Won’t start, 600
I’be been running my engine since last September and all has been good, except the last few weeks. After a normal cold start, car came up to temp all was fine, I shut the car off to start it again and nothing. So I was going to check for spark at the coil and the wire seemed loose. I spread the copper and reinserted into the coil nice and snug. I tried to start the car and it was all good. Looking at the coil, I decided to upgrade to a PerTronix Flamethrower II to match my Igniter II distributor. Once all installed, cold and warm starts were great again!!! Brings me to today. I try a cold start and I’m getting nothing. I smell the gas and continue to try but a pop and gurgle and she still will not start. I check for spark, it’s there, I try again and nothing. I call Fitech who has me check for codes. I had an RPM noise. I disconnect and remove a wire on the negative terminal of the coil from my dash gauge. I then reload my software, change a few settings and she started running great again. Go figure, maybe we’re good. Try a warm start and again we have nothing. Gas is flooding into the Fitech who told me I need to isolate my RPM Fitech wire to the coil. This misreading of my rpms is causing the Fitech to add more gas flooding out my car. I isolated my wire and went ahead and cleaned my dirty spark plugs. I’m going to try again in the morning. Hopefully it will be ok. Any other ideas??
Look into the Shielding topic in the Electrical section.
No error codes, getting an rpm reading at crank up. I see gas going in. Cleaned all my plugs. Same issues as yesterday. It spits and quits. I smell a lot of gas. My wire is isolated. I reloaded the software and the learn. I’m not sure what to do next?
Just want to add that my spark is very yellow and appears dim......... usually are a silver blue color...... right?
Just want to wrap up my day and let you know what’s happening. I checked the coil ohms on my primary and secondary and both were in range so I’m confident my new coil is good. I checked that I was getting 12 volts at the coil and also at my white wire. I crank the engine, pump is priming, fuel is flowing when engine is cranking so I’m pretty confident the problem might not be my Fitech. I have no error codes and my engine RPM’s are about 1200-1500 when starting. I’m not sure if that’s correct but the fuel is released based on that. I think my issue is a hot spark. My plug was more of a yellow glow than a spark. Made no sound or anything. I’m not sure if that would ignite anything. More interesting was the inside of the distributor cap. Cylinder 8 terminal was burnt and the spark was arching prior to the post. I need a new cap. I’m getting a new ignition module from PerTronix and new plugs as they were black when I pulled them out. Whatever was happening was and is getting progressively worse. I’m hoping when I replace each item one at a time I’ll find the culprit. Any comments on my thought process or lack of spark?
Gave it the college try this morning and no luck. I did get the RPM noise error code again. Car had been running fine since last September then just one day it does not work and throw a code? Randomly I might add. The amount of fuel going in is way excessive I feel. It just stinks of gas. Even when the RPM noise code was not there it stinks of gas. Second guessing total spark issue now. I’m still going to change ignition parts but how do I rectify this error code which randomly happens? I thought I had fixed it even though I never had this issue. I’m running a Pertronix ignitor 2 with its matching coil by the way. Some direction please??
I ordered the tin shielding for my blue wire and will duplicate what Poncho did. I have a ground bar right near my blue wire where it comes through the firewall so grounding the shielding on one end should be simple. Might as well eliminate that issue and work through this!
I hope someone is reading this as my situation seems to worsen. My blue wire is away from the loom and there are no error codes showing. I read that if you turn your key on after you hold your foot down on the throttle, the prime shot is bypassed. I did that, fuel pump primed and stopped with no prime shot. I then read if you hold the throttle WOT again it would start with no fuel going in to clear out the excess gas. I did that and after two try’s my car started. It ran rich due to the days of no starts. I eventually turned off after a minute to take outside and try again. When I went outside I tried to complete a normal start. Nothing on the first attempt. On the second attempt, I heard a bang in my engine and I turned everything off. Thinking I just did something horrible, I had to find out what it was. I turned the key back on and now my Walbro in tank fuel pump would prime but not shut off. It never ran like that unless the engine was running. The only way to stop it was by disconnecting the inertia connection or removing the fuse to the Fitech for the fuel pump. Even with the key off and out, the pump is still running. I have to remove the fuse from the yellow 12 v battery circuit and it stops. I clearly have an issue with my Fitech. I tried to turn my car over again, pump off, to hear the engine turn and it appears that bang I heard was my starter shaft due to a fuel hydrolock on startup. I removed and tested. No teeth on flywheel missing but shaft is shot on starter. I need some advice and my Fitech needs help! Hope to hear from someone soon.
Grounds!!!! This is a method I use and never has failed me. 2awg battery to block, 10awg battery to frame, 10awg battery to body.
I have seen pumps run constantly when grounding is an issue. Also, remove the front cover of Fitech you will find a ground stud on the ecu. Make sure it is tight. If you want add a wire from there directly to the battery.
Ground and electrical interference issues can be intermittent.....
This is a Cobra btw, my battery is grounded to the frame with 2awg, it also grounds directly to my block with the same gauge. All other ground work from my frame. I have no grounding issues with the car anywhere. Confused on how the pump is going to run. When I remove the fuses from the Fitech unit itself the pump stops so it appears the Fitech is not telling the pump to stop as it controls it. It is hooked up to my Ron Francis harness. I don’t have much faith in this unit right now as it continues to flood out my car. This just happened one evening after 8 months of never an issue. I’m thinking it’s the unit......??