All, I have been trying to track down a problem in my electrical system for a few weeks now....(i have the 16v kick motor in it)
It would run for a while and then when you shut it down it wouldnt start, the fuel pump wouldnt even kick on....
Ive changed the Fusable link, the gounds, the ignition, relays, noise filter, ignitor....Just about everything....And after i did that, it ran good for a few days..
Then this weekend it crapped out on my at Bassie....it just shut down and i cant get it started again???

Any Ideas? Maybe a few before i drop the $ for a new ECU?

Sounds like an intermittent ground problem. If the fuel pump isn't kicking on, nothing else is gonna work, so I would check the ground on the fuel pump... This does NOT sound like an ECM problem to me (but hey, what do I know?)

Try "hard wiring" the fuel pump to the battery for testing, if in doubt...

Originally posted by Bobzooki
Sounds like an intermittent ground problem. If the fuel pump isn't kicking on, nothing else is gonna work, so I would check the ground on the fuel pump... This does NOT sound like an ECM problem to me (but hey, what do I know?)

Try "hard wiring" the fuel pump to the battery for testing, if in doubt...


i was gonna chime in with my mantra "check your grounds, check your grounds" but thought people would throw things at me, i say so often....:D heehee

as an interesting side note: i was replacing my rear turn/stop/tail lights with temporary "custom" pods a while back, and by plugging the occasional wire into the wrong socket (:rasta: ) i could get my (1991 efi) fuel pump to cycle on and off:D

is your 1.6 16v a 96 or newer. if so you might want to hookup a pda scanner and see what the computer is telling you. i know you can get a hookup where you use a palm pilot or handspring and accesses all that info to.

oh ya, kinda stupid but might help. while i was up at bassie this weekend, after a little pit stop, my rig wouldn't turn on, no click no nothing. i also didn't have stereo, cb, lights, anything. well there are these little C clip things that plug into an open spot on the fuse box that run to a place where a couple of switchs where once hooked up. anyhow, i guess the wire that had power touched the body and grounded out everything, cause once i unplugged that wire from the fuse box, everything worked again.

you might want to check and see if maybe somewhere you got a lose power wire or one that has had the insulation rubbed off. this wire i'm guessing was 18 gauge or smaller, it wasn't anything to big at all -the fuse that went with that wire was 3 amps-

Nope not grounds! I just redid all of the grounds in the system, a new 6guage power wire and everything.....I got a loaner ECU today and plugged it in, started right up!

Supposedly the capacitor that feeds the relays for the fuel pump, injectors, and coil goes bad in these things.

Oh by the way, i can hot wire the fuel pump and it turned on...

Rude-Being near the end of a 16v conversion...this thread is FREAKIN me out! The "black box" factor is the one thing I don't like about late model EFI. When its working-its awesome...when its not- your SOL.

Please let us know what you find when you get it figured out. Sorry to hear it left you stranded at Bassi.

Well I picked up a loaner ECU....Plugged it in and now it works better than ever.....I guess the fix is to carry an extra ECU?? It cost about 400 bucks to get one rebuilt too! HP is expensive!!

Originally posted by RudeZuk
Well I picked up a loaner ECU....Plugged it in and now it works better than ever.....I guess the fix is to carry an extra ECU?? It cost about 400 bucks to get one rebuilt too! HP is expensive!!



was your ecu Mitsubishi or the "other" one?
there were two different brands of ecu's in production, Mitsubishi being supposedly the more desirable of the two.
(i can't confirm the validity of this personally, just from a good source)

As far as i know, i only knew of the mitsibishi one.....That is my old one and that is the loaner one too.

Now there are different numbers....On is CA and the other is a FED.....The Fed will run a little richer and make it harder to pass smog...but it will give you a little extra power!

:D :beer: :beer:

You know i drank a lot of :beer: and then never help it run.....:confused:

Rude-Glad to hear it was plug and play... also glad I made my ECU really easy to get to! Any idea what an ECU out of a JY going to cost?

The JY wont sell just the ECU.....They want to sell a whole harness...300-400 bucks....It is just worth it to have it rebuilt if you needed too....when the guy rebuilds them he gives an 18 month warranty!

I suggest making a container to house this ECU from the moisture! If your rig stays as exposed as mine does, They have a chance of getting moist.

Im thinking about getting a tupperware container and cutting holes in it for the wires and siliconing around it??? Still thinking on this though!

Thats a tough one, if you can totally seal it-COOL...but if a litlle water could get in and then stay in, it might be worse. I made mine go up behind the glove box, where do you have yours mounted? Do you think it got wet?

I mounted mine up behind the glove box too....I think i might have gotten wet during one of my snow runs....I think that the tupperware idea with some silicone might be the ticket!! It would take a whole lot to get that wet then!

When are you going to be ready to wheel?? We are going up again next weekend!

The rig should be fired up this weekend...I have been waiting on a couple of parts for a LONG time. As soon as it runs, its on a trailer and off to get an exhaust...then off to my buddies back yard rockpile for a quick check. If everything works its ready for a quick run or two to make sure it all works before I paint it.

Here's the part that is going to be hell....then I have to put it away for a couple of weeks because I move on May 10th :crybaby2: :crybaby2: :crybaby2:

oh that stinks!!! You moving closer to the Con?

you gotta be real careful with the tupperware thing. from personal experience, water will find a way to get into there. also, you might want to check out of state or atleast out of area for expensive parts like that, prices are a bit steep here in the sacramento area.

Rude-I'll be the same distance from the con, but just a few minutes from Cow Mountain OHV area...it aint the best, but it'll work for shaking down the rig and for when I'm hard up for wheelin.