Got my Shanghai-S installed finally w/ crx intercooler. It was finally time to start it today, but no go! I did my timing belt and cas-o change while I was waiting for some stuff My car is a 95R. I made a thread on miata.net too, but maybe this is a megasquirt specific thing? I had the megasquirt in before the install, and it worked well enough. I'll make a list of things I think are important...

1. I have spark
2. Timing belt is right, no doubt about it
3. Car is cranking, but fails just right before....
4. Fuses are all intact from what I can see
5. Spark plugs look decent and firing order too
6. Battery is good

Concerns

1. I'm using Braineack's built MS, but I have my AFM still installed and connected as I'm waiting for the pipe I need to weld in the AIT bung w/bov.
2. With my MS connected to the laptop, I see everything except RPM. I don't know what else is important here but I did I activated hi-res as directed.
2. Did I damaged the $400 CAS?!

That's all I could think of right now since it's 5:45 am. I'm just tackling one thing off the list at a time right now and hoping it'll work.

 

Here's what I'm seeing guys. I checked my coils and I got spark on both. I've cleaned the spark plugs, although they look a little rich (not wet). I messed with the crank setting and set it to crank at 300 rpm. I also tried setting the priming pulse to "after two seconds" but that didn't do anything. I have an intercooler, and it doesn't start with the stock ecu, same noise.



I'm running an AFM but the stock msq is using settings for "no afm." Should I try configuring it to use the AFM then see? I'm really searching all the threads I can read up, but I'm shooting in the dark and deathly afraid for my coils!

 

I test everything out on my JimStim before I send the units out, it looks like it's not getting the CAS signal. That or I fubared the build and didn't notice it. However, if the MS isn't showing the RPM, then it shouldn't even spark.

Do me a favor and take a picture of the harness at the yellow connector on both sides, I want to see where I put all the wires.

You didn't fool around with the firmware or change the msq did you?

 

No, I posted a thread a month back when the car was N/A and I plugged the MS in just to see. I got it running when it was N/A and idling fine. I tested plugs #1 and #3 and saw sparks flying each time. I'll take a pic of the harness real quick.

 

I also have an LC-1 wb installed, calibrated fine, but did not get running yet since I couldn't start the car. The stock O2 and it's connector to the CAS is not plugged in. Just throwing things out there to help diagnose....

 

see pic.

 

^Yes to both. I did mess up the markings on my CAS when installing the o-ring. Can a severely retarded/advance timing be causing this issue?

 

Ignition channels reversed? Observe timing mark on pulley with gun attached to #1 while cranking. Is the timing mark even close? If not, put gun on #2 wire and try again.

Or just swap the 1/4 plug wires with the 2/3 plug wires at the coil and try cranking again.

 

I'm going to check timing in a second, haven't slept in almost 30 hours lol. I switched the coil plugs and it ran worse. I also tried switching the plug wires also and it didn't start. I'm discouraged, but narrowing it down one by one is encouraging.

 

Sleep got the best of me. Does the blue connector get power during crank? I tried hooking it up to the battery connection to the alternator but still couldn't get power to the light.

 

i cant remember if it does or not, you can clip onto the alternator.

 

Ughh, got the light hooked up to a fresh battery, and I'm not getting anything. I'll probably head up to Autozone and grab a new light just to see.

 

New light is not working either. I rechecked for spark and I have it. I connected the positive to a fresh battery that's out of the car, the negative to one of the exposed nut in the bumper crush zone. I tried to use the aux blue connector, but I don't think this one gets power during crank (from another poster). Am I connecting it to the alternator right? I'm just clamping the positive to some wires leading to that plug.

 

Could the ignitor be fried?

 

I thought if I have spark that my coils/ignitors are good? On the ignitor themselves, there is a clear cover on both sides (I remembered both). All I know is that there are four strips underneath and mine are black. I didn't think much of it because it was uniformed on both side so perfectly.

 

Damn, haven't slept in almost two days now. The timing light was good, tested in another vehicle. I checked my timing again and it's spot on. I'm getting spark. The only variable I'm unclear about at this point is my timing, which I haven't been able to get measured and megasquirt itself.

Braineak, is there anyway to make sure I didn't screw up the firmware somehow? All I do is connect it to my laptop, and hit the base map w/o AFM. I went through some of the menus and noticed the Cranking RPM to be very sporadic. It went from 3200 -> 7XXX -> 8100 without me doing much. I burned it to ecu and tried at 200 and 300 times but no go.

 

You said the MS was running before you fooled with the TB/CAS? What's odd is, you shouldn't be getting any spark if the MS cannot see the CAS signal.

 

I got it running yeah. I made a thread on it here when I started it.

https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/t36067/

You said "ok we are back to your first error. your MS is loaded with hr_10 code, but your software is looking for 029q."

^I'm still throwing that code above even right now, but the MS works like how it does in the vid. I place a spark plug on a strip of aluminum, turn the car to on (I get a small spark here), and then when I crank the car I get nice white sparks. I tested it on #1 and #2 a while ago, but I'll test and record it sometimes later again. I'm hoping since I got spark, fuel, timing (belt at least ; /) is right, that it's an MS error?

 

My dowel pins on the pulleys are misaligned so my timing has been off, verified at miata.net. I feel like an idiot, but we narrowed it down and I got some good experience from it. Hopefully I'll work on it Friday and it'll start right up with the base map.

 

let us know how it goes!