94LagunaR

iTrader: (1)

What? I honestly am just trying to figure out why the **** my car stopped working one day and it's even more irritating that it was most likely my own fault. I rented a noid light kit from autozone. There were like 5 lights in there. Each had 2 pins on it. I found the one that fit and stuck it in the injector plug? Friend cranked the car and the light stayed lit the entire time the key was turned. This is as confusing to me as it is to you, i'm not trolling or anything. I just want my ******* car to work

94LagunaR

iTrader: (1)

Thank you guys for all the help. I have learned a lot more during this experience, but still have yet to get my car running. I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out what I did wrong for about 2 months now and still have not made very much progress. I wish I had as much experience as some of you guys giving me advise, so that I would probably have a better chance at getting it fixed. I partially just want to say screw it and sell the car to someone who would know how to fix it and buy a new one that runs, but that's a quitters game and I'm not a quitter. Well maybe a little bit, since I'll be dropping the car off at my family's mechanic and hopefully he can fix it for me. What really sucks is how I had just spent $1000 in turbo parts and the car wants to stop working, now they just get to sit in my room looking pretty while I try to get the car to run. Lesson learned, I'll be leaving the wires alone and let them stay in the factory spots as Mazda had intended them to be.

thegarman

I feel your pain. I've just installed my 2nd wiring harness and have worked for 10 days, but still can't figure out why I have no spark and can't light up the motor. My electrical experience & background on cars is poor at best. My advice...find an expert! A 74 year old mechanic that I know stopped by today and told me he can get my car started...no problem (but can't work on it until next week.) He said I'm not getting 12V to the PCM, Diagnostic Port, etc. He said to double-check the grounds. My brain is numb from reading forums and wiring diagrams. I was told no spark could wiring gremlins or it could be caused by at least one of four components: PCM, Igniter, Coil Pack and/or Crank Angle Sensor. I'm grateful for all the great advice by knowledgeable experts on several fourms, but I'm not savy enough to test the components even with written explanation. I NEED SOMEONE IN MY GARAGE WITH ME TO SOLVE MY PROBLEM! Hopefully my problem(s) will be resolved soon. It is disheartening and even depressing, but try to stay with it and keep optimistic if you want to get to the bottom of it. Use the force! Find help!

triple88a

iTrader: (2)

Well if you want to light up the motor why not ask this guy for help?

thegarman

Thanks, that was hilarious - I really needed a good laugh!! It makes my problems seem so insignificant. (But at this point, I wish I had a carburetor instead of fuel injection...less wires, connectors and relays!!)

94LagunaR

iTrader: (1)

Lol I don't even know what to say to that. Kinda looks like what I want to do to mine though after all the futile efforts. I wish there was some kind of miata expert like Braineack or someone like that near me that could help me out

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

don't we all!

triple88a

iTrader: (2)

Don't*

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

Don't we all?

thegarman

Well, a friend of a friend stopped by Friday and looked at my car and said he could figure out why it's not getting spark...no problem. I loved his optimism. He's coming over tomorrow and said he will get it running. He's a 72 year old retired mechanic who occasionally is called in to the local BMW dealership to fix problems they can't! At $300/hour!! (I told him I'd take him out to dinner if he can start my car...what a great deal, huh?!?!) So clearly I found "an expert!" I have gone through my wiring harness today double-checking and double-grounding everything. I've had no success fixing it myself and it sure is a good feeling to know help is on the way. I'll post the solution to my situation as soon as we find out what the problem is.

94LagunaR

iTrader: (1)

I have someone like this, it's my friends family's mechanic. I have told him about my situation and he told me the same thing everyone else has told me and that's to check all the wires and make sure all grounds are good. I may have him take a look at it when he is not so busy. He also told me that one of his customers with a VW Passat did the same thing, tucked some wires, and has had nothing but problems ever since then. At this point I'm having the car towed to my Dad's house Tuesday and hopefully he can figure it out. He has owned Miata's since I was born (20 years) and has a pretty good knowledge of them. I'm a little unsure about it since I have been studying and learning so much to try and fix this and still can't fix it, but maybe he can do something that I can't.

