Car died while driving..fuel related??

[jlevie]

A bad CPS will kill spark and fuel.

[StereoInstaller1]

Are you talking about the crank position sensor? but would the cps stop the ignition from working? I should still be getting a spark right? Im also going to replace the main relay since its cheap.

A bad CPS will kill spark and fuel.

The DME uses ONLY the CPS to know if the motor is spinning or not and how fast. The DME turns the fuel pump on when it sees the motor spinning...so no CPS, no power to fuel pump, etc. The CPS also tells the DME when to fire a coil, so thus it can cause you to lose spark also. Make sense now?

The DME also turns on the Check Engine light, so if you turn your key on and you have no CE light (as in "bulb test") you may not have power to the DME.

So, the first test is see if you have DME power by turning your key on. No bulb lit is not conclusive, but it is a good starting point.

GL
Luke

[nebraskafandb]

the check engine light comes on but reads code 1444 which means nothing wrong..

[StereoInstaller1]

the check engine light comes on but reads code 1444 which means nothing wrong..

Well, there ya go, now you know the DME has power, right? Rules out the main relay trigger, so that is handy to know.

[nebraskafandb]

okay so the fuel pump is working as far as I can tell so this rules out the cps correct? So now it should be down to spark..I checked power to the ignition coil and its not getting power so I know the problem should be before that, which the ignition control unit. I was unsuccessful in locating so does anyone know where it is? Or are there any other ideas? Thanks again

[paperplane94]

I would just pull out a spark plug, connect it to the ignition wire and ground the plug to the engine. Then start it and visually check for spark.

If that doesn't work and there is fuel at the rail, then I would suspect the DME, which is pretty much the ignition control module plus other engine management functions.

[StereoInstaller1]

okay so the fuel pump is working as far as I can tell so this rules out the cps correct? So now it should be down to spark..I checked power to the ignition coil and its not getting power so I know the problem should be before that, which the ignition control unit. I was unsuccessful in locating so does anyone know where it is? Or are there any other ideas? Thanks again

There is only the DME. The wires you have in the coil packs end at the plug of the DME...ain't nothing in between!

So, still no spark. Did you do as suggested and place a plug on the head and crank the motor? That is the first thing to do IMO.

[nebraskafandb]

Ya I did that and no spark...SO it could be a bad DME?

[StereoInstaller1]

Ya I did that and no spark...SO it could be a bad DME?

Well, of course it could, but I would not be hasty about buying a new one, y'know?

Do you have another M42 car around to swap parts with? That would be really handy.

I am going to look at the ETM, see if anything else makes sense.

[nebraskafandb]

I dont have an m42 to swap with but I did find a dme for like 45 bucks on ebay with a dinan chip..not bad. Could it be the ignition coil?

[StereoInstaller1]

I dont have an m42 to swap with but I did find a dme for like 45 bucks on ebay with a dinan chip..not bad. Could it be the ignition coil?

Do you have a decent DVM?

[nebraskafandb]

Dvm?

[nebraskafandb]

She's RUNNING!!!
So I was just checking every connection again and when looking closer I found a sensor near the intake manifold that was unplugged so I plugged it in and..what do you know it started right up! I had a feeling it was something small like that, this car has never left me stranded or showed any signs of anything going out.

Thanks to everyone for the help! R3v is by far the best forum I have ever been apart of. Now that I got the car running again im actually going to put it up for sale, I love this car so much but I need something bigger for work :(
Thanks Again!