3sge - starts, idles, dies

just of quick note. before my brain worked and my wife pointed out the missing ground (from the transmission to the chassis), i was attempting to turn the engine over - it turned over VERY SLOWLY... then i disconnected the battery - both terminals on the battery were WARM...

then i connected the ground (transmission to chassis) and it started perfectly!

it ran for 2-3 minutes perfectly, then once the temp got near normal (ie. just under middle), it died out - sputtering. i did not panic. i waited 5 seconds after it died, and restarted it. it restarted correctly. it has not restarted since.

again, at this point, i am going to redo both ground cables.

 

IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i'll walk through all of the steps... i bought a new battery terminal cleaner. i cleaned the inside of both terminals and the outside of both battery posts - it did not help. i made myself a new battery ground cable with a new terminal - it did not help. i cut off the battery terminal of the hot side and cut off some extra wire sheath to expose new wire, then put a new terminal on. IT WORKED!!! the engine turned over without any problems at all!

so... now i REALLY need to get the Idle Up and TVIS valves...

 

the hot wire is about 4 years old (battery relocation kit), but it has seen much nicer days/environments. honestly, it does not surprised me that it died... the front engine trunk has been through a lot...

 

at current, the TVIS and Idle Up sensors are not even remotely close to the vehicle, let alone connected. also, it will turn over, but not start just yet - my assumption is that this was due to the Idle Up and TVIS sensors not being connected. again, purely a guess on my part, as nothing else (that i know of) has changed.

i did try to crank it over for a bit of time... about 10 seconds of cranking, 3 times, with 5 seconds in between each try. i did not (and could not) try to give it gas via the accelerator pedal as it is current disconnected (needs a bit of 'massaging').

thankfully, everything else is working perfectly - dash lights, engine bay fan, brake lights, power locks, etc...

i do recall the first time that i tried starting it, it DID take some time before it would start. i hope this is similar and that it'll start once the Idle Up and TVIS sensors are connected.

so, at the moment, i have 3 vacuum lines which are open to atmosphere - the 2 for the Idle Up and the 1 for the TVIS. perhaps that is causing my non-starting?

 

many thanks to Omar/st162rocket!!! got the TVIS/Idle Up assembly this evening! i will be installing it tomorrow, also will be doing some fun testing too... such as spark, etc...

i sincerely hope that it starts tomorrow and idles yet again!

if not, well... yeah.

 

hooked up the TVIS and Idle Up, plus all the vacuum lines. whee! it looks lovely!

well... i did some checking and my coil is out of spec (supposed to be 0.41 - 0.50 Ohms, but is 0.9) on the primary, and within spec on the secondary (12.3 Ohms).

i am getting NOTHING at all - resistance or continuity - from the igniter. i've already contacted st162rocket to see if he has these spare as well... i hope he does and they're in good shape.

i also did the check engine light inspection:
14, 5, 1

14 - is the ignition system - ignitor or coil.
5 - did not find.
1 - i think this is normal.

 

ah, aok... so then my problem might be a LOT simpler than i expected...

neither the coil or igniter are physically grounded to the chassis - i need a custom bracket made for that. i might just rig one up, for the time being. so yeah.

i only painted the firewall so that it was 1 color (rustoleum primer grey) and so the part that i 'massaged' with a ball peen hammer wouldn't rust through. my last concern is how it looks...

i saw the codes as follows:
1
(short pause)
4
(long pause)
5
(long pause)
1

i let it repeat multiple times, just to make sure that i wasn't mis-reading it.

i admit, i feel really dumb about not properly grounding the coil and igniter...

if you are ever in the SF Bay Area, please let me know... i will gladly buy you a beer or 10.

 

certainly good to know! and thanks for that!

but, i did one step better...





i went to the local hardware store and purchased a straight piece of steel with some pre-drilled holes... measured the overall height of the 2 mounting points i have available in my AW11, bent it accordingly, measured and drilled a few holes... and we have a custom bracket!

the steel was all of $2 at the local store... i already have a drilled press here, and grabbed the drill bit size that was just a hair larger than the openings in the igniter. you can see a few copper washers in there, just for good measure.

tomorrow, i will match it up to the chassis then drill the last holes that will allow it to be bolted directly to the chassis. i will also be running extra ground straps on the top and bottom mounting points, just to be sure.

 

IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i just drilled the last 2 holes needed to mount the bracket up... bolted it on and fired it up! it idles perfectly!!!

HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

just to be on the safe side, i've made 3 extra grounding straps. if needed, they'll come into play later.

later on, after my excitement has worn off, i'll take some photos of the setup.

 

i don't know if this is coincidence or not... this morning i hopped onto Facebook and saw this video post/question from Denso.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ca5GJQqYKo&feature=youtu.be&sf3974885=1

this describes my situation pretty damned closely - if not identically.

so... i'll be borrowing my wife's 3sgte O2 sensor and seeing if it fixes my issue...

if it does, i have no problems at all purchasing another new Denso O2 sensor... i'll post the results later.

 

unplugged the O2 sensor. it started right up without any problems. did get a CEL light - did not check the code, as i'm pretty certain it's the O2 error.

waited until it warmed up full, throttled it very lightly (up to 1500rpm, gently), let it idle for 3 minutes. was smooth as silk. turned it off. plugged the O2 sensor in. started it. it died in 3 seconds and the CEL went away. tried starting it again 3 times - always with the same results - dying after a few seconds.

unplugged the O2. started it - it hesitated then died. and again. on the 3rd restart, the CEL came back on and it idled perfectly. throttle responded correctly as well.

i do believe this is pretty conclusive... i'm quite thankful that i do not need to replace my ECU and that the apparent fix is so easy.

i'll be ordering a replacement O2 shortly and will post my findings after it is installed.