Just Bought my first Fiero and not starting :(

The Dark Side of Will · Mon Jul 03, 2006 8:52 pm

QUICK, EASY DIAGNOSIS:

Does the Tach move while cranking?

Yes: Module works.

No: Module is bad.

Dajinn · Post by **Dajinn** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 8:53 pm

Well the distributor has been disassmbled and brought into the house. Here are a few of the pics.

Shaft being removed from the housing.

Shaft removed & magnet still attached with cover on.

Cover removed from magnet with old coil exposed.

New coil installed.

Tomorrow it will be reinstalled along with the new Ignition Module, Rotor, and Cap. We will see what happens.

The Dark Side of Will · Mon Jul 03, 2006 8:56 pm

Make sure you get the polarity right on the coil.

Dajinn · Post by **Dajinn** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 9:08 pm

Oh yeah btw. I am assuming that motor oil is to be used to lubricate the rod before i put it back in the housing? Yes I am going to sand it with some 1500 grit to polish it back up first.

Dajinn · Post by **Dajinn** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 9:10 pm

The Dark Side of Will wrote:Make sure you get the polarity right on the coil.

The plastic piece on the original one broke off during removal hence the reason they are two seperate wires in the picture. The new one already comes with the harness so it should be fine.

MNFatz · Post by **MNFatz** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:31 pm

p8ntman442 wrote:
whipped wrote:
MNFatz wrote:Ignition module. 99 times out of 100 that's the culprit on these things.
I didn't even blink here.

They're cheap, they always break, and he's mostly eliminated fuel as a problem.
thats just bad advice. plain and simple. Also we all knoow of dougs write up, and should be better at helping people than we are.

No, it's good advice; you just don't know what you're talking about. Case in point: how long it took you to get your aluminum BA running. For the rest of us it's a 2 hour job. For you, months IIRC.

The guy needs GOOD advice to get his car running; please don't use the forum as a place to prop up your...shortcomings.

MNFatz · Post by **MNFatz** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:35 pm

Dajinn wrote:Well the distributor has been disassmbled and brought into the house. Here are a few of the pics.

Shaft being removed from the housing.

Shaft removed & magnet still attached with cover on.

Cover removed from magnet with old coil exposed.

New coil installed.

Tomorrow it will be reinstalled along with the new Ignition Module, Rotor, and Cap. We will see what happens.

Great pics. Don't forget to use heat conducting grease on the new ignition module. CPU grease works great if you've got some around.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 11:01 pm

Remember folks, whenver your engine won't start, it's ALWAYS the ignition module. No use in even checking, becuase he didn't even have to blink.

However my car won't start half the time, and is hard to start the other half, yet has a brand new ignition module. Hmmm, maybe it isn't the module :dontknow:

whipped · Post by **whipped** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 11:18 pm

Aaron wrote:Hmmm, maybe it isn't the module :dontknow:

Nope, it is. Keep replacing it until it works.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 11:22 pm

Ummm....Ok....

Series8217 · Post by **Series8217** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 1:15 am

p8ntman442 wrote:
whipped wrote:
MNFatz wrote:Ignition module. 99 times out of 100 that's the culprit on these things.
I didn't even blink here.

They're cheap, they always break, and he's mostly eliminated fuel as a problem.
thats just bad advice. plain and simple. Also we all knoow of dougs write up, and should be better at helping people than we are.

Whenever I have a starting/idling/running problem that could be spark related and I'm overdue for a tuneup... I do the tuneup before checking anything else. If that solves it: DONE! Otherwise I will check for other problems. Tune up needs to be done anyway so do it first then if ot doesn't fix anything spend your time looking elsewhere for the problem.. at least you'll know its not compounded by bad plugs/wires/cap/rotor/etc which can make it hard to diagnose these sorts of troubles..
For a 2.8 it sounds like this is one of those things that goes bad alot and you'll need one soon anyway (especially if its the original one). Call it part of the tuneup!

