85_JSTANG

ok guys, here wat i got so far, bought my dodge spirit, 2.5turbo. got her running, drove for about 2 blocks, throttle was horrible, had her floored and she was barely going anywhere, she turned off, my friend changes up the wires on the dist. cap she fired up, the slight knock went away, back fired times and wont start back up, not even getting power to the coil. determined that the timing was 180out(from wat my buddy said). now here is a list of replaced parts
-starter
-dist. cap
-spark plugs
-coil
-hall sensor inside of distributer
ok, still no fire...have no idea what it could be, got a computer (where the stock air intake it) from another 2.5 spirit (non turbo) jus for the heck of it to see if that is the problem, and took a few relays to try out.

havent tried those yet but should tomorrow or so.

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS? for the car to fire up, and even run a little and then go to not even gettin spark, that quik? i have no idea and my buddys that are helping me are starting to get stumped too. any help would be great, im sure someone here has had this problem or knows what it could be

thanks guys
-JT

Fabrik8

I'd take a really good look at the timing, and whether the plug wires are on the proper positions on the distributor. This sounds like a mechanical timing issue, especially with the backfiring and the lack of proper starting. I'd try to get it back to where it was before (throttle was horrible, etc) and then troubleshoot from there. Whatever is causing that sounds like a smaller problem to fix than the problem you've created for yourself now.

How were you testing that you weren't getting power to the coil? Are you talking about the input or the output of the coil? Obviously if you're not getting power to the coil input, the coil probably isn't bad and just isn't getting power.

So you started with poor throttle response, a slight knock, etc. That sounds like a minor timing issue, or possibly a TPS or MAF/MAP problem. I would always look at timing first.


I'm assuming that your friend mistakenly turned the distributor 180deg (you said he did) and now has made everything critically worse. Turn it back and see where you stand.

85_JSTANG

the plugs are on right, and the issue was that my buddy said the timing belt was put on wrong, that is was put on 180deg out. he didnt turn the dist. 180deg. jus back in forth to mess wit the timing and she fired up. now shes not firing. we didnt change anything really, he changed the wires but then put them back. we looked at the check engine codes and this is wat we got
12
37
61
36
25
55
i posted on turbo-mopar.com and a guy said from those #s that the computer is screwed but i didnt read anything about those #s with the comp being the problem.

also we have tried to jus get her to start up, put everything back, and she stil isnt gettin spark. no power at all.

Fabrik8

What are those codes?

85_JSTANG

i left my book at my friends house, i should be able to post them up here tomorrow

85_JSTANG

ok here are the codes and what they are.

12:The battery has been disconnected and the computer (ECU) has been reset.
-makes since, we have disconnected the battery a few times and unpluged/replugged wiring.
37:Baro-read solenoid open or shorted
61: (i had to find from a different list) says the same as #37
36:Wastegate or other solenoid open or shorted
25:Air Idle Speed motor shorted or voltage out of range
55:end of codes.

would any of these keep the car from gettin power? from running, etc. like anything major with starting the engine?

i got these codes from
http://www.allpar.com/fix/codes/index.html

please help me out guys, any input helps

thanks
-JT

i havent been able to really work on the car, its outside and its been raining the past few days so ive just been researching.

Fabrik8

The idle air speed code could definately keep it from running (well, idling), and not having a proper barometric pressure reading could cause problems too (not very big ones though). Depending on the type of wategate control, that could keep the wastegate open all the time and limit power, and all those codes need to be fixed anyway. It could be the ECU, it could be a massive wiring problem depending on who the original owner(s) were and if they liked "working" on their own cars (often meaning hacking everything to bits).

If the codes were caused by a bad ECU, that would definitely cause problems starting/running. Interestingly enough, the ECU seems to have no trouble reporting the codes though, so unless someone hooked up the battery backwards and the ECU isn't reverse polarity protected, I don't see why it wouldn't work. Tough thing to diagnose though, unless you can try another ECU AFTER checking out that the codes are NOT caused by someone's shadetree rewiring job.

I'm assuming you don't have another ECU that you can try..?

85_JSTANG

no i dont have another ecu, i looked at pick n pull but they had no turbo ecu's. looks like ima go trough all the wiring fromt eh issues that the codes said and see what i got from there. hopefully they will be fixed and the codes go away, if i dont find anything or the codes dont go away im not sure what im going to do. maybe look into a reman ecu.

and yes, from what ive seen, the wiring looks a little hacked up so that could be the issue, maybe a wire got shook loose or something, if only it is something that simple

Fabrik8

Actually, all those things you listed are solenoid-type devices and usually have 12V going to one side (of the solenoid coil, etc.) and the other side will be switched to ground by the ECU. So it's possible that you have a problem with the 12V supply to some set of circuits in/around the engine. This is the type of thing that should be checked out in the course of the troubleshooting.

85_JSTANG

yeah i think ima jus trace down the wiring and look for shorts and things of that matter, if we cant get anything done, would u be interested in the job, u seem pretty good in electrical, i might need a guy to try and figure it out.