broodyr

Hey guys, so I've got something really weird going on with my GSR.

I had just replaced the ICM, although the donor was from an older D series I believe, but I heard it shouldn't matter. Got it all hooked up, went to start the car, and as soon as I turned the key all the way, all the power died and the starter didn't even try to engage. Just like a power outage. When I removed the key and tried to start it again, I couldn't even get accessory power. A few minutes of fiddling under the hood later while the key was in the ignition with the door open, I might've moved a battery cable or something and heard the beep warning from the cabin. Tried starting again, and exactly the same thing happened. At this point I put back the old ICM, which still worked, just happened to be giving me some trouble I believe. I still couldn't get any power, as the magic that happened before didn't happen again.

So I went to the fuses under the dash, found the ignition fuse, and although the fuse wasn't blown according to a multimeter, swapping it out fixed the power loss issue. However, instead now I'm having something stranger happen; every time I try to start it, the starter makes a very strange, loud screeching sound, not the typical cyclic sound of a good starter but a constant screeching until I let off the key. Also, every time, about a second into holding the key down, there's a single weird almost drum-like (or 'bass-y' water droplet) sound that I believe is coming from the exhaust; it seems like fuel and spark is fine from my tests, so maybe that's just a byproduct of fuel and spark being present.

Basically, I'm lead to believe something's up with the starter, but I really don't understand how changing the ICM in the distributor can cause what sounds to be a mechanical starter issue. Besides that, ECU? But again I'm not sure that would be causing the symptoms I'm having. Any leads and tips are welcome!

wunfstgsr

So does the engine start now?
Check the ground on the starter and the power plug that plugs into the power pin on the starter, pull back the rubber boot and make sure its pluged in the male pin on the starter all the way, also check the starter ground make sure the bolt is on tight, also clean the thermostat ground as well as the other grounds in the engine bay, it sounds like a bad ground.

tony_2018

Sounds like low battery.

broodyr

So I posted this same question on another forum, this was my update to it:

Yeah so I did a bunch more testing today, including taking the starter out and testing it separately. It seems to be working fine, outside of the car at least. After putting it back in and still having no luck, I shorted all the different terminals on it separately and in different combinations, and it definitely is both shooting out the bendix and spinning. About the exhaust sound, no, the gas pedal wasn't down at all; however, when I pull the fuel fuse, that sound doesn't happen any more. That leads to the next strange thing; when I was doing this testing while attached to the engine, I noticed that if both the signal wire and main power wire to the starter were connected, that exhaust sound happened, implying the engine is turning, at least a bit. When only one (or neither) of the spinning or shoot-out was powered, it obviously wasn't engaging the flywheel at all, and no exhaust popping. That's the most confusing part for me; can it be that the starter is partially dead? Because from what I can tell, the sound I hear is it grinding on the flywheel, so I almost feel like maybe it's only shooting out half as far as it should or something.


The response I got in my other thread after this was him saying he believes the starter only works correctly if no load is applied, so he thinks a new starter is the solution. I went to Pick n Pull today, but they didn't have any manual B-series starter, so I'm out of luck unless I go for a new one.

No, engine doesn't start at all besides the minor turning from the starter mentioned earlier. Power connections all seem fine; I used a multimeter to test all connections to the starter; the one direct from the battery is a good constant 12-13V, and the signal wire is 0V standard, and 12-13V when turning the key. Could it still be a ground from somewhere else under the hood?

Thanks for the replies guys! Hoping I can figure this one out before I throw too many parts at it, haha.

wunfstgsr

Well my starter tested good but after a new one from auto zone it worked so it could still be bad but wont hurt to try a new one. You can try jumping the starter go to the auto store and buy a jumper with the clips on the end and manually try starting the starter if it don't start the starter is bad.

tamboo

starter rebuild kit will bring it back from the dead for beer money:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/TOYOTA-STAR...ss!64040!US!-1

Creator

iTrader: (1)

Make sure you didn't put the distributor back in 180 out. Seen this make the intake cam skip teeth on the timing belt and after checking compression (zero across the board), I discovered the issue. It made the odd sound exactly like you described because of the lack of compression. Thinking maybe in your situation it could also possibly be incompatible ICM trying to adjust the cam to what it thinks the correct timing is.

broodyr

Well, some bad news. I got a new (used) starter, from a manual Integra so it's definitely the right one, and I'm having the exact same problem.

Yeah I double checked that the other day, it could only go on one way anyways, so that couldn't be it. The old ICM is back in there already, so I'm really stumped on it.

So this leads me to believe my issue with the ICM caused some electrical damage elsewhere in the car; does anyone have an idea what possibly could've happened with that? I assume it's directly connected to the ECU, which worries me cause I'd rather not pay a ton for one of those. Or is this something I'm better off handing to an electronics expert at this point? Thanks again for the help guys.

Creator

iTrader: (1)

Did you check the timing?

broodyr

Uh well as much as I could like I said in the last post. I can't use my timing light cause she won't start haha.

Creator

iTrader: (1)

The mechanical timing. Take the upper timing belt cover off and rotate it manually by the crank pulley bolt until everything lines up to top dead center(well hopefully lines up)

broodyr

Well as it turned out, I just fixed it today and that's basically what it was. One of my cams (the exhaust I think?) was literally about 90 degrees off of what it should've been at TDC, and honestly I'm a little confused how it didn't end up turning my valves into mush lol. Anyways, it started up right after, ran a little rough for a bit but after a while and some tweaking of the distributor, it seems to be good as new now. Only problem is that I'm guessing I'll have to tighten my tensioner, cause I'm assuming that's what caused this in the first place. I was definitely off about the starter, although I'm still confused about a couple things. Anyways, I appreciate everyone's advice and time trying to help me through it. Thankfully I didn't have to tow it into a shop and spend a small fortune on it �� Thanks again.

wunfstgsr

That's Ignition timing, check the mechanical timing, see if everything lines up to TDC marks. If its off a tooth or two on the cams it will not start.