94LagunaR

iTrader: (1)

P.S. Braineack told me that the ECU grounds the injectors through itself. Does that mean it grounds to the bolts that actually connect the ECU to the car? Or is it grounding through one of the wires that bolts to the frame/motor? I have continuity in all wires going from the injectors back to the ECU so it is DEFINITELY an issue with the injectors being grounded. That has been made plainly obvious through the last few months of trial and error. I just don't know how the ECU grounds the injectors...

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

I thought you said it WAS getting spark, but not fuel...

Erat

iTrader: (5)

I think that's that guys first post in this thread. As he only has 3 posts, maybe i missed where we were diagnosing his issues too.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

oh lol, a thread hi-jacker. I thought laguna posted that.

94LagunaR

iTrader: (1)

Not that my issue isn't already confusing enough. Now we got someone else with a similar but totally different issue thread-jacking. And still no more info for me. Braineack will you be in the SW Florida area anytime soon?

94LagunaR

iTrader: (1)

Serious question. Would diagnosing this problem be easier with Megasquirt. I don't really know much about it, but it seems there is a lot of helpful info that would show up on the screen of a laptop with the Megasquirt which could help assist in diagnosing the problem. Am I right or wrong in thinking this might be a good idea?

Godless Commie

iTrader: (2)

Couple things...

When you are talking about "checking all the grounds", are you specifically checking the ground connections at the throttle body? Those are important. The ECU and related systems do not only ground at the back of the engine.

Secondly, make/fab/fashion a jumper cable. A 12 gauge wire, about 20" long will do. Attach alligator clips on both ends, and you can use that jumper for "B+" and "-" substitutes in the course of troubleshooting.

And then, disconnect your coil plugs. (meaning, pull the plugs on your coils and render them inoperable) Remove your fuel rail, flip it upside down and reinstall your injectors on the fuel rail. You will have to use zip ties. Crank the engine with the injectors pointing up, and observe. If they are not spraying, run your jumper from any injector driver "-" to any injector's "-" side. That injector should spray while cranking. If it sprays, you either run new lines from injector driver terminals on the ECU to respective injectors, or troubleshoot existing wiring. If that injector fails to spray, considering the fact that you do have spark, you have another problem with wiring someplace else. (you said you tried with a "new" ECU, so I'm assuming ECU internals are in working order, at least in the current one you are using.)

Just my two cents...

(Brain is right; it is more than a challenge to diagnose a problem over the interwebz)

Godless Commie

iTrader: (2)

Short answer: No.

The ECU is merely a collection of drivers for your ignition coils and injectors within the confines of the problem you are trying to solve here.
Brand, architecture and processor models will make no difference if associated/auxiliary wiring to feed and carry signals to and from that particular ECU are not functioning properly.

94LagunaR

iTrader: (1)

I have checked every ground wire. The grounds next to the TB, on the back of the IM, under the brake booster and the 2 under the dash on passenger side. I have also checked continuity to ground of all ground wires by unplugging the ECU and testing each wire that I followed on the wiring diagram that went to a ground. They all had continuity to ground.

When you say use it for "B+" and "-" do you mean by connecting to the B+ pin on the diagnostic box, or? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I'm not exactly experienced in wiring or diagnosing problems, or the technical "lingo" you are using, so bear with me. I will do the best I can using context clues and a sort of common knowledge to decifer some of the more technical phrases

By connecting the jumper to the injector driver, what are you referring to as the injector driver? If you are referring to the pin on the ECU which the "-" injector wire goes to, all of those wires have continuity from the injectors to the ECU, and despite that I did take a long speaker wire and ran it from said "-" side on the injector plug to the corresponding pin on the ECU and that did not accomplish anything. However, if this is not what you were referring to, please explain. Thank you for the tips, btw. The sun just went down where I'm at so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to try these things out