spiderwebfx Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Flatmates car broke down yesterday. She was coming down a hill, engine light come on, and then when the car came to a stop at a roundabout, died. Was probably two minutes between starting it and it dying. 1998 Toyota Caldina ST215G | 3SFE | Auto Appears the motor has no spark but I cannot pinpoint why. Is it possible that the two coils have gone faulty at the same time? Is there a fail safe where it won't start if one is faulty? Pretty sure leads and plugs are on the way out, but I wouldn't of thought that this would stop it from starting it all. 'Start ya bastard' does not help it to fire. Faults pulled from bridging OBD2 plug terminals: 21 (O2 Sensor), 24 (Air temp sensor). Air temp only showed up since battery was disconnected, was not there straight after it stopped. (These descriptions may be wrong, I could only find fault codes for OBD1 plugs. If so, let me know what they actually are) Some multi meter tests I've done to get to where I'm at now: Cylinders 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Injector Resistances (ohm) 14.6 | 15.5 | 14.5 | 18.4 Lead Resistances (ohm) 4.2 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 2.21 Compression Test 210 | 220 | 210 | 220 Is there a way to test if the coils are fried? Sorry it's not oldschool. I'm struggling to find any help through Google and am not registered on any Toyota forums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris r Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 have you got a test light? if so test for injection pulse. If you have injection pulse but no spark it could be ignition related. if you dont have both you could have cam/crank sensor faults 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiderwebfx Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 10 minutes ago, chris r said: have you got a test light? if so test for injection pulse. If you have injection pulse but no spark it could be ignition related. if you dont have both you could have cam/crank sensor faults Cheers, will test that now. Is it as simple as unplugging injector and connecting the test light to a pin on the plug? Or is it better to do it while the injector is still plugged in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris r Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Unplug them, Connect the test-light wire to ground and probe the pins. One (or both) should have power. If you have power connect the test light wire to power and hold it in one pin while cranking the motor. swap to the other if you have no flashes the first time. One side will be ignition and the other should go back to the ecu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiderwebfx Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 Tested. I got a pulse through them. Does that eliminate crank and cam angle sensors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris r Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Sweet thats good! it should elimate them. Is there a ignitor/ignition module hanging around the coils? how many wires are going into them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiderwebfx Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 There is two. Each has a 4 pin plug and then 2 ignition leads. One is for cylinders 1 and 4, other is 2 and 3. They look like this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris r Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Do the plugs for the coils have all 4 pins populated? If so are there some wires that are the same size/colour in the same position in both plugs? Changes are they will be your power and ground and the others will be to ecu or igniter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiderwebfx Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 Yep, all are populated. 3 matching wires on each one. Then 1 different color on each. Brown(thick), black/white(thick), black/yellow(thin) Then red/blue on one and white/red on the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris r Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 If you unplug them and test the two fat wires, generally brown or black should be earth or ground and by elimination the other should be ignition power. My guess would be the two this wires (red/blue & white/red) will be your igniter wires and the last one might be a tach signal? Unless you have a led test light it may not be a good idea to probe them unplugged. If the two fat wires are power and earth you could rey rangi some cables onto them and then probe the other pin and check for spark that way. most of the time there will be a earth signal to trigger the igniter/coil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiderwebfx Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 Ok. I will have a look at that tomorrow. It's a bit dark now and can't see anything. Will report back here with the results. Thanks for your help so far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris r Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 No worries 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiderwebfx Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 13 hours ago, chris r said: If the two fat wires are power and earth you could rey rangi some cables onto them and then probe the other pin and check for spark that way. most of the time there will be a earth signal to trigger the igniter/coil This bit has confused me slightly. Could I not just turn ignition and see if a signal goes through the potential 3rd wire? Do they have to be bridged? Sorry not 100% confidential on electrical bits. I have just gone and got a led test light to be able to check it. Was planning to get one anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris r Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 I should of been clearer with that. I was meaning for testing the coils by themselves. If you probe that 3rd wire there should be a pulse from the ecu to the igniter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiderwebfx Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 Ahh sweet that's easy enough. So if I get a signal/pulse from it, in theory the coils, all leads and/or all plugs are buggered. If it doesn't, it's most likely ecu or there's been a break in some wiring. I have already found some coils at a local wrecker so if it's those I'll pick them up tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris r Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 Sorry I ft to check but yip that's about right. Another thing you could try is close up the gap on the plugs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seedy Al Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 How did you conclude it has no spark? Does the fuel pump prime when key is turned to on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiderwebfx Posted February 13, 2017 Author Share Posted February 13, 2017 Have removed a fuel line and turned key which pumped fuel out. This was the first thing I checked. I couldn't get spark plugs or leads to spark when held against a ground and 'start ya bastard' wouldn't ignite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjrstar Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 Got a spare key? Could be immobilized.. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiderwebfx Posted February 14, 2017 Author Share Posted February 14, 2017 No alarm system / immobilizer and it died while driving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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