Dajinn · Post by **Dajinn** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 2:41 am

I know.. It's 2:30am here and I'm impatient. lol I ended up driving to the parking lot where my car is about 40 min ago. Reinstalled the Distributor and tried to jump it with the Bimmer. Still nothing. I did smell gas pretty strong so I held the pedal to the floor while cranking in case it was flooded but no luck. I guess I'll head back with my wife in the morning to test for spark. Can I pickup a spark plug and attach it to the end of a boot to visually determine if it is getting a spark? I have tried the whole holding the boot to a ground but I never know if it's close enough or if it is a good enough ground to cause a spark.

Dajinn · Post by **Dajinn** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 2:43 am

Another thing I just thought about. This car has an alarm on it that is very old. The original owner didn't even have a pad on his keychain for it. If this alarm has a starter kill and the alarm is manfunctioning could that cause the problem? How would I get around that?

whipped · Post by **whipped** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 10:15 am

Dajinn wrote:Can I pickup a spark plug and attach it to the end of a boot to visually determine if it is getting a spark?

yes. wear leather gloves to prevent being shocked. Hold the spark plug to something grounded.

Have you checked all the fuses?

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 11:15 am

So it wasn't the ignition module.

Good thing you blindly spent however much it was though.

Diagnose, then fix. Have you checked for any SES codes?

Dajinn · Post by **Dajinn** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 11:41 am

Aaron wrote:So it wasn't the ignition module.

Good thing you blindly spent however much it was though.

Diagnose, then fix. Have you checked for any SES codes?

No it wasn't the Ignition module however now I know it won't be the ignition module any time soon either.

Fuses are all good, first thing I checked. As for the codes, I will lookup how to get them right now.

**edit

Okay I see I will need a scanner in order to pull the codes. Not as simple as looking at a blinking light on some cars.

Before I go out and start dumping money again will this work okay?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... _Stores_IT

I have seen links online on how to make one from Radio Shack parts but unfortunatly I am not very good at reading wiring diagrams. I really can't comprehend how to assemble it.

Shaun41178(2) · Post by **Shaun41178(2)** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 11:53 am

First you need to diagnose what the problem is.

When you go to start it, look at the tach. If the tach moves off of zero and rumbles around 2-300 rpm, then you are getting spark, which eliminates the spark issue. Now you know its getting spark, but you don't know if its getting blown out or not in the chamber.

Next thing check spark at the plug. YOu should have a nice blue spark.

Make sure you have fuel in the tank. Your gauge could be wrong so put a gallon or 4 litres or something and try again.

I had a no start condition once. I had both fuel and spark so I was stumped. It ended up being my plugs. I swapped out the plugs and it fired right up. I think they got fouled and then wouldnt' fire under compression. New plugs fixed it and it fired right up.

I suggest you follow these steps.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 11:55 am

If you ground the SES post on the ALDL terminal, it will flash you the codes via the SES light on the dash. Your scanner is a paperclip :thumbleft:

Dajinn · Post by **Dajinn** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 12:00 pm

Aaron wrote:If you ground the SES post on the ALDL terminal, it will flash you the codes via the SES light on the dash. Your scanner is a paperclip :thumbleft:

:thumbup:

Right on Aaron. Will check codes and spark plug.

MNFatz · Post by **MNFatz** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 12:28 pm

Dajinn wrote:I know.. It's 2:30am here and I'm impatient. lol I ended up driving to the parking lot where my car is about 40 min ago. Reinstalled the Distributor and tried to jump it with the Bimmer. Still nothing. I did smell gas pretty strong so I held the pedal to the floor while cranking in case it was flooded but no luck. I guess I'll head back with my wife in the morning to test for spark. Can I pickup a spark plug and attach it to the end of a boot to visually determine if it is getting a spark? I have tried the whole holding the boot to a ground but I never know if it's close enough or if it is a good enough ground to cause a spark.

That'll work fine. Put in a spare spark plug and position it so it's laying just a few millimeters from something metal on the chassis. Try the plug on the end of the coil wire going to the center of the distributor as well.

I doubt timing is an issue if it won't even fire with starter fluid. You should at least be getting a backfire if there's spark somewhere.