Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

I've basically had the whole car apart and now I'm putting it back together, I thought I was done, then went to start it and have no spark. I've also cranked it quite a bit, and I'm not getting that lovely raw fuel smell we all know and love, so although I haven't confirmed it, I don't believe my injectors are working either. Hailers has a beautiful post on troubleshooting this that I found yesterday and will be using again, but I have a few concerns first -

1st, this may seem like a silly question, but does the dashboard need to be (i.e. dash harness need to be connected) in order for the coils to fire and the injectors to inject? I'm going to guess the answer is yes, based on the CAS plugging into the driver's side harness and the ECU plugging in to the passenger side harness. The follow up is which connectors must be connected? I was trying to avoid putting the whole dash and everything in and then having to take it apart again.

I did install the dash anyway, and am still having the same problem, which leads me to:

2nd, I have this white connector in the driver's side kick panel that doesn't have a mate, yet looks quite important. I sketched it out in paint from memory, it looks somewhat like this, is white in color and hangs down near the cruise control computer:



So far, the only dash connectors I have connected are the 2 big blue ones on the driver's side and the 1 on the passenger's side that connects near the ECU.

Thanks in advance!

Craiger

iTrader: (1)

The dash harness has nothing to do with running the ECU. I had my dash out and the car ran fine.

The hanging plug could be a few different things including the plug for the cruis control itself. I don't think it will have an effect on your starting.

Have you checked your fuses first? If so then...

Make sure your CAS is plugged in first. Next, check for 12V on the black/yellow wire on your leading coil. Next check for continuity on the green/yellow wire at the leading coil and the ECU, the connection labeled "V" on the wireing diagram. That will give you a good start.

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

That's what I thought, but then couldn't figure out how the cas signal got to the ECU without the dash harness. If I can find a battery that works I'll try to give those things a try this afternoon - at least I'll be closer to understanding why.

HAILERS

The harness on the engine is the EM harness. It also connects to the FRONT harness. The FRONT harness feeds the power to the ECU/injectors/stuff.

The ENGINE harness is the harness on the left side of the engine bay, that goes to the battery/engine fuse box/ CAS and stuff. The ENGINE harness connects to the FRONT harness and feeds the CAS signals to the EM harness thru two ORANGE PLUGS.

The front harness runs from the passengers side far right, over to the drivers far left, then into the engine bay and all the way to the front of the engine bay to the relays there, and then over to the right front of the engine bay to some misc things there. The Front harness gets around.

There's a harness called the Me harness that is the METER harness. There is also a REAR harness. Then there's a I harness or INSTRUMENT harness.

I'd say you don't have to have the I (instrument) harness or the Me (meter) harness connected for things to work. You would HAVE TO have the Engine harness connected to the FRONT harness on the left side of the engine bay and the two ORANGE PLUGS of the FRONT harness connected to the EM harness on the passengers far right, upper side.

I'm assuming all these harness are ALL turbo OR all non turbo harnesses.

I'd just go to the small plug on the ECU and see if you have batt voltage on the two wires on the far left of that small plug. Looking into the plug from the wire side. Those wires are black/white and white/blue.

Then look at the light green wire, light green/white, light green/red, light green/black wires and they should have batt voltage. Those are the injector wires and have 12v anytime the key is ON and everything else is connected up right. All four still on the small ECU plug.

All this stuff gets fed from the MAIN RELAY. The MAIN RELAY does not work unless the ENGINE fuse in the interior is good and the EGI FUSES are good. MAIN RELAYS do not fail. Do not swap parts.

For the ENGINE fuse to work and get power, the key has to be ON and the single black wire of the ignition switch harnesses has to have batt power on it. That single black wire goes from one of the ignition switch leads to a single wire connector below the ENGINE FUSE BOX. That connector gets pulled apart sometimes which means nothing works except the headlights and the like.

The ignition switch plugs are about a foot or half foot below and fwd of the ignition switch itself. NEVER take the ignition switch cover off the ignition switch to peck at the wiring, EVER.

You need a Digital Meter, the wiring diagrams out of the free, online FSM and when looking at the wiring schematics, know what EM, I, Me, F, R, E, Cr 1 and Cr 2 stand for so you know where you are in the diagrams.

So? Is this a stock non turbo car? A turbo car? A half breed turbo to non turbo or vice versa?

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

Even more fun than all of those, it's a half-breed NA engine with turbo manifolds and turbocharger. The harnesses are all NA, but the EM harness (engine injector harness) was completely rebuilt, wire for wire. I know it's just something I'm missing, because I took it apart almost 2 years ago now and cleaned and repainted the engine bay and cleaned all the harnesses. It's just that too much time has gone by since I took it apart and I'm having trouble remembering where everything goes.

That's some awesome information though, and I've got a good solid place to start now.

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

Incidentally after rebuilding the harness, the reason the RX7 suffers for grounding so much is the retarded little clips they used to tie all the ground wires into the main grounding 'trunk' on the EM harness. It's strictly a mechanical (crimp) connection , and from the looks of mine, they loosen up over time. Easier than rebuilding the whole harness would be to unwrap it and just solder those guys in, and it should seriously eliminate most of the 'gremlins'.

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

Where are these plugs located? I've been looking through the engine bay and I can't find anyplace that the engine harness (running up the driver's frame channel) connects to the EM harness at all, and I can't seem to find any loose connections. That's probably what the problem is, but I'm at a loss. The only connectors not connected seem to be the ones for the headlights and marker lights.

HAILERS

The two Orange plugs that feed the EM harness are in the passengers footwell, up and to the far right. Similar to the ones in the attached jpg.

My5ABaby

iTrader: (7)

Wow, someone used my picture. Glad it came in useful. Maybe I should make some more from different angles. Hmmm...

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

I thought those might be the ones you were talking about - they're all connected, but not to anything that seems connected to the harness that runs down the driver's side, where the alternator and CAS plug in. Maybe I'm wrong, I will check again when it's light out.

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

ah, I see - I misinterpreted what I read earlier about the front harness running from the passenger side front right to the driver's front left - I was thinking about up where the headlights are. I see, you mean under the dash. I'll pull the dash again and check to make sure everything's connected under there, maybe I missed something when I took it down to paint.

Thanks for your help!