HELP! 3.6 conversion No Spark now what? - Page 2

Joeaksa · 09-23-2004, 04:17 PM

Back from the shop and not good news. Checked out various ways of hooking the wires up and none of them made any difference.

Not sure if I am getting power to the fuel pump but when I touch the green wire from the PMS harness to a hot terminal I can hear the pump running so feel that it is working.

Checked for voltage at the coils and getting a good 12. 2v there before cranking and 11.6v while cranking. Had an extra DME relay and pulled the cover off to see what is actually happening instead of going by the "feel method." Turn the key to on and the top relay coil clicks close. Turn the key to start and one way I had it wired up the bottom coil did not close. Moved the wire to another "switched" circuit and it did close in the "start" position but no difference in the way the engine sounded and it did not start.

Still smell gas out the exhaust... Just about had enough of this fun and if I do not come up with any brainstorms may take the car to Patrick and let them figure it out. I am concerned that the DME brain is tits-up and that I could spend another year trying to figure it out without getting it started.

Thanks for the ideas guys, if anyone has anymore please send them across tonight!

Joe

tholyoak · 09-24-2004, 05:35 AM

Joe

You may want to pull all 12 plugs (I know fun) but when I had a bad DME that had a bad injetor driver the plugs were fouled and even with the new DME the car wouldn't fire. Pulled the plugs, and wiped them down, and it fired right up.If the plugs are wet enough could be a problem. I only mention this since you state you smell fuel.

I'm also curious why you have only 2 V at the coils before cranking, should be 12v, maybe just a typo.

Todd

Joeaksa · 09-24-2004, 06:30 AM

Todd,

Was a typo, and seeing a good 12v at the coils. Will pull one of the plugs today and see if its wet then proceed.

Good idea... Hope my DME is not bad!

Thanks,

Joe

Joeaksa · 09-27-2004, 10:50 AM

Ladies and gents,

Just got the call from Patrick Motorsports. Good and bad news! I worked on the car last week after all these postings and got to the point where I was out of ideas and time at the same time. Took it to Patrick and said "make it run"...

Good news is that the engine is running for the first time in over a year! There is a God! I have not seen, heard nor driven it but if Jim says its running and sounds good I believe him!

The rest of the story is that the reason it would not start was that the sensor on the flywheel was not working. Jim is not totally sure why it was not working but part of the problem is mine. I was under the impression (silly me) that since my transmission bellhousing was already notched for the sensors that came on my 3.2 DME that it did not need any futher work or notching.

Seems that the 3.6 sensor is just a RCH larger than the sensor on the 3.2 and when the engine was installed on the gearbox it pushed the larger sensor out of alignment. He also said that something else may have happened but who cares at this point in time.

Also he said that one of the coil wires was defective. This means that only one set (upper or lower) of spark plugs have been firing and for who knows how long. Bill, wonder how long you were driving the car on one set of spark plugs!!???

Anyway, major progress is being made and I will be able to drive the car later this week or next. Am going to let them do some other work (possibly the backdate bodywork or extra cooler up front) while I am out working so I can just put the key in and drive when I return.

Thanks for everyone's help and wanted to pass this along about the difference in the sensor sizes...

JoeA

Bill Verburg · Bill Verburg's Garage

Great news Joe!

The firing of all plug wires was checked regularly. I have a nifty little inductive probe that lets me check all the wires in seconds.

Believe me, I would know it if ione set wasn't firing

Joeaksa · 09-27-2004, 03:16 PM

Bill,

Not sure what happened but Jim said that the main coil wire to one of the dizzy heads was not flowing any current. He borrowed a "spare" one he had on another motor (he had what appeared to be 20+ 911 engines around the shop!) and it worked fine. Looked for a "extra spare" and did not have one so got a new one.

He had a handful of extra sensors and sold me a used one at a good price so it was a good choice to take it to a shop.

Now I cannot wait to drive it, but with the front and rear impact bumpers pulled and a 'glass hood, its a lot lighter than when I last drove it. To boot the 3.6 has a lot more power so it should be very interesting! Will let you know when it happens!

Thanks,

Joe