No start

[Conki]

I hate to start a new topic, but I couldn't find a solution in any of the other ones, because they all deal with a little different issue.
So this is my friend's car he just bought a couple weeks ago, it ran fine, then starting took gradually longer as days passed, and now he isn't able to start the car at all. I've been helping him troubleshoot the problem, but I just ran out of ideas today.
The car is a 1985 325 eta.

This is what we have so far:
- Cranks just fine
- Fuel delivery test passed, so the fuel pumps should be good
- No spark
- There is battery voltage at the coil
- Coil test was good
- Wires are good
- Spark plugs are good
- Distributor cap is good
- Dist. rotor is good
- CPS and Reference sensor are good
- DME is good
- Ignition relays are good

What else can I check? I have a 1986es, so we can swap most of the things to test, and that's what I've been doing in addition to volt and resistance measurements.
Any ideas?
Please help us, he really needs the car to work.

[canbedirtye30]

something tested as good, is not good....and i would look at the coil and or the cap and rotor...simply cause it was gradual in taking a dump harder and harder to start..

maybe he knocked off the reference on the flywheel? or maybe there is junk on the end of the sensor going into the tranny?

the sensor wires could be cracked up and busted at the end where it goes into the tranny?

[Conki]

I checked the reference sensor and it looked good. I will inspect the CPS too. Next time I'll go there I'll check if the flywheel still has the reference pin, and I will just swap my coil, rotor, and cap into the car to see if that does something.

Any other ideas?

This really sucks, broke college student + broken car = fail.

[Scywrath]

If there's no spark, it's not likely to be the CPS's fault. What do you mean coil test was good? Was there any output voltage? If no spark, then not likely...

[Conki]

I tested the coil with a multimeter.
There was battery voltage coming in, and the resistance through the nodes were also matching the specifications, so I concluded that the coil is good.
So those stupid little electrons should be able to get to the plugs and jump over the gap, but they don't.
I will put my coil in there to see if it's the coil even tho it tested good, but will only have time 2 weeks from now.

Why I'm thinking it's the CPS or reference sensor, or their wires, is because if they don't send signals to the DME, the DME doesn't let the car start, or so I interpreted what I read on the subject.

[Scywrath]

Ignition is mechanical, this is why I don't suspect it would be the sensors.
The ignition coil has two actual coils, primary and secondary, the secondary can still be faulty while the primary gets voltage and it's resistance matches specifications.

[jlevie]

No spark will be:

No timing data to the DME (bad CPS or wiring fault)
No power to the DME (bad main relay, bad fusible link, or wiring fault)
Coil problem (no power to the coil, a wiring fault from the coil negative to the DME, or bad coil)
Bad DME

[Conki]

I checked the resistance in both the primary and the secondary coils, so that should be good.
The relays are fine, swapped them out and it didn't help.
I put my DME in there and it didn't change anything, so it's not the DME that's bad.

I haven't checked if power gets to the DME, so that will be one thing I'll do!
Thx!
If that isn't it, I don't know what else to do.

[Scywrath]

If there is voltage incoming to the coil and no spark (output voltage) it should definitely be the coil. Swap those and try.

[SpecM]

If there is voltage incoming to the coil and no spark (output voltage) it should definitely be the coil. Swap those and try.

no, if the key is on, voltage is supplied to the coil. the ground is pulsed via the DME, via information sent from the CPS

[kenika65]

check in line fuse in the trunk on the small power wire about a foot from the battery wrapped in heat shrink

[Conki]

OK while inspecting the engine I found two huge gashes on the underside of the intake boot. I don't know how we missed that before, but I just ordered a new one and hopefully it will cure the problem!
I'll report back on Wednesday how it went.

[Dedlotus]

You'll report back Wednesday eh? lol

[Conki]

check in line fuse in the trunk on the small power wire about a foot from the battery wrapped in heat shrink

That was it IIRC. But it had so many problems over those few months my friend had it, I'm not 100% the that fuse went out at that time, but I had to replace it once.