Alright, please bare with me, I am in dire need of some more minds in on this problem. This is my buddies car. I had him describe to me the best he could as to when the problem happened. No much to work with. But I've done a lot of work so far diag wise and am a bit out of ideas, or even where to start testing the wiring, or how. Car has had a bit of an idle problem since he got it.
93 Dodge Shadow 2.2L 5-speed manual
Problem: Crank - No Start
When Problem Occurred: Car was at running temp. He had been driving it all day. Stopped at a stop sign, started going again no problem. Came to a red light stopped fine, idled a little rough like normal, then the car just died. Still had battery power. Engine stopped running. He tried to re-start it. Cranked with no start.
Known good new parts: Spark Plugs, Spark Plug Wires
Parts tested that seemed good but not positive: All Relays including start relay, fuel pump relay, Not sure, but ASD relay seems like it's working (I will expand on this later)
Diag Performed:
Okay, here's where it gets interesting.
Checked fuses immediately. All fuses and fusible links check good.
When I got the car back to my place I started checking things. Car has battery power. Lights on, dash lights, gauges, all that good stuff. After a long time of diag the battery did go dead. Used a jump box (do believe this might be an issue - again, will expand in a minute)
Okay, first checked for fuel. Fuel pump did not prime. Removed fuel pump relay, and jumped the relay. Fuel pump does work when relay is jumped.
Starter relay good (it cranks, duh)
Replaced fuel pump relay. Crank, no start, fuel pump will still not prime. Jumped relay again, fuel pump primes. Fuel pump ruled out.
Checked for spark. No Spark. Scratched my head over this one a litte. Went to the junk yard and raped a few parts. Got a used coil, cap, rotor and Hall effect sensor inside distributor. Actually got 2 of each part. Replaces the coil, cap and rotor and hall effect sensor. Found out that if this ahll effect sensor goes bad, the PCM will not ground the fuel pump relay, and you will have no fuel or spark. Tried all 3 sensors that we have, and we still have no fuel or spark.
Continues to research online. Found out is the ASD (Auto shut doen relay) does not receive signal or power, you will also have a no spark no fuel condition. Replaced this relay, still nothing. Crank no start.
Now, this car has had this problem before. I say this because the ASD relay had a wire in the harness that had been cut, and crimped back together. I tested for resistance over this "repair" and it was just over 6 mega ohms. Figured that had to be the problem. Repaired wiring properly. Re-installed original ASD Relay. Attempted to re-start. This time the fuel pump primed for aprox 2 seconds, maybe a little less. I thought it might have been a bit quick. Cranked with no start. After this the battery promptly died. My jump box is a very small 200 amp box. It's for basically starting lawn mowers (what do you want for free?)
So, right now, the battery is charging in my living room.
Forgot to add. The only code the car has is a code 12 - Meaning the battery has been disconnected and the PCM has re-set, which also leads me to believe my theory is correct:
Since the battery quickly died after we did get the fuel pump to prime, could my issue be that we fixed the car but the battery had no power left to get the car to start? It was cranking slow. Had the jump box hooked up to it at the time.
Or am I looking into more wiring crap. Do I have a bad ground? I'm not even sure what circuit to test first, let alone how I should test it? Look for voltage drop? Resistance?
Any thoughts, ideas, opinions whatever you have, please lend me your brain. I need help with this one.
With the battery charged, and back in the car, we again have no fuel pump prime, and no spark.
Where the hell do I go now?
. Pull distributor cap off and crank. Check to make sure the rotor is turning, if so, pull upper cover off the timing belt, and make sure the car is in time. If so, check for spark. If you have all 3 it's a compression issue (head gasket). If no spark, check wiring to ASD relay, and check for proper operation. If everything there checks out OK, replace the hall-effect pickup with a NEW unit. Also check to make sure the metal "teeth" on the distributor shaft are solid and not coming loose from the distributor. Also it wouldn't hurt to check and see if there is fuel coming out of the TBI injector when cranking.