96 850 turbo no spark, most of the time Topic is solved

[greg850r]

I just changed wires, cap, rotor, cleaned and gapped plugs and found the ECT plug was losing connection so I took it apart and cleaned the connectors with emory cloth and removed them from their holders so I could positively attach them. While I was at it I cleaned and reattached cam and crank sensor plugs. Sprayed some starting fluid in the intake by the radiator and it popped but that's all. I went for the lawn mower syndrome and just cranked it throttle on the floor for the longest time. When I gave up and released the key it fired and revved because my foot was still on the floor. I let it run until the temp gauge moved and shut it down. Tried restart and had to crank it wide open again but it fired a little quicker this time. It ran fairly well when it quit on me but sounds pretty bad now. I think it sat too long. Valve train noise still there when warm and I bet the rings are stuck. I'm going to pop the plugs back out and add about 4oz Marvel to each cylinder and call it a night. This must have been a combination of things but as long as I have you guys to throw ideas at me I don't give up. I've let this one sit for months at a time and probably that added to the problems I had making it go. Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I'll report back in a few days after I run it in and make a few more tweaks.

[greg850r]

Running great but hard start hot or cold. Lots of cranking with throttle wide open. Starts a little quicker hot but still cranks way too long before it fires.

[greg850r]

Wow, do I feel dumb. This ENTIRE odyssey was very likely unnecessary. The starter just died and I had to replace it. The nut that holds the wires to the stud on the solenoid wasn't bottomed! It felt tight when you tried to twist it but was not down all the way and the cables could move under the nut. If you've ever witnessed the strange things that a loose battery cable can cause in these cars, you understand.

When I got this one from an apartment complex where it had been left by a previous tenant, the original engine was in the back of the car in pieces and I was told the motor in it ran. This appears to have been a worst case 'someone else worked on it first' syndrome.

[abscate]

YEah, we let you down on this one.

White being signal wire helps. I see no pulses on it, the green light stays lit. What it does do is vary ever so slightly in intensity due to starter load on battery while cranking. Nothing that could be construed as a signal though.

You must have posted this at least 8 times and I read through it - but that was the telltale that we did not have a good 12V supply - on these cars, thats death. On P2s , it is even worse.

Humility...it tastes like pie..

[greg850r]

It wasn't a total loss. I learned a lot.