Dave WM

todays test: small ge47 light in stalled in place of an injector (just unplugged the harness from the injector, then plugged in the light to the harness) started the spare engine, starts right up with obvious miss, but light is flashing so I know that works with the good ecu. turn off engine. Next hook up spare dizzy in P with the existing one (I have the installed one hard wired to the module so I left it in circuit. with ign in the run and the fuel purged via the fuel pressure gauge so as not to squirt gas into the engine from residual pressure, I manually spin the spare dizzy by hand, can hear the injectors fire and can see the light flash. That test the spare dizzy. ign off install spare bad ecu, ign back on, spin dizzy light flashes. hard to say if it was noticeably not as bright a flash or a duration of flash, but it did and the injectors were clicking as well. So the bad ecu def is functional just seem way to lean. I test this by trying to start it again,m would run for a few seconds (fuel pressure good, light flashes, spark there) then stop. If I depress the AFM flap manually.it will idle, if I throttle up while manually depressing it can transistion to running on its own but will forward fire (back fire thru the AFM) if I start to back off the throttle. It actually launched my poorly attached AFM, nearly hitting my parked Z. Clearly it wants to run lean. I wonder if I need another sensor/s input for this one,. it appears to use all the pins (they are all there and soldered to pads with traces). Maybe an O2 and/or a altitude sensor? I wonder if its seeing a high altitude (I am at sea level) with NO sensor and leaning the mix out?

ah the sound of the ticking indeed! I just like the feel of the push buttons. I did comprise some, I put in a second speaker (in the unused location) and popped for a later model Hitachi that had stereo, I am not a barbarian after all.

Matters to me since I like to keep it original for reasons that I had this same car as a teen new, and just want it the same now. That and I really don't care if the quality is not up to todays standards since I don't listen to music much while driving, I prefer the sound of the engine. For music I have my Fisher 400/HH Scott/Sansui 8080 etc...

IF it had been a later ZX with the reverse lock out it would be easier, but with out it, I would use my induction heater wrapped around the body to heat it up, then a cold spray on the nut/bolt that sticks out. Try to figure out a way to support that lever/rod body so it will not move then work in a tapping tool to rap at the nut/bolt. Patience will be rewarded. get silly and you will just make it worse.

hmmm, you have gone this far, if it was me I would get the pickup that is designed for the pan being used if its different. Not saying it would not be fine, but why bother if you can get the right part.

ok so on my spare engine I will go with ign on, jumper the neg side of the coil to ground (tap tap tap go ground that is), that will simulate what the spark module does and create the pulse in the primary side of the coil (and generate a spark for that matter). I don't think I would need to disconnect the spark module for this. Heck I even have a spare dizzy that I just installed a new reluctor on, could just hook it up and spin it! check my spare dizzy and look for the injectors firing as well. The spare dizzy is really nice, good working vacuum advance, zero play in the shaft, nice smooth feel to it. the old reluctor had some chips in it like it got too close to the coil.

is that when I just make and break the pin 1 signal from the coil? so I do a make break 3 times and I should hear an injector click. Will give it a try with the working ecu, then again with the non working ecu.

I really want to get a scope hooked up to the injector so I don't have to fiddle around with the stethoscope and listen for it. Think the process will be to leave the good ecu hooked up, run the scope and video capture that. Then install the bad ecu and scope again to see if there is anything going on up until I manually override the AFM flap. If I had been thinking I would have tried disconnecting the temp sensor just to see if that would have allowed the bad ecu to work (I know that is of little value as far as using it, but would be interesting to see the effect. besides in a road side emergency, it could be something to try, if the defect is overcome by that).

has a schematic of those ever been found?

I suspect its a defect as well, why I want to see if its really duty cycling or not when I move the AFM manually. good to know they all worked. I had read up that the 600 vs 000 should make no diff. I was starting to think maybe I had one that needed an O2 Voltage... all the pins were soldered to pads on the pcb from the 36 pin connector.

I was fooling about testing my spare ECU's. On is on my 76 spare engine, that spare ECU works fine. its a A11 then all 000's, my other spare is a A11 600 then all zeros, it does not work. I tried it in my car as well again does not work. My Car is a 75 cali it also has a A11-000 as the working unit, the spare engine was a 76 non cali. so the 600 does not work in my 75 car or my 76 spare engine on the test stand. both my A11-000 work. I tried the A11 600 again on the spare and was able to get it to run IF I deflected the AFM vane manually A LOT like 20 degrees. So that clears its functioning to at least ground out the injectors but not much more. I should have listened to see if they were cycling, for all I know it may have been just a constant "ON" . I only managed to get it to idle, it was too hard to mess with the throttle and keep fingering the AFM vane in an attempt to keep it running. I think I will try it again and see if they are indeed duty cycling at all.

maybe something in this will help. I have a spare ECU that I will test on this rig later. Maybe look into see if there is a way to hookup a 02 sensor for some closed up checks. I think its pin 24/23, if those pins go somewhere on my spare ECU, perhaps I can hook up and see what happens with a variable voltage supply...

looks like I may have to find one of these for messing with on my next trip to the JY, old Benz. For my trip on the Alaska highway... see #4 I don't know if my ECU is wired up for a connection to pin 12 wirign diagram.pdf

I cant recall did you try removing the oil filler cap while it was running? if so did it have any effect?

