Nismomonkey

iTrader: (2)

So I was driving from Reno to SLC today, got all the way to my hotel in SLC, pulled into the front but the *******s in the airport shuttles wont move so I can get up the incline, I back up and go to the otherside infront of them, and as I am cresting the incline to the parking lot the car stalls and dies. I try to restart it and it cranks but wont turn on no matter what. Best part is, now the stupid van driver wants to move and cant because my car died in front of her van. She keeps telling me to move and I keep ignoring her for being a ****ing idiot.

Finally I roll car back down the ramp and get it sitting sideways out of the road and try to read the codes with my OBDII reader which has worked on the car in the past and it Will NOT connect to the car at all. I got gas at about a 1/3 of a tank and filled it up in Nevada and drove a little over 200 miles to SLC before it died, I am thinking possibly that gas was bad somehow and ****ed up the filters and fuel lines. Also recently I had my old alarm that was imobilizing my car on occasion cut out and a Viper 5407 installed. That new system has been in for less than a week but has worked for over 1,000 miles (around town before leaving and then all the way here) it even tries to crank the car when I push the button to no avail, and I checked all the wires are still in the right spots. Any thoughts? Anyone in the area that can come over and help? I am going to bed now as this is ****ing annoying as hell and the second day of my trip that has been screwed up. I want to just quit but I am stranded between my old home and my new home with no way to travel either direction.

Thoughts feelings comments?


TL: DR Car drives perfect for 500ish miles, dies when I reach destination, wont start, no codes, wont connect to OBDII reader.

coma350z

iTrader: (3)

Timing chain would be my first guess.

laurentj23

iTrader: (1)

Check the battery first. Have you tried jumpstarting it?

SparkleCityHop

iTrader: (30)

Bad gas isn't going to affect the ODBII reader. Bad battery should not cause it do die in the middle of a drive unless your alternator was bad as well. The fact that it is turning over makes me think it's not the battery itself. However, you may want to check the battery post connections to make sure they are secure.

It sounds like someone left a wire exposed when they cut your old alarm out or something came loose in the new one - especially since that's been recent work. I would guess a shorted harness wire, blown fuse, or loose wire. It definitely sounds electrical since it is affecting your ability to communicate with the ECU.

Check all fuses, then use a test light at the ecu itself to see if it is getting power.

Nismomonkey

iTrader: (2)

checked all the under hood fuses and wiring, looks good. Battery is connected tightly, the battery gauge is reading 12volts but I cant get a battery load tester for now as it is sunday and no one near me is open. The remote start cranks the motor as well, spins the pulleys and everything so I am not thinking timing belt as I am pretty sure none of the pulleys would spin if it was broken, I tried adding gas to see if maybe the gauge was wrong, didnt work. I can check wiring near the ECU again later, I found a few terminated wires near it that may have shorted something as they were terminated with splices which is weird. They also connected two wires to my coil pack on the center passenger side but then changed to drivers center and left the wires on the coil, they dont look exposed and should throw a code if it messed up the coil. I am leaning towards either bad gas ****ed up the filter, or wiring from the remote start but I wont be able to find out until tomorrow when everyone opens up.

Neimad

It's the wiring. Retarded to use the coil packs for power. Unhook all that junk. If you don't know how to use a test light or power probe then this will be difficult. It will be easier with the wiring diagram and the complete fuse panel charts. Is the MIL turning on when the key is in the ON position? Is the fuel pump priming in the ON position? Are you checking the fuses visually or with a tester? With a tester you can see if the circuit is down even while the fuse is good and trace the wiring to the problem. But you might get lucky taking the crappy wiring mess out of there.

Nismomonkey

iTrader: (2)

The Check engine light doesn't come on when the key is on the key is in the on position. The remote start worked for over 1,000 miles before it died, car started and stopped fine for several days, I see how you could say the wiring could cause it, but I would imagine it would have shown up much earlier. The fuses I checked visually. I dont have any test equipment outside of an OBDII reader which wont connect to my cars computer at all. I am going to go check on some wiring under the hood and stuff as well to see if something is lose or messed up.

Neimad

No power is going to the ECM if the MIL does not illuminate, get a test light or fuse checker. Find the ECM fuse, just change it first. Use the tester to see if power is even getting to the fuse. A crappy connection maybe held for 1000 miles and when you went up the incline it pulled apart. Or a live wire hit ground and fried a fusible link.

Nismomonkey

iTrader: (2)

ill take a look. I thought it was odd that the SES/Check engine light wasnt testing. Goes with the whole wont connect to ECU thing. Where is the fuse located? Still no wiring diagrams or test equipment. I have basic tools and my code reader for myself and it's sunday so nearest shop wont be open until tomorrow. I will go out in a minute and search for an ECU fuse. I know about the fuse panel in the battery compartment, what about inside the car? I think there is one on the drivers side but I dont know where.

Neimad

Fuse panel is to the left of the OBD DLC (Data Link Connector). Register on Autozone.com, they have alot of the service data and wiring diagrams free.

Neimad

The one that says IGN 10A ENG CONT INJ seems to be the circuit. Now, even if its blown and replacing it starts the car you need to find what overloaded that circuit in the first place or it will happen again.

