engine swap malfunction

[GenshiAri]

That's very generous of you, however I need a PT6 ECU. I'm thinking about running a hot wire straight from the distributor to the battery and stem ideas from the result

[orangeaccord]

I would strongly suggest using battery cable for that... higher gauge wire will most likely get too hot and may melt ( O_O ) or not provide enough current, giving you a false test result.

More than likely, running a hot wire directly between the two won't help very much. The problem is probably from a bad ground somewhere, so you can run a hot wire anywhere you want and it won't do anything unless you create a new ground for it.

Check grounds. I had to take my car to Honda when I did my first timing belt change because the engine wouldn't turn over... They charged me $400 to tell me that I forgot to reconnect the PGM-FI ground harness. One loose connection can make or break everything.

----I think I need to give up on timing belt changes. I have the worst luck...

[johnl]

No, a battery is a storage device
Not a dampener....

A dampener would be something like the Voltage regulator on the Alternator

If I were him I'd clean and reconnect the T-stat housing ground

As I said, I'm no auto-electrician, but my understanding is that it places the electronics at risk, for whatever reason. I've also heard reports of alternator damage from running without a battery. It may be an amperage issue rather than a voltage issue?

It may be that the alternator will charge furiously because as far it 'knows' it's trying to charge a completely dead battery, and because no battery actually exists that energy has nowhere to go but into the electrical system because there is no 'reseviour' to store any surplus energy being generated, thus possibly causing overheating of components within the system...??

Whatever, I wouldn't risk it...

[GenshiAri]

The car will turn over everything electrical turns on just fine; my radio instruments fans all that stuff, just no spark, maybe I have the unbelievably bad luck of just happening to have two bad distributors? I'm gonna take it to orielly's tomorrow and just see for certain. One thing though, on my other car, when I go to start it the tach reads like 200 rpms while cranking, this one in question stays a zero? what does it mean? My camshaft is turning so it is NOT the timing belt

[johnl]

maybe I have the unbelievably bad luck of just happening to have two bad distributors? I'm gonna take it to orielly's tomorrow and just see for certain.

It's not impossible. The ignitor seems to be a component that will almost inevitably die at some significantly high mileage (yes, I know everthing will fail eventually, given enough use).

The ignitor is damaged by excessive impedence in the HT leads, which tends to cause the ignitor to overheat. If you ever have an ignitor fail and replaced, to avoid a possible brief life span from the new unit the lead resistance should be checked (been there).

It may be that this is the root cause of many ignitor failures(?), i.e they fail at X mileage because at / near X mileage the leads will often have become resistant enough to damage the ignitor.....

One thing though, on my other car, when I go to start it the tach reads like 200 rpms while cranking, this one in question stays a zero? what does it mean? My camshaft is turning so it is NOT the timing belt

My experience with two ignitor failures is that when it ceases to function the tachometer immediately drops to zero no matter what rpm the engine may actually be doing (i.e. when the car is coasting to a stop in gear with the engine still turning, the tacho will read zero). When the ignitor decides to resume normal service (often after cooling to some degree), the tacho registers again.

[Skidd]

As deevergote said before... check the grounds, but be sure to check for missing wires as well. I almost missed putting the ground from the valve cover to the body back on. Its sometimes the little things that make all the difference I'd say check the main relay and fuses... but you've said that you did, not that it would hurt to double/triple check em.

as for spark, make sure that coil is attached. I've heard that its possible to actually jury-rig those things... but its not exactly a good idea. Someone told me that they new some people who pulled a practical joke of replacing the coil wire with vacuum hose (with covers & such from the wire) and then waiting to see if the guy noticed... he started right up and drove home! they checked it the next day, and the hose was still there goes to show ya what those things are capable of! anyways....

Just keep checkin those wires. one will turn up, and the thing will take off again... just don't give up!

[GenshiAri]

I expected problems to occur, after all it is my first swap, but damn, why can't I get problems I can fix? Is it asking too much? I guess I could replace the entire wire harness