e16i no spark problem, HELP, PLEASE

mmkarp · Jan 19th, 2004, 01:22 PM

I have a 84 Sentra with above mentioned engine, I want to give this car to a poor college student and he is waiting patiently. It cranks over, has compression, rotor turns, and I have power to the ecu to pin J of the input plug to the ecu, plus both the ecu and ignition relay power up. I can smell fuel while trying to start the car, and have checked the coil. I also hard wired the distributer four wire plug as I was told this is a failure point in this car. I tried a new (used) ecu, still no spark. I don't have any dash trouble light and the led's in the ecu don't light in either the test or run position. I also am not showing any thing like 12 volts at pin b of the dist. connection. I do have 12v at the coil, both sides.
Someone please Thelp me as it is below zero here and looks like it will be for a couple of weeks. This kid is walking three miles each way to work and has to get there by five in the morning. Any and all remarks or knowledge on this subject will be appreciated, Thanks in advance.

Marc

Lazarus_023 · Jan 19th, 2004, 02:43 PM

possibly fouled plugs. if you don't mind throwing money at it, put a new cap and rotor on it, and replace the plugs and wires (use NGK plugs). i can't remember if the '84s had ECU controlled distributors or not, but if it did, you could replace the distributor with that from an '82 or '83 to eliminate the ECU from the equation altogether.... also, if it's cold, you may want to add some ISO-heet, or other fuel anti-freeze/drier to the tank. these nissans ice up pretty quick in cold weather, it might be affecting your fuel pressure...

Gsolo · Jan 19th, 2004, 03:26 PM

double check that all the power wires negative and positive from the coil are hooked up right. i've messed that up a few times working on distributors.

mmkarp · Jan 20th, 2004, 09:30 AM

Just to mention, I do have 12v to both sides of the coil, and when turning the motor over, I don't have any spark coming out of the coil, spark to ground. I don't fully understand the ignition system cept that the distributer has led's and photo transistors as pickups in it which I assume need 12v to power them. There are four wires going into the dist. and none of them have any power (12v). In tracing the diagram, these four wires go directly to the ECU, which has two led's on the side, which don't do anything like lighting up with the key on. HELP PLEASE.

MARC

Myetball · Jan 20th, 2004, 06:28 PM

You have power at the coil but no juice coming out and your have no power at the distributor. Also you have no lights on your ECU. I'd say
(1) your ECU is dead and is not sending a signal to the power transistor built into the coil or
(2) there's a problem with the power supply to the ECU

If you like I could scan and send a couple of pages from the FSM that detail troubleshooting procedures for the ignition signal. Send an email to mr_wig2003@yahoo.com and I can reply with the scans.

EDIT: Just reread your last post and updated the above.

Gsolo · Jan 20th, 2004, 07:14 PM

has the car ever gotten wet on the inside before?? also check fuses, there is a fuse for the computer

OZMAN · Jan 20th, 2004, 08:19 PM

its an 84 so it must have a an ignition control module,the car has no computer.Inside the distributor you will find an ignition control module if you dont have spark coming from the coil that is your #1 problem.its cheaper 2 change the whole disributor than 2 purchase the module./

Myetball · Jan 20th, 2004, 09:27 PM

Well, he says it's an '84 but that it has an E16i. So, either someone did an engine swap, he's got an E16s, or it's a B12. The 84's did have an ECU, I'm looking at my '84 Sentra FSM right now. However, the '84 E16s only had a two-wire harness running to the distributor, and a seperate ground.

Anyway, based on his description of the distributor wiring I'd say he's got an E16i equipped B12, not a B11.

Gsolo · Jan 20th, 2004, 09:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myetball

Well, he says it's an '84 but that it has an E16i. So, either someone did an engine swap, he's got an E16s, or it's a B12. The 84's did have an ECU, I'm looking at my '84 Sentra FSM right now. However, the '84 E16s only had a two-wire harness running to the distributor, and a seperate ground.

Anyway, based on his description of the distributor wiring I'd say he's got an E16i equipped B12, not a B11.

or a swap from before he had the car....unless he hit 4 instead of 7 maybe??

Myetball · Jan 23rd, 2004, 03:15 AM

Sent the scans the other day. Several megs of data, hope it went through okay.

Hawkon · Jun 17th, 2004, 12:57 PM

ooooer, just like my problem!

I've done a CA20S -> CA18ET swap, including everything from the engine itself to the harness and wiring, gastank and pump.

Pump is running, smell lots of gas when cranking the engine, but I get no sparks. I can't reach the ECCS fault diagnostics either

(ign on, clockwise screw the bolt on the ECCS, crank the engine for 5 seconds, 6 times... no lights, acc pedal depressed and released, no lights)..

am I doing it the wrong way?

My car is a european T12 (bluebird) with a CA18ET.

mmkarp: did you ever find out what the problem was?

B11sleeper · Jun 17th, 2004, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OZMAN

its an 84 so it must have a an ignition control module,the car has no computer.Inside the distributor you will find an ignition control module if you dont have spark coming from the coil that is your #1 problem.its cheaper 2 change the whole disributor than 2 purchase the module./

my 83 has an ECU under the drivers seat and it's carb'd, but it's a California model, but has the older distributor.

blownb310 · Jun 20th, 2004, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmkarp

Just to mention, I do have 12v to both sides of the coil, and when turning the motor over, I don't have any spark coming out of the coil, spark to ground. I don't fully understand the ignition system cept that the distributer has led's and photo transistors as pickups in it which I assume need 12v to power them. There are four wires going into the dist. and none of them have any power (12v). In tracing the diagram, these four wires go directly to the ECU, which has two led's on the side, which don't do anything like lighting up with the key on. HELP PLEASE.

MARC

Marc,
It looks like I am way to late to be of help here, but I know what's wrong with your car. I have seen this happen to older B11's frequently. I actually posted this information on this forum some years ago. When you mentioned that the green and red lights on the side of your ecu don't light with the key on, I knew right away where the problem was. Good news, the repair won't hardly cost you a dime. Unscrew the two #3 phillips head screws that secure the coolant overflow bottle on the right front fenderwell. Behind them you will find a couple relays. One has very heavy guaged wires going to it, that is not the one. The other has four wires going to it and is the ECCS relay. You will find that the yellow wire has corroded itself off at the connector. This is the power wire for the entire ECCS system. You'll need to remove the old corroded connector and replace it with four individual insulated spade connectors. Sometimes the relay iteslf is so badly corroded that you'll need to replace it too. Obviously, you'll need to make sure to put all four wires back in the right order. Then turn the key and watch the lights come cack on the ECU. Now start it up.