The car ran fine when I parked it several years ago, but it hasn't been started or touched in atleast 4 years. Went to fire it up the other day and it cranks over fine, but has no spark and won't fire up. Its been ages since I worked on this car and don't remember much about it. I can tell you the tach needle doesn't bounce a bit while the engine is cranking over. Beyond that tell me what other information you need to know and I'll do the best I can.

Also, cap, rotor and wires are all in good shape, I don't see any problems under the distro cap.

 

The igniter is bad. That part is inside the distributor.

 

Is that the only possibility? Any way I can confirm that this part is bad before going out and spending money on a replacement?

 

Not sure if this is related, but after doing some more reading on the issue I figured it would be relevent to note the Check Engine light is staying on when the key is on. From what I understand it should cycle on for a few seconds for a bulb test then turn off. Mine isn't turning off, stays illuminated for as long as the key is on. I checked the main ECM fuse under the hood and its good. I'm thinking this could be a problem with the main relay maybe? I don't seem to hear a distinctive click when I turn the key, which I would think I should hear if a relay was clicking on.

 

Oops. Possibility of a bad ECU.

You'd better get the codes out of the ECU: Find the gray 2-pin connector behind the top of the passenger kick panel under the dash, ahead of the door. Short the terminals with a paper clip. Turn the key to "II". Count the blinks. There maybe both long and short blinks, and each sequence will be separated with a 2-second pause.

 

The battery in the car is shot, and it only cranks when jumped from another car, so I think its unlikely we'll find any codes on the computer. I can still attempt if its relevent, but I really think my main relay is at fault here. Seems like a common problem with these cars, and upon taking mine apart I see signs of cracked solder on the posts of some terminals.

If memory serves me, I also recall this car would occasionally not start the last summer I drove it, but if I turned it off again and on again slowly, the car would start right up. Going to try and replace the relay today and see if this clears up the problem. Hopefully we don't have a bad ECM.

 

Do you hear the fuel pump prime when you turn on the ign. switch?

What should happen when ign. switch is turned on to the run position, [not start position]...

There should be two (2) "clicks" from the PGM-FI Main Relay, it may sound like one "click" as they are very close together, [first click is injector relay turning on, second click is fuel pump relay turning on.

At the same time the CEL will turn on and the fuel pump will/should prime the fuel system for no more then a few sec.

After that few sec. there will be a third "click from the PGM-FI Main Relay, [fuel pump relay turning off, at the same time the fuel pump will stop priming and the CEL will go out.

Is that happening? 94

 

Its a bit hard to hear the fuel pump because my power antenna starts at the same time, but from what I can hear it does not sound like my fuel pump is activating. I'm fairly sure I'm not hearing any clicks from the relay.

The check engine light is not going out at all, it stays lit as long as the key is on. It appears that the fuel gauge on the dash isn't working either. I'v poured atleast 6 gallons in and it still reads empty.

 

Just checked to confirm while holding the relay in my hand, its not clicking at all.

 

If the CEL is staying on with the key on, it's either your ecu or main relay. As fir the spark problem, ignitor.

 

I've never honestly seen a bad ecu in my past ~14 years of working on engines, so I'm gonna go ahead and assume its relay. However wouldn't this relay not working also be causing the no spark issue? The inside of my distributor looks very clean, almost like it was recently replaced before I bought the car years ago. I'm guessing what you call the ignitor is what I know as the ignition module? The thing that's inside the distro but not the coil, has 3 blade terminals on it?

 

If the PGM-FI Mail relay is not clicking at all, either the ground, [black] is bad, [ground for fuel injection relays coil] or the ign. power to it, [other side of fuel injection relays coil] is bad.

Turn your radio off so the power ant. will not run.

You will need to drop the PGM-FI Main Relay to test things, a 12V test light, [not LED type] is all you need along with a jumper lead, [wire with alligator clips at each end, or any scrap piece of wire.

Check the ground, use the jumper to supply a ground directly to the PGM-FI Main Relay, just stuff one end of the jumper wire into the back of the relays plug in the black wire pin location, ground the other end of jumper, turn the ign. switch on, does relay click?

If not, the problem is not a bad ground, if it does, fix the ground.

If ground is not the problem then ign. power must be, use the test light and probe the black/yellow lead, it should have power on it when the ign. switch is in both the run and the start position

Let me know what you find.

