Well, I have had my swap in my car for a couple months and still have not cranked it. I am back to trouble shooting it and I am not seeing spark on all four cyls.
I used one coilpack all the way around the motor and only saw spark on Cyls 1 and 2, and only one time each. I then tried a new coilpack and the same reults occured. I have checked all four coilpacks to verify they work. Cyls. 3 and 4 do not spark during cranking. I am seeing soaked plugs on all cyls so I am getting fuel. I have since disconected the fuel for spark testing and cleaned the cyl walls w/ oil to get the fuel out of there.

I took the timing covers off last night and re-checked the timing... all is good. I know the cam and crank sensors could cause somthing similar to this but I do not know how to check them w/o swapping in new ones. I never dropped or damaged any of these sensors nor did I drop or damage the crank gear, so I am really at a loss of what to test/check next.

Does anyone have any Ideas of what to look at next to resolve this spark issue?:confused:


notes: I followed the Subaru manual to spec for the overhaul. I checked all wiring harness conections and ecu connections thoroughly. I have a UTEC installed w/ a stage 4 map from the TXS site.

Check the big brown plug on the left side and make sure it's got a good connection. If that's fine I hate to say it but just for fun disconnect the UTEC. You just need to unplug both the UTEC and ECU then plug back in the stock connectors to the ECU. Then do the spark test again.

A stage 4 car will start with the stock ECU, just don't run it like that.

Well, I have had my swap in my car for a couple months and still have not cranked it. I am back to trouble shooting it and I am not seeing spark on all four cyls.
I used one coilpack all the way around the motor and only saw spark on Cyls 1 and 2, and only one time each. I then tried a new coilpack and the same reults occured. I have checked all four coilpacks to verify they work. Cyls. 3 and 4 do not spark during cranking. I am seeing soaked plugs on all cyls so I am getting fuel. I have since disconected the fuel for spark testing and cleaned the cyl walls w/ oil to get the fuel out of there.

I took the timing covers off last night and re-checked the timing... all is good. I know the cam and crank sensors could cause somthing similar to this but I do not know how to check them w/o swapping in new ones. I never dropped or damaged any of these sensors nor did I drop or damage the crank gear, so I am really at a loss of what to test/check next.

Does anyone have any Ideas of what to look at next to resolve this spark issue?:confused:


notes: I followed the Subaru manual to spec for the overhaul. I checked all wiring harness conections and ecu connections thoroughly. I have a UTEC installed w/ a stage 4 map from the TXS site.

one rev of spark and then no more = cam timing offset from crank timing.

this i know for a fact... just ask themadscientist. :)

Mick - Thanks for the tip. I will try those things tonight.

ride5000 - I did read a bit on TMS's situation a while back. If the other steps do not solve it I will be taking the belt off and timing it again for the heck of it. Do you know if thats is all he did to remedy the problem or did he have bad sensors or improperly installed cam or crank gears?

Thanks

Mick - Thanks for the tip. I will try those things tonight.

ride5000 - I did read a bit on TMS's situation a while back. If the other steps do not solve it I will be taking the belt off and timing it again for the heck of it. Do you know if thats is all he did to remedy the problem or did he have bad sensors or improperly installed cam or crank gears?

Thanks

The timing was just whacked. If it is too far out the ECU will only spark once until it is reset then it will only spark once again.
I would tripple check the timing. Are there any codes being thrown?

TMS

There is a CEL but I have no tools to check what code it is. I may have to whack the auto parts store guy and run with his tool just so I can find out what it is.

I will be sure to tripple check the timing. I have let this project go far to long. I am sick and tired of driving my diesel around although it beats the 72' super beetle I was in for a while.

those sensors are only like $20 new.

Yep, after triple checking the timing I orderd them... they will be here tomorrow and I will post back with the results.

It ended up I did not have to remove the belt because all the timing marks are still lining up and the teeth count matches the specs.... we will see what these sensors can do for me. finger crossed!

Thanks again for the help guys.

Ok, I just swapped the sensors... and I still have a problem. I get one occurance of spark. Immediately after the starter is disengaged I get spark again.

This makes me think there could be a grounding issue.

I have checked all my ground wires. What else could this be? Any ideas?

Anyone have any other ideas? Could the oil pressure sensor do somthing like this? What about the knock sensor? What can kill the ignition on these cars?


Once again, I get one occurance of spark and then its done until you begin to turn the key back, at that point it sometimes sparks a second time before the key is in the OFF position. This is KILLING me!

any update on this ?

I have exactly the same issue ! spark once - turn key off and try start again it sparks once and once only !

What cam pulleys do you have ?
What crank pulley do you have ?

My ecu tells me its a ref/synch problem

I just went thru my old threads and saw the question above. maybe someone can use the answer.

The issue was caused by the crank sprocket. This is the sprocket that turns the timing belt. There was one tooth broken and this killed the ignition after one rpm. I guess at some point the sprocket was damaged, I replaced it and I was good to go.

(stock cam pulleys, Perrin lightweight crank pulley)

i was just gonna post that up, my friend had the same issue with his swap he was doin. 1 broken tooth, 1 bent tooth. Just like you said... the motor turns over gets one spark and none after that. this is a good thing to remember when doing any swap!