Need a 5-OH whisperer

[drecords]

Alright -- whole story for maximum entertainment and diagnosis potential:

-Leaving TWS #34 took a long time to start, cycled ignition switch and it fired up and drove onto trailer.
-Once returned to Red Mist Racing world headquarters, wouldn't start to back off trailer.
-Pushed her into the shop, put the cover on and didn't touch it for 3 weeks, pulled shocks off for rebuild and did alot of other things non-racing related.

-Fast forward to today. Tried swapping TFI module, and ignition coil, still no start. Have 12V at the coil.
-.15V at the TPS sensor with the ignition on.
-Used a noid light in the #1 injector and am seeing no indication that its seeing a PIP signal (no flashing on crank). Have 12V at fuel injector red wire, points to a bad PIP.
-Bought a new distributor thinking the PIP was bad, put it in and tried to start it. Car still didn't start, however when I stopped cranking I could hear the fuel injectors clicking away and the coil had a spark. After this event, no more spark was seen for the rest of the day.
-I pulled the TFI connector and took OHM readings on all the pins -- none indicated a break in the wiring though 2 had higher resistance.
-Check engine light illuminates when I turn on the ignition which indicates to me that the computer is getting power.

Dunno where to go from here, guess i'll use the light to get the CEL codes and go from there.

[marshall_mosty]

I don't think it's a smoking gun, but the stock EEC-IV strategy needs approx 0.98V on the TPS with the throttle closed.
Also, check your chassis grounds at the back of the engine (head to firewall) and the computer ground inside the car.

[Wade]

1. Out of fuel? Check gauge mounted on fuel rail. Should be in the 35-40psi range after priming the ignition circuit on/off/on.
2. Tripped circuit breaker? You car has a painless harness with circuit breakers that can be reset by the driver. See if any of those are popped out. (should be the second one from the left?)
3. Check the Orange ground wire (ignition/TFI ground) that should be mounted on the back bolt of the upper intake. I was thinking that you had moved this to some other location?
4. Fuel pump priming? See #1. Perform on/off/on switching of ignition circuit and listen for pump whine.
5. What about all those wires you melted at TWS near the passenger inner fender? It appeared those were for the O2 sensors, but could also be Mass Air Flow Meter related. Did you actually fix those at the track, or was it a "track fix" that needs to be re-addressed?
6. Since you pulled the distributor, recheck the ignition base timing. It is possibly a tooth off. It is easy to "miss" by one tooth. Put the engine at TDC on number 1 based on the crank markings and then see if the rotor is pointing to #1 on the cap. Remember that #1 is marked with a sharpie, not the actual #1 stamped on the cap.

Good Luck. Wade

[drecords]

I don't think it's a smoking gun, but the stock EEC-IV strategy needs approx 0.98V on the TPS with the throttle closed.
Also, check your chassis grounds at the back of the engine (head to firewall) and the computer ground inside the car.

I'll check grounds, I have confirmed they're tight by wiggling but will put a wrench in them.

1. Out of fuel? Check gauge mounted on fuel rail. Should be in the 35-40psi range after priming the ignition circuit on/off/on.
2. Tripped circuit breaker? You car has a painless harness with circuit breakers that can be reset by the driver. See if any of those are popped out. (should be the second one from the left?)
3. Check the Orange ground wire (ignition/TFI ground) that should be mounted on the back bolt of the upper intake. I was thinking that you had moved this to some other location?
4. Fuel pump priming? See #1. Perform on/off/on switching of ignition circuit and listen for pump whine.
5. What about all those wires you melted at TWS near the passenger inner fender? It appeared those were for the O2 sensors, but could also be Mass Air Flow Meter related. Did you actually fix those at the track, or was it a "track fix" that needs to be re-addressed?
6. Since you pulled the distributor, recheck the ignition base timing. It is possibly a tooth off. It is easy to "miss" by one tooth. Put the engine at TDC on number 1 based on the crank markings and then see if the rotor is pointing to #1 on the cap. Remember that #1 is marked with a sharpie, not the actual #1 stamped on the cap.

Good Luck. Wade

#1. Pump primes, pressure comes up to 40 then falls back off to 0. This is what has me confused, I have no spark and seems no signal for fuel pump to remain on. CEL illuminates which indicates comp has power.

#5 barbequed wires have been checked and no issues found there, though it is suspicious that this problem developed within 24h of that event.

#6 in my experience even when off a tooth I get a spark...not the case today. No spark, no fuel injector pulse but have 12V on supply side of each injector.

[Trublu]

Carb

[marshall_mosty]

Fuel pump will only prime for 3 seconds until the engine starts, then it will continue to run.

[marshall_mosty]

You may want to redo the orange TFi ground, or at least sand it with some 500 grit to make sure it's grounding properly.

[marshall_mosty]

Do you have a spare computer to try?

[drecords]

Do you have a spare computer to try?

I don't, I pulled it and checked resistance on computer ground, checked that the EEC relay was functioning correctly. Also interesting is that the computer appears to have power with the EEC relay unplugged.

You may want to redo the orange TFi ground, or at least sand it with some 500 grit to make sure it's grounding properly.

Moved it back to the intake bolt, no change. Connection is nice and tight.

[drecords]

Found an A9P computer to try -- its the auto computer but from what I've read on the interwebs it will allow me to start the car and rule out the computer. Hopefully sort that Wed night