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1998 LS1 not starting ?

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Old Jul 20, 2007 | 07:10 PM
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Default 1998 LS1 not starting ?

Hello my fellow Forum members, most of you know me as " Henry " and I am in need of help !

1998 T/A LS1 V8 into a 1978 Caprice 2 door "Aero Coupe "

The car is still not getting any spark/fuel signals.

- The PCM is good ( VATS and Emission removed ), and ran Prefect in a friends Trans Am.
- The Crank Sensor was Replaced with a known good one.
- The Tach is hooked up yet it doesnt show RPM when motor cranks ?
- Harness wires all check out ok.

Its like the engine doesnt know there is any RPM's so it doesnt fire Spark or Fuel ?

Any ideas on what we could have missed or over looked ?
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Old Jul 21, 2007 | 03:07 AM
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I take it that everyone who has done a LS1 Swap has there LS1 fire right up without any problems or customizing ?
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Old Jul 21, 2007 | 04:16 AM
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Do you hear the fuel pump run for the usual two seconds when you first turn on the ignition? Have you checked to see if there is voltage going to the coil packs when the ignition is on?
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Old Jul 21, 2007 | 07:05 PM
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Originally Posted by LS1MCSS
Do you hear the fuel pump run for the usual two seconds when you first turn on the ignition? Have you checked to see if there is voltage going to the coil packs when the ignition is on?
- The Fuel Pump is run so it runs when the Ign is turned on. So its pumping whenever the Ign is turned on.

- The Ign Coil Packs have voltage when the Ign is on.

- From what the installer is saying its like the PCM isnt recognizing the engine is rotating, because the Signal to the Tach isnt showing RPM either, and if the PCM doesnt know see RPM's its not going to Fire the Coils/Injectors.
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Old Jul 21, 2007 | 08:08 PM
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then that would be a crank position sensor problem. either with the sensor itself or the wiring.
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Old Jul 22, 2007 | 02:53 AM
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Originally Posted by Kamin
then that would be a crank position sensor problem. either with the sensor itself or the wiring.
- The Crank Sensor was Replaced with a known good one from a running car.
- Harness wires to and from the Crank Sensor all check out ok.
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Old Jul 23, 2007 | 11:13 PM
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Actually, most swaps do fire right up on the first try...

what codes are you throwing? do you have power to the coils and injectors?
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Old Jul 24, 2007 | 02:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Rodder
Actually, most swaps do fire right up on the first try...

what codes are you throwing? do you have power to the coils and injectors?
We thought about checking codes but there is not a OBD II port installed in the car yet. I will have to wait until I have some spare money to add one to the car.

The Coils and Injectors are both getting Power, but from what the installer has told me, they are powered all the time, but only "Wire" when the PCM sends a Ground to the Coil or Injector. The Tach isnt showing RPM's so its like the PCM doesnt know the engine is turning over and that it needs to fire the Coils/Injectors. He replaced the Crank Sensor with one from a running car, and the wires two and from the sensor checked out ok.

Its very strange.
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Old Jul 24, 2007 | 02:57 PM
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What tach are you using? Where are you getting the signal?
In my '02 SS with the factory tach I don't see anything register until after the motor fires. My thought is that it may be normal for it to not register until a specific event happens.
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Old Jul 24, 2007 | 04:10 PM
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have you had the pcm benched tuned??? That and the crankshaft pos. senser was my problem in my swap,,, look at the coil grounds and the camshaft pos. sensor, just over look all your grounds dubble look the wiring you might have some thing crossed over..
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Old Jul 24, 2007 | 05:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Rhino
What tach are you using? Where are you getting the signal?
In my '02 SS with the factory tach I don't see anything register until after the motor fires. My thought is that it may be normal for it to not register until a specific event happens.
I am using an Autometer Tach, Summit gave me what pins #/Wire colors that it must be hooked up to for use with a LS1. Maybe its normal that the tach doesn't register until after the car fires since that's how yours works. I never really thought to ask a LS1 owner about that before. ha ha

Originally Posted by greenfbodyracer
have you had the pcm benched tuned??? That and the crankshaft pos. sensor was my problem in my swap,,, look at the coil grounds and the camshaft pos. sensor, just over look all your grounds double look the wiring you might have some thing crossed over..
What kind of symptoms were you getting with your swap when it wasn't starting ? I had the PCM bench tuned, and they removed the Emissions Controls ,Rear O2's, and even VATS.

We suspected the Crank Sensor too, but we removed one from a car that runs, and it still didn't work. We also suspected it was the PCM and it started up a friends 98 T/A and ran perfect with no lights or codes or anything. They have traced and checked the grounds. Will a car run/start with a bad Cam Sensor ? One of the people that has been helping on the project has also said that sometimes the Crank Relcutor Ring can get damaged/falloff/break causing the Crank Sensor not to work ? The installer looked and its on the crank but he said it is scratched up and such. Whatcha think ?
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Old Jul 24, 2007 | 07:14 PM
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Originally Posted by KC Henry
I never really thought to ask a LS1 owner about that before. ha ha
I'm just throwing out ideas. I guess I can't say my car takes too long to start (maybe half to a full second?) but I don't remember the tach moving.