BTW, the ECU/ECM has nothing to do with the injector relay working or not, The ECU/ECM controls the fuel pump relay, by supplying the relays coil with a ground, the injector relay supplies the fuel pump relays coil with it's power.

If the injector relay does not turn on, the fuel pump relay can not turn on, even if the ECU/ECM is working perfectly. 94

 

I tested all the pins in the connector and found this:

Pin 1 (with a yellow/white stripe wire) has 12v power
Pin 2 (black wire w/silver dots) is grounded
Pin 5 (with 2 black/yellow stripe wires) has 0.5v power

No other pins contain voltage or are grounded when the key is on.

 

Update on this. I discovered while following the troubleshooting guide in the manual that fuse #24 was blown. Something I wouldn't think would have anything to do with this, but it did, and it has fixed a few problems. The check engine light now goes out correctly after a couple seconds, the main relay is now clicking properly, and the engine has spark.

It still however will not start. I can't hear the fuel pump turning on, nor is my fuel gauge working. Seems these 2 problems are connected. What should I be looking for now?

 

Check for voltage on the yellow/black leads, there wiil be two pins with yellow/black leads, one is the output from the fuel injection relay, it will stay hot as long as ign. switch is on the other is the output from the fuel pump relay, it should stay hot for a few sec. at most when ign. switch is turned on.

If there is power only on one of the yellow/blacks, [fuel injector relay output] check for a ground, [for a few sec. at most, when ign. is turned on] on the green/black lead, [ECU/ECM fuel pump relay control lead] or supply a ground to that green/black lead/pin using a jumper lead, ign. switch must be on.

Also, you say, "the main relay is now clicking properly", does that mean it clicks two times, real close together, then after a few sec. there is a 3rd click and that is when the CEL goes out?
This is important, let me know. 94

 

Will check the wire voltages here shortly, but yes the main relay is clicking twice close together, then a 3rd click and CEL goes out. I can't hear the fuel pump running but I will pull the rear seat off and listen to confirm that.

 

Didn't you say the tach needle doesn't bounce at all when you crank? If so, then your igniter is bad.

 

Just checked the voltages at the terminals, both yellow/black leads are behaving correctly. I'm using a DVOM meter, so its reaction time is a little slow, but for some reason its showing a max of ~9.6v on the fuel pump relay lead. This could be because my slow digital meter isn't reacting fast enough, but it just seemed weird. The other yellow/black lead shows +12v whenever the key is on. The digital also didn't show a complete ground on the green/black lead, the resistance did however drop drastically, but again this could be because of its slow reaction time. I attempted to manually ground that lead, and I still get no fuel pump activation. I believe the relay and its leads are preforming correctly, but we have a bad connection somewhere between it and the fuel pump and sending unit perhaps?

I've removed the rear seat and I see the connector going into the send unit and pump. What should I check at this location to see if power is getting back to the pump and sending unit?

The tach needle is now jumping correctly, that corrected itself when it got spark back.

EDIT: Just looked at the service manual, and it looks like I'm only looking at the wires to the sending unit, not the fuel pump. I guess the fuel pump looks to be located further back and higher.

 

On G2s the fuel tank must be dropped to access the fuel pump, before you do that, check the rear harness connections at/in the under dash fuse box.

You can test the fuel gauge and it's wiring using a 12V test light, unplug the sending unit, ground the test lighr lead and touch the test light probe to the yellow/green lead/pin in the sending unit plug, fuel gauge should move up, touch probe to the green/red and the low fuel light should turn on, ign. switch must be on. 94

 

Checked for voltage on the yellow/black lead under the rear seat, and it is getting power, both for a few seconds when the key is turned, and while cranking. Yet I hear no fuel pump. I will check the gauge now and see what happens.

 

Beginning to sound more and more like the fuel pump is toast. 94

 

I don't have a test light handy, just the meter. So using a paper click to ground the green/red wire I see the low fuel light come on. I tried grounding the sending unit signal wire but it doesn't make the gauge move (as i'm guessing low resistance = empty fuel tank).

I would assume that since I see power on the yellow/black and the green/red is turning on the fuel light, that there isn't an issue with connections. Sadly it is seeming more and more like a fuel pump

 

Yep, fuel pump or possibley a connection between inside the car and the pump itself, either way you need to drop the tank. 94