My not so good day...

[EA Ghia]

Not good news, was looking forward to seeing the car on sunday, probably my favorite car I've seen on the forums. Just waiting for the day to see it in the flesh.

Hope you get it fixed soon, from what I've heard, seems to be problem after problem! :P

[dansedgli]

Bugger steve. nothing is easy with that thing.

[Sorted]

Man thats sad to see after all the good work, but battery terminal, come on........................

Wait I can talk we tried push starting a corolla we had after a new engine was fitted for 30 minutes only to find we forgot to put the rotor back in.......lol

[-jjM-]

**** not good steve my man, sorry to hear you were stuck man

its not all goin as planned is it...

[LUXO_8]

shame to see steve......ive got no ideas as to what it could be but..
good luck sorting it out man....!

[Rollin]

Zip tied on front bumpers FTW.

You can put the holes out of the way so nobody will see, and zip ties are quite strong.

If the bar is supported so the zip ties only take fore/aft loads it will not come off unless you want it to - works beautifully when you blow a T5 to bits and need to have you car towed to work...I know first hand ;)

[eMpTy]

Originally Posted by Rollin

Zip tied on front bumpers FTW.

You can put the holes out of the way so nobody will see, and zip ties are quite strong.

If the bar is supported so the zip ties only take fore/aft loads it will not come off unless you want it to - works beautifully when you blow a T5 to bits and need to have you car towed to work...I know first hand ;)

I'll second that.
I'm using zip ties that are about 20mm wide and the front bumper actually fits alot neater than mounting it properly (no gaps at the corners etc).
When it's time for an oil change just have to cut them off and undo a couple of bolts. Too easy.

[89 S-PACK]

Originally Posted by EA2BA

ok then, was basing it off the backfire which oftens means timing is out and the no starting. Checked the vacuum hose to the MAP sensor.

try swapping the fuel map...

mine backfired on petrol 12 months ago and blew out the centre muffler while it was at it! all what caused it was a lead had come off and the force destroyed the fuel map, the car still ran but not fantastic after that... but changing everything i swapped mine and i was cursing cos thats all it was ( i found the fault after the dyno day in geelong)

[Kelz]

aww pimp daddy.. sorry to hear that.. one minute I hear your coming then the next i heard ur car had broken down.. hope it gets better soon!!!

[BI6TIM]

I had a similar problem to this a few months ago with the EL Fairmont Ghia. Drove out of a round about and the thing coughed a little then just turned off. Couldn't start the thing for 3 weeks. Replaced about 4 coils (just in case I had bought broken ones), went through two second hand and one (new but 5 years old) TFI modules and finally replaced the distributor and it started. Timing was way out and it didn't run well but that was easy fixed.
Our car doesn't have gas, but this might help anyway, hopefully.
So at the end of the day I'm not sure if it was the distributor or the TFI (dissy came with one) but it runs now so I'm happy.

[EFFalcon]

Rmyers car is pretty much an EF, so about the only thing that can die is the coil pack.
how ever the car is sparking.
also ignition timing pretty much can't be out.

[Rmyers]

My main concern ATM is not to do with the car not running, rather the front bar. Whatever the problem with the car not starting i wouldn't imagine it to be an expensive fix, whilst the front bar is a different story. I now haveto decide whether to fix it myself or to just pay somebody to do it for me. Option one will be the cheapest but the most time consuming (especially at the pace i work at), whilst option 2 will see her ready far quicker but will cost money that i do not have.

[bentles]

Originally Posted by Rmyers

option 2 will see her ready far quicker but will cost money that i do not have.

how is it a hard decision? dont have the cash? diy!

[FordGirl]

Leave the front bar for a while Steve, until the car is running and reliable leave it as it is incase any future tow truck trips are in order.

Either that, or find a way around this happening again. The last thing you want is to either spend a lot of time or money getting it fixed just to have it happen again.

[Steady ED]

Steve, when/if you do fix it, maybe give the cooler some more clearance.
I doubt it would have done as much damage if it didn't push up into the cooler.
Spewing but, if you didn't have bad luck you'd have no luck at all! :(

[Mr. CVE]

I think I know what it is.
When you call me I will tell u !

[nos_james]

man that suxs hopfully its back out on the streets soon i realy want to see it gives me some insparation to get back out and work on my car

[walker]

that would make a good day bad very quick

[Rmyers]

Bit of an update...

Been tinkering with the car for a few days now, just testing various things to try and pinpoint the problem. Not getting any spark on number 1 and 2 leads (despite it working when it first broke down, number 3 lead is sparking tho. We also tried spraying "start ya bastard" into the trottle and there was not so much as a hint of firing up. I've grabbed a test light to confirm that spark is not present, and have purchased a spare coil pack in that case.

If there is spark, it will show me if it's sparking in the correct spot, as if it's not this could indicate whether a sensors gone or possibly a bigger problem such as the ECU.

I've also changed the alternator. While this won't be the problem, it may played a hand at causing the problem. I've been getting very erratic voltage, sometimes it will hover at 13v whilst sometimes it will jump to 15v and over, which could have buggered something especially when the battery terminal came loose. Just theories at the moment, will be heading out there momentarily to see what i can find.

Lastly i've found that one of the plugs that sealed up my injector holes is missing, which would have popped out when the car was backfiring on the day. So this will also need to be fixed before i can try to start her. As for the front bar, i'm going to leave it alone for now, i've got a fair few other things to pay off and can't afford to spend money on vanity items ATM...

I never seem to have luck before cruises or big events, i'm glad tho as my car was meant to be displayed at the chadstone big boys toys display, and i'm damn glad i didn't go there. Perhaps my cars trying to tell me something? Guys, watch out for a TMU ambush at FDC :P

[Rmyers]

Ok just went out a checked with the test light. Seems that there is no spark on any lead while cranking, but the moment we would stop cranking, it will spark once. Any ideas guys?? Doesn't sound like a problem with the coil packs to me, as i've heard normally one or two coils may die, rather than the whole lot, plus it did emit spark, just not while cranking....

[Dezza]

Sorry to hear that Steve. Hope you can find the problem and get it going. I want to see NWOLB on the road!

[galapogos01]

ECU?

Sounds like you borked something when the battery terminal shorted/came off...

[efgiar]

try the ecu, or tfi module, if the alt was spiking up to 15 volts it sounds like there is a loose connection somwere, check and make sure all ur earths are tight and clean! if ur alt was spiking (presuming ur using a mitsu alt, could be either a loose sense wire, or a faulty reg but very rarly do those overcharge, usually just die. good luck!

[mcflux]

speeeeewing...

And after all the hard work that's gone in to NWOLB :(