I just jumped the outside two wires on the starter relay and it cranks again. Is the VATS not part of the ECU?
It's gone back to no spark at the plugs now though too.
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The starter solenoid looks like it us run through the ECU. Am I interpreting that wrong?
It appears to me that the starter solenoid sends a voltage to the computer that the engine is being started cranking.
Sounds good. That makes sense.
So I have two separate issues now.
Next thing that I'm going to verify is that the Rotor is actually spinning. It seems that would explain the issue better than the ECU not working.
I didn't think about it till I had already left the shop last night.
Thanks all for your input. I hadn't even thought about the voltage grounding through the distributor shaft but that prompted the idea that it isn't spinning at all, or at least intermittently.
a weak coil will sometimes have enough output to jump one gap but fail to jump the second one. takes quite a big spark to jump the distributor and the spark plug. seen it a few times.
A combination of a low battery and bad spark plug wire seems to have been the culprit on the spark issue. I think steveo was right. Now I have a different issue. The TBI is spitting fuel like a backfire and it actually caught the unit on fire. That is likely a valve issue right?
So this is a tough situation to help with. It's tough b/c as an experienced mechanic I've gotten used to seeing and thinking of problems in ways that help diagnose the what's wrong. Your description may be right but it doesn't match up well with what I'm used to seeing.
Sucks that you had a fire. Hopefully it didn't result in other damage! I think a fuel pressure test might be a good idea. Low fuel pressure can cause hard star, no start, and backfire. I'm not sure what else to recommend at this point.
Ignition timing, improper firing order, to lean of fuel mixture, are some of the other issues that will cause backfiring through the intake.
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