Nismomonkey

iTrader: (2)

Checked visually every fuse in the drivers kick panel and the battery compartment and they all look fine. I pulled the ECU out ( I think it is at least, under the steering column, rectangle metal box says bosch automotive on it, and has a major wire harness going into it. I took pics for verification.) Also above that I found one factory connector, brown wrapped in some foam that is disconnected but I cant see where it goes. Also got a pic of it incase anyone knows what it is. The car reacts 100% the same without the suspected ECU installed, I am going to try to get a multimeter from autozone down the street and check power to all the connections on the harness side. Anyone have a wiring diagram I can use or know which pin to check for power plus what power I should see? I am thinking it will be 12 volts but not sure if it gets stepped up before the ECU, I am used to working on airplanes that are 28VDC so I would like to make sure I am checking for the right power before my brain auto corrects to airplane mode.

I also found in the drivers kick panel a black plastic box that says made in japan and has a ton of wires running into it as well, I pulled the remote start wires out of it (they are connected with quick disconnects, cant recall the exact name of the style of connector but they pull out easily) so I pulled them off as well as the one off the clutch sensor and the one under the hood, no joy on the ECU. I will upload pics to imgur then post them here to see if anyone can confirm component names for me so I know I am looking at the correct stuff. Sorry for jumbled messages I am trying to get everything down here at once. Appreciate the help so far.

Nismomonkey

iTrader: (2)

I found that one. I believe it was a 15A in the battery compartment. I swapped it with the radio circuit fuse (same amperage, same size) because the radio worked. Radio still works, car still doesnt start. Headed to Autozone now to get mulitmeter for testing the engine harness, unfortunately they cant component test my ECU.

Neimad

Power wire is R/W (Red wire/white stripe) at pin 121 of ECM harness connector; this is I believe on the upper right corner if you are looking at the pins head on, its a cluster of eight wires, other side is 5 wires. Everything is 12v in this system.

Neimad

Ok flowchart says check 109 for battery voltage. Autozone.com has the wiring diagrams, you just have to register and open the repair info stuff, its free.

Nismomonkey

iTrader: (2)

Ok so got a fuse tester and tested all the fuses in the car, they all passed (just a simple load light tester) I swapped a ton of the 10 and 15A ones out with new ones (also pass) just for good measure. Still no power. Took every wire I can find for the remote start and D/C it but still nothing. Taped up the trunk latch wire that I found so it doesn't accidentally ground out and open the trunk while I am driving or something. I'll have to figure a way to wire it later. The shop that installed my new Viper said they remove all the old components first. I like how I found all the wiring for the old system terminated and in the car still. Whatever. Oh and the hood latch open system doesnt work like it is supposed to, if the hood is up the engine shouldnt remote start but it does which is kinda odd. I am about to start running wires on the ECU harness after a quick bite to eat, but it is looking like the component itself is just fried. Car has 78K miles on it 10K from me, previous owner beat the **** out of it and I have been replacing all kinds of parts way early on it so ECU going out might just be another one of those parts. Already did clutch and had to rewire a bunch of radio stuff he had put in wrong. I found a image here: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...9QEwAQ&dur=456

for the harness. Is this correct? Autozone guy said there were different models and I know Nissan has a TSB out that says if an ECU requires replacement they upgrade to OBDIII instead of replacing with a II. Anyone had this done? I know some guy on here had his ECU done for around 1200 bucks at a dealer. Hopefully SLC doesnt have stupid high labor rates, but cant be worse than California I would hope.

Nismomonkey

iTrader: (2)

Sorry, just read your reply. I am getting the chart from Autozone and will check power for these things. If there is no power, where do I check next that is before that? Does it go straight to the battery or does it hit a fuse box and another wire harness? I will check the diagram myself, could you also link the diagram so when I log in it should take me straight to what you link to me. Sorry if that doesnt make sense I am trying to think of how to say it.

Nismomonkey

iTrader: (2)

Ah! Found out I am looking at the wrong part. According to Google the ECU is on the passenger side, in the dash. I will have to go try to get to it and test it for power. Was wondering why the wires looked different. What is the part under the steering wheel then? Looks like an ECU... Hopefully something silly like a disconnected wire or something up there that I can just plug back in. Would be great.

Neimad

Work got busy. BCM is under dash. ECM is by the blower motor. Power comes from the IPDM E/relay by the battery, so make sure thats got power, then it goes to ECM. Kinda sounds like remote switch is part of the problem, unhook that too.

SparkleCityHop

iTrader: (30)

Definitely check the IPDM and ECM under the passenger dash. The IPDM is the weird looking thing that runs down the side of the battery right at the positive battery terminal. It has some in line fuses on it that can affect your ECM. The ECM is a flat black box about the size of an outstretched hand with a bunch of cables coming out and a metal bracket that mounts it to the car.

It would be great if you had someone nearby with a Cipher cable. It will at least tell you if it can see the ECM, BCM, and ABS computers individually, so that would help a lot compared to just knowing that you aren't getting any codes on the reader. That way, if it is a power source issue, you may not be able to connect to any components, but if it is a harness or ECM issue, you would see the other components but not the ECM.