, there is ignition, but there is no magic..

So here's what I've come up with..

1. Stick with fault code 13.. Because I still have zero/no coolant.. Thus, if coolant is dispersed around the engine to control heating, and there is no coolant, perhaps the ecu is detecting this and not letting the car start?

2. Bad/fouled spark plugs resulting in a difficult start, each faulty spark plug is resulting in a 25% reduction in power.. Thus maybe making the car difficult to start.. (But we did get a spark with the screw driver test, so i'm unsure of this one)

3. Some sort of issue with the injectors and/or injector wiring perhaps something grounding?

4. Take out all the spark plugs and try to start the car to drive out any unburnt fuel which may be flooding the cylinders? (put em back in and restart) (Should I try this???)

Any help is greatly appreciated guys.. I'm just trying to narrow it down to save myself money when/if I need to send it into a shop.

[AdamsFast1]

yes, i would definately replace those plugs. they fire with a screwdriver, but maybe not so good under compression. for the love of GOD, fix that coolant leak and get some antifreeze/coolant in there lmao.

The ecu only uses the temp sensor to determine how much fuel the car needs. ie.... when the car is cold it needs to give more fuel, thats why you get a high idle at startup. There is a different sensor next to that for your guage.When the car reaches operating temperature it reads the oxygen sensor to see the difference from the air inside the exhaust and outside the exhaust so it knows whether to enrich or lean. That is called closed loop operation. You will actually know when it is checking when your thermostat opens, the cool coolant hits the sensor and signals to your computer to switch on the electric fan.

Your fault code is telling you that your coolant is low. it will not read when it is dry so it knows your out of coolant.

[ignuz]

yes, i would definately replace those plugs. they fire with a screwdriver, but maybe not so good under compression. for the love of GOD, fix that coolant leak and get some antifreeze/coolant in there lmao.

The ecu only uses the temp sensor to determine how much fuel the car needs. ie.... when the car is cold it needs to give more fuel, thats why you get a high idle at startup. There is a different sensor next to that for your guage.When the car reaches operating temperature it reads the oxygen sensor to see the difference from the air inside the exhaust and outside the exhaust so it knows whether to enrich or lean. That is called closed loop operation. You will actually know when it is checking when your thermostat opens, the cool coolant hits the sensor and signals to your computer to switch on the electric fan.

Your fault code is telling you that your coolant is low. it will not read when it is dry so it knows your out of coolant.

ahhh thankyou very much for the info, I'll give the sparkies a go tomorrow!

edit: PLUS coolant lol

Edited April 27, 2008 by ignuz

[ignuz]

Replaced spark plugs. Still won't start lol..

Going to be checking the exhausts temperature circuit wiring now as that was the initial fault code I got.

[ignuz]

Replaced spark plugs. Still won't start lol..

Going to be checking the exhausts temperature circuit wiring now as that was the initial fault code I got.

Well that fault code was bogus.. Chucked in the factory ECU after push starting the car.. Drove around for a while and got the fault code I needed.. ignition signal missing in primary coil wiring fault.

problem found

[AdamsFast1]

wonderfully done man!!

[R33Turbo]

this is why you need an RB and no SR/CA haha

Edited April 29, 2008 by R33Turbo

[msnismo]

lil secret with the CA's......... remove the coil pack cover and leave it off or at least take a drill and drill some holes into it - lots! They tend to get extremely hot.... my old Silvia originally had a CA and when I went to remove the harness from the coils the harness connectors crumbled ! Wiring was brittle etc.... I had the same sort of nightmares regarding a miss and turned out to be broken wiring in the coil pack harness..... caused hours of frustration!

Cheers,

Anna

[ignuz]

lil secret with the CA's......... remove the coil pack cover and leave it off or at least take a drill and drill some holes into it - lots! They tend to get extremely hot.... my old Silvia originally had a CA and when I went to remove the harness from the coils the harness connectors crumbled ! Wiring was brittle etc.... I had the same sort of nightmares regarding a miss and turned out to be broken wiring in the coil pack harness..... caused hours of frustration!

Cheers,

Anna

I don't actually have coil packs though, I have haltech ignition leads or something.. As seen in this picture..

Should be getting looked at this weekend sometime I think.. You're probably right about brittle wiring though.. I need to go over everything with a test lamp I think..

[ignuz]

Ok well turns out, it's the Coolant temperature sensor playing up. Makes sense I spose, that controls the ignition, fuel etc..

[Eug]

Ok well turns out, it's the Coolant temperature sensor playing up. Makes sense I spose, that controls the ignition, fuel etc..

hahahha... nicely done.

[Howie]

ahhh joys of owning a CA. I was going to say power transistor but you already found out the problem.