Unfortunately, the easiest diagnosis would be pulling codes. Have you tried any of the u-pull it's in the area? Another thought is finding someone parting out a car. There were a few people parting out cars on the mofbody forum. Surely someone would take $5 for the OBD port. You can't even get a burger value meal for that anymore. I'd be happy to try to walk you through getting it wired up if you're feeling up to it.

I think that money will be well worth it in the long run.
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Old Jul 24, 2007 | 07:54 PM
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Troubleshooting these things really requires a scan tool of some sort (not just a code reader, but an actual scan tool). You're shooting in the dark without one... a code reader would be better than nothing though.

My money is on a wiring problem... either a problem in an aftermarket/modified harness, or something your installer screwed up. Is this a complete aftermarket harness, a modified harness, a stock harness with an aftermarket adapter, or what? some of the cheap adapter harnesses that were on ebay for a while were notorious for having wires mixed up.
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Old Jul 24, 2007 | 08:50 PM
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Originally Posted by Rhino
I'm just throwing out ideas. I guess I can't say my car takes too long to start (maybe half to a full second?) but I don't remember the tach moving.

Unfortunately, the easiest diagnosis would be pulling codes. Have you tried any of the u-pull it's in the area? Another thought is finding someone parting out a car. There were a few people parting out cars on the mofbody forum. Surely someone would take $5 for the OBD port. You can't even get a burger value meal for that anymore. I'd be happy to try to walk you through getting it wired up if you're feeling up to it.

I think that money will be well worth it in the long run.
I have heard that hooking up a OBD II port to a car is supposedly easy, but wires and I dont get along.... about as techno-savy with wires is plugging in the blender to make a drink. I will have to find time to put one on though, I bet it would make things much much easier.

Originally Posted by Rodder
Troubleshooting these things really requires a scan tool of some sort (not just a code reader, but an actual scan tool). You're shooting in the dark without one... a code reader would be better than nothing though.

My money is on a wiring problem... either a problem in an aftermarket/modified harness, or something your installer screwed up. Is this a complete aftermarket harness, a modified harness, a stock harness with an aftermarket adapter, or what? some of the cheap adapter harnesses that were on ebay for a while were notorious for having wires mixed up.
It is a Stock 98 LS1 Engine and Harness from a 98 T/A. I dont think much of anything has been modified on the harness for the swap that I know of.

I really hope its something like a bad wire or something cheap/easy and not something that would mean tearing apart the motor like a bad Crank Sensor Reluctor Ring on the crankshaft.
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Old Jul 25, 2007 | 01:05 AM
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It's only a serial data wire to plug in to the pcm plug and a constant battery power and 2 grounds to connect the scan plug. You could get all that at a junk yard cheap, with wires attached. Just mount temporary in engine compartment to get your problem fixed. Good luck.
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Old Jul 26, 2007 | 06:24 AM
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A little more information on this swap since I saw the car the other day and went over the wiring to help double check everything.

Coil packs have power, pcm has power, injectors have power, sensors have power. Checked continuity from the pcm to the CPS, coil packs, etc, checked all grounds and everything has a good connection. Car has no signal(purple wire on coil packs and ground wires on injectors). We did try a different CPS that we know was from a good working car and am working on getting a cam position sensor. If Henry can come up with the money for a ALDL connector it wouldn't take anytime at all to wire it up and would probably make troubleshooting this issue a lot easier.
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Old Jul 26, 2007 | 06:50 AM
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Originally Posted by skinnies
A little more information on this swap since I saw the car the other day and went over the wiring to help double check everything.

Coil packs have power, pcm has power, injectors have power, sensors have power. Checked continuity from the pcm to the CPS, coil packs, etc, checked all grounds and everything has a good connection. Car has no signal(purple wire on coil packs and ground wires on injectors). We did try a different CPS that we know was from a good working car and am working on getting a cam position sensor. If Henry can come up with the money for a ALDL connector it wouldn't take anytime at all to wire it up and would probably make troubleshooting this issue a lot easier.
He may need to anyway in case he needs to do a crank relearn or something like that.
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Old Jul 26, 2007 | 05:51 PM
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Maybe a "late in the game question",
but have you connected a timing light to make sure the coils/plug wires are firing?
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Old Jul 26, 2007 | 05:56 PM
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no spark at the plugs at all
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Old Jul 26, 2007 | 06:43 PM
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Got an aldl hooked up, no rpm signal and no ignition signal, ideas?
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