Start trouble

[VRmonster 1]

been trying to get my car to go for 3 days now. im running an emerald m3d ecu, and it IS wired correctly, ive checked many times.

the car turns over fine and it was timed correctly when i rebuilt it. i am getting a decent spark to all plugs (coilpack too so the sequence should be ok) and the injectors seem to be firing ok as you can smell it when the plugs are out. but the car still refuses to start, wont even splutter. i am completely stumped and have checked to see that the crank sensor is giving a correct signal, and it is. im now stuck and cant understand why it isnt running.

im hoping one of you tech heads has a good idea or can at least throw some crap ones my way to at least make me think im getting somewhere, as my patience is completely drained with this project and im ready to backheal it till a later date but cant go any longer without it so have no choice but to carry on carrying on.

Any help appreciated, thanks, matt.

[Justicevr6 0]

First crap idea.

some imobilisers need to be reset after the battery has been disconected.

[Eat this 2]

fuel pump?? or fuel pump solanoid

[J5KE F 0]

It does sound like a fueling problem. Is there any getting to the rail?

[badboyV6 4]

take the fuel line off at the fuel rail and make sure its pumping fuel...

Has the emerald ECU been programmed?

Are the cams connected to the crank? ;-)

Seriously though first 2 are something id look into- could be a faulty ECU?

Possinly an immobiliser (if you have one) as some do let the car turn over.....

[Nerih 0]

in general, the engine will crank and and have fuel injected with no ecu connected...(ive tried it on mine ), the only problem was, it wouldnt start because it got no ignition spark.

So if its sparking, being fuelled and the starter motor is turning it over, you should check to see if it splutters and coughs, if it does you know its trying (and sparks are firing with a mixture of fuel and air), if it is coughing and spluttering but refusing to start, check vacuum piping for leaks (check inlet manifold gaskets)...

if you've only touched your ECU, and the car isnt coughing/sputtering then i'm sorry, you may have wired it up correctly, but in the process of soldering, you may have damaged the electronics, either through excessive solder voltage (soldering irons for electornics should be <6v, low powered and dual insulated), or eletrostatic discharge (the ecu is espeically sensitive, more so than todays computers, considering its a 10 year old design).

if its your ECU, expect 400 quid and backorder from VW. or send it to www.tunemycar.com, they fix ecu's.

1. its getting fuel (since you can smell it in the cylinders)

2. its sparking (since you say it is)

2a. its turning over by the starter motor

3. the only other ingredient is air (check lol)

if those dont do it, then its the ecu, the car should run with quite a few sensors unplugged i think, but not without a working ecu.

p.s your car isnt spluttering, its definately the ECU.

[J5KE F 0]

my car has had an intermittent fault like that.

Just a possibility, but check the 5 core plug connecting to the coil pack. the brown wire on ine had overheated and consequently was making a poor connection. causing engine to turn but not fire. It also caused some other strange elec. faults!. but its worth a go!

[VRmonster 1]

ok, immobiliser was a thought, but as im running the custom ecu, then the old immobiliser isnt connected to the engine anymore, only the strter if anything, but the crank turns with the starter so not that.

ive had the feed line off the rail and it squirted me in the face, so im deffo getting fuel there. its even injecting as i can see it mist when it crank it without a plug in.

and yes warren i fitted the timing chains so the cams are turning, lol. i wish it was something i had done wrong but i was a perfectionist when rebuilding so doubt it.

and hiren... as i said im running a brand new emerald custom ecu, with its own diagnosis so its not a faulty ecu. but it also isnt even spluttering so its not trying to go. and i did all of the soldering while the ecu was disconnected, and was say in a box on my wardrobe away from any harm, so hasnt been damaged.

was given a few hints by the e38 members so will try those tonight, i am also running without the cam sensor activated, so think this may have something to do with it. ill be trying that too.

ill let ya know how i get on. cheers peeps.

[Nerih 0]

i'll pay you ten quid if it isnt your ECU....soldering ecu's is not a good idea, unless you've got a low temperature low voltage soldering iron...is it a new ECU or a new ECU Chip?

you can pretty much discount your ECU if its getting a spark though.....and if it was sparking, it would splutter...soo......

and i know becuase i've destroyed an ECU trying to solder a new chip to it, the repair company told me i'd over heated the main processor, so it needed to be replaced.

[J5KE F 0]

coil pack??? then go to ecu? not sure what outputs to look for on connector though? If any one knows that may also help me out?

[VRmonster 1]

the ecu is an emerald stand alone unit, custom harness, custom outputs, completely seperate to the rest of the car. it just utilises the standard sensors etc...

www.emeraldm3d.com

so it is not the ecu. and i did not solder anything to it, just some wires extended here and there to fitt a map sensor etc...

well ive just done all of the things mentioned, and still nothing, im getting a friend to bring a compression tester home tomorrow just to be sure. it is still getting a good spark, but still not spluttering, im going to get an led and check that the injectors are pulsing correctly and see how long they stay open. but im sure im getting fuel anyway. keep the ideas coming people as even though im not getting anywhere it is keeping me busy so i dont just give up like i feel like doing. thanks again.

[VRmonster 1]

yey, finally got it running, turns out i wasnt getting enough fuel so had to rescale the injector map in the ecu. but it still wouldnt run, so checked the compression and all was ok. my mate suggested we spray some ether into the intake mani but he didnt have it in his van, i had some carb clener in the garage so we settled for that.

one backfire and a very large flame from the open throttle body butterfly later and it runs ok, sounds very lumpy as it only has a downpipe, no exhaust system. lol, and smokes a little so im going to make sure i have oil pressure as the light doesnt go out. but im much happier now as once the exhaust is sorted and it is tuned i will be let loose on the streets. yey.

cheers for your help guys.