The only problem with using a vacuum reading to diagnose is its going to have poor vacuum since its running badly, I use vacuum gages for checking sticking valves or other minor issues on a engine that otherwise seems running pretty well. The idle mixture control is very limited in range, so if you have other issues like a poorly calibrated AFM, then its not going to be of any help. I presume you are in a cold environment, my guess is still the temp sensor, any excessive resistance is going to make things worse. You must make sure you are getting the correct resistance AT THE ECU 36 pin connector. Of course the new/rebuilt AFM is always going to be a nagging thought. If I was sure the rest of the system checks out I would be tempted to remove the rubber elbow from the air cleaner to the afm so I could get at the flap, then try to get some way of manipulating that flap while doing all this testing. The only problem I have with this is its so typical that anytime there is a problem the go to solution (generally incorrect) is to suspect the AFM, BUT if its not OE or been messed with then all bets off.

I have been trying to check out the Blairsville area for possible retirement, keep running into weather (at least for the past month or so..) looking for smallish towns with decent mountain views that are not all weekend cabins... not an easy task.

so when is it going to get nice again up around the tail of the dragon, Dat Boi is wanting to take a run! show off his new dash!!

Now what to do with the old dash (I have two now, my decent one that came out and a JY pull that was going to be used as a experiment on fixing). For now the decent on is installed on the JY frame and will be stowed in doors. the JY dash will go in the attic for "seasoning"... Maybe one day there will be a use for these, I think this is how hoarding begins...

I have gorilla hands, not good it tight places. It was nice to see the speedo work on my test drive down the steet...

Glad you liked it. It would be helpful for sure to have a couple helpers with lifting it and getting into position. someone posted on my youtube that getting the speedo hooked up is easier if you leave the tach out until the dash is in place. I presume installing the tach after the dash is in is not a problem. I did not do it that way but would be something to look into.

Done, I am attaching the last video, see parts 1-8 if you are interested in some of the details

Next time you stop to get gas, pop the hood up while refueling (hot restart issue). Are you driving low on gas? hard left turn when low on fuel will make my car stumble (low fuel pressure from sucking air thru tank pickup). ZH has mentioned a ign fix with a modern GM equivalent, I have not done the mod but lots have. Replaces the module used by the distributer.

if you think you have a vacuum leak a smoke test will help locate it. blow smoke into the brake booster port and look for leaks. You need to cap off the AFM with a stryofoam cup. You should feel some resistance when blowing the smoke in. vacuum leaks are a common problem anytime you have poor running issues. Vacuum leaks, rust in fuel lines and bad electrical connections are a frequent issues that are easy to overlook.

got it in and started the car, checked out all the functions electrically (lights/radio/instrument/signals/buzzer) have to button up a few things, install the steering wheel and pray the speedo works, what PITA that was.... you need raccoon hands to get up in there and attach that.

Finally getting around to installing the new dash. Removal went easy, the cluster of connectors on the pass side and a few singles on the driver side. those on the driver side were removed while the dash was being pulled off, the cluster were undone before the removal process. I also removed the steering wheel all the plastic parts, and the turn signal/combo switch just leaving the bare steering shaft and the ign cylinder. That had those silly tamper proof bolts that I did not want to fuss with. removed the console finisher and the floor console of course. I removed the gauges tack and speedo, the vents the hoses. it was a good time to tidy up the connections as they were quite loose due to the loss of the foam that surrounds the hard plastic junctions. I wrapped some electrical tape around the plastic junction ends to increase the OD so the hoses would fit nice and tight. After I sorted the HVAC I moved on to the actual dash install. some observations: On mine the hard point above the cig lighter was misaligned, I ended up drilling my own hole for that sheet metal screw. Careful so as not to punch thru the das pad. carefully cut out the hole for the cig lighter and the two holes for the dimmer pot and trip meter setting. The instrument cluster fit well for the speedo and the tach, the other gauges required a lot of finesse to make sure they were set in enough to make sure there were no gaps around the bezel. It seems to me this could be a bit deeper to allow for a less precise fit being required. I ended up adding some foam tape the backs of the straps that hold the gauges in place, as is the were just a bit too far forward for the straps to hold them tight up to the dash. A good bump and I suspect they could jar loose leaving a gap from the bezel to the dash. Not a show stopper just something to make sure you have secure so it does not happen. Everything installed I moved on to the glove box. this is something that should be addressed. The flap of material around the opening is too thick. On my OE dash the flap of material is JUST the plastic covering. On the V dash its got about 3/32 of foam under the dash material That is just enough to keep the small screws that go around the perimeter from engaging the clip on retainers that fit on the metal dash. I ended up digging out the foam with a small screw driver to thin this out. I should have done this before starting the process with the dash off the metal frame. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.... just look at your OE dash and make sure the glove box area is the same. Overall the fit and finish are very good. I presume as good as the OE but for the glove box mentioned and the cig lighter metal hard point being misaligned. I caught the cig lighter and corrected before installing the dash. I thought I could get away with the glove box, but ended up fixing that after all was installed. I have the dash mostly back installed, just have to go around and tighten up the 10mm bolts around the edges, it was a bit of a struggle, my wife helped with the wires on the driver side, after a failed 1st try, we got it. Had to get the dash close enough to connect the wires and still install with out tugging it loose. Another warning you maybe tempted to remove the mount that fits under the AC control panel, it was in the way making things hard. I removed it but failed to consider how I would struggle with reinstalling it after the dash was in. the very control panel that I was trying to avoid made it very hard to get the mount back installed. I am making some videos, not so much of the process as that would be nearly impossible to do by myself, but stages of completion will post up later.