Once the cosmetic stuff was complete, I rebuilt the fuel supply system with BBY pump kit, and had the fuel injectors ultrasonically cleaned (shop said one of them was barely spitting/sputtering, but both cleaned up and were balanced). Cleaned the TB’s, BBS’s, and replaced all the o-rings. Primary stick coils were replaced and 4 new spark plugs were installed. After installing the starter and changing the engine oil, it was time to do a “Zero = 250” on the TPS, and attempt a start. That’s when I ran into the exact kind of issues I was hoping to avoid by throwing the old main wiring harness in the garbage and putting in a known good one. I was reading 5V at locations that should have been 0V, the GS-911 was throwing codes for open/short circuit at the Intake Air Temp and the Engine Temp sensors, and TPS upper/lower potentiometer out-of-range. After running continuity checks between the old harness, new harness, and my ’03 S, I found one wire common to all three of these sensors, but did not find a single shred of damage to the harness. After double and triple checking every single connection, and thoroughly cleaning all the grounds, the problem was still present. Even though I thought it wasn’t the smartest idea, I threw the single spark ECU from the ’03 into the ’05, and Bingo! I no longer had the crazy voltage problems (but I did not hook up the GS-911 to read codes). Decided at this point there was no risk involved in cracking the ’05 ECU open, and upon doing so, I found one trace on the back of the board that was completely burned out. Ended up finding a twin spark ECU on eBay, threw it in, and had the correct voltage readings everywhere and no codes via the GS-911.
I got her running for the first time in 16 months this last weekend. With valves and rocker arms properly gapped, Zero = 250 on TPS, TB’s balanced, plugs, coils, new fuel pump/filter….. she is running like a dream! After a successful 3 mile test ride around the neighborhood, I threw the tupperware back on, and had a couple celebratory adult beverages.
