85 will not start

[jlex]

LOL... good one Hadn't noticed it was a different guy who solved his problem.
Ought to be enough here for anyone to work it out though... hey, it's Friday

regards,

jlex.

[911st]

Sorry, still here.

Have not had time to get out to the car and get dirty yet.

All I can add or reinforce is:

Battery has/had a lot of juce. They are monsters on the 3.2.

The idle valve was active to the toutch with key on.

The fuel smell might have been residual. I got down on my knees, close to the tial pipe and smell was faint, not like flooded.

Still not sure where to test the sensors at. I like the at the ECU because it is easy to get to. Is the pin numbers easy to identify?

Car failed after sitting indoors through a cold (50's in Calif.)and damp cycle.

Again, a lot of good info here. Just need to get to it.

All your help is very much appricated.

[jlex]

The reference sensor can be checked at the ECM harness using pins 25 & 26. The speed sensor is checked at pins 8 & 27. Readings for each should show resistance of .6 to 1.6 kOhms.
You show a preference for checking at the harness... haven't checked there, but am assuming the pins are nicely numbered. Did you take the seat out to gain access, or is the harness long enough to remove from under the driver's seat?
You can also check the sensors at the vertical connector strip on the left side of the engine compartment (my preference). It's just beyond the black blower tube. The white one at the top is the head temp sensor connector. The lower two are the reference & speed connectors. You may want to take the blower tube out to have more room. Disconnect the lower two wires from the connector strip & check pins #1 & 2 (the two lower pins in each connector) for resistance. They should each read 960 ohms + or - 96 ohms. The wires are supposed to be marked so you know what you're testing: DG is the speed sensor and BG is the reference sensor. For no start problem, BG is probably the culprit to watch out for.
Have fun!

regards,

jlex.

[911st]

I knew my C2 Turbo and 72S inside and out. Still getting to know the 3.2.

With the seat back and tilted up it is easy to access the ECU. I know this from changing my chip out. There is some play and should be accessable. I will look inside the motor compartment for the connection you not.

Again, you guys are great!

[scarceller]

Another quick test is simply to place a LED test light across an injector or the coil posts, if these 2 tests show flicker at the LED then you have both sensors working. It's easy to get to the coil posts without removing anything.

I don't think a normal 12V standard bulb test light will work. You really need a LED test light, Walmart has one for under $5 in the auto section.

[jlex]

BTW: if you're checking at the vertical strip in the engine compartment, you're supposed to check at the pins on the vertical strip, not on the removed wires... just wanted to clarify. Sal's approach is surely easier & for a quick check try it out.

regards,

jlex

[911st]

All good.

Sal, would this be one test light to each of the coil leads and turn over the motor to engage?

[jlex]

Read his previous post. Engine cranking...

jlex.

[scarceller]

It's simple put the ground lead on the coil '-' and the plus lead on coil '+' then have someone crank while you watch the test light.

If the light flickers you have coil drive pulses and this means the DME is operational and the Ref and Speed sensors are fine.

[911st]

It was a dead coil.

Thanks everyone.

[Hugh R]

Glad to hear. Just for the brain trust, my car just quit dead once. TRE spent two days on it. Turns out it was an internally shorted fuel injector which sent weird or dead signal to the DME. Hope this helps someone else someday.

[jlex]

Appreciate the update. A bad coil is unusual. Was there evidence of the coil leaking or any weird corrosion? Coils are usually pretty bullet-proof.

regards,

jlex.

[911st]

Have to admit, I broke down an had the shop do it.

[scarceller]

The coils don't go bad very often. I'd check/inspet the Spark cables just to be sure they are not arcing to ground somewhere. A short to ground other than at the spark plug gap will quickly overheat the coil and will cause it to fail.

Glad you got it fixed, thanks for the update.

[911st]

Just got back. It seems there was a lot of corrosion in the coil to distributor wire at the coil.

The coil may have still been usable. The rotor and dist cap showed burning also.