I'm not sure about the imobilizer logic, but thinking in terms of the actual startup logic I would be surprised if it was firing plugs without expecting the car to start.Ozark Lee wrote: Things do get stranger though. I did some more tracing with the oscilloscope and I find that the injectors always pulse, whether the car starts or not. I'm not sure if the immobilizer is supposed to kill the ignition or the injectors or both. The injector pulses always seem to be there. The trigger signals to the coils, it turns out, are there sometimes even when there is a no start condition. They are, of course, always there when the car does start but there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why they are there sometimes and the car won't start and without them there the car, as expected, won't start. The battery voltage is always steady on the red wires to the coils and the coil grounds are clean and tight on the cam cover.
Was this car sitting because someone gave up on it, i.e. it stopped running, and then the garage threw in the towel? Can you drive it once it starts up?
I think this is a clue. Given the fact that it looks like people have been feeding it parts and it's probably been scanned to death, have you looked into something that can't be tested for with a scan tool, like a clogged exhaust or melted cat? If you are starting the car without a plug, then you sure are leaving a pretty good leak path....Ozark Lee wrote: Once again, it seems when I pull a spark plug and lay it on the head with the coil, and it doesn't seem to matter which one, the car will start pretty reliably. I did find some solder globs around coil number 2 but I think it was some sloppiness from splicing the wires to the CVVT valve which looks like it was recently changed. Recent is somewhat relative as I think this car had been parked for over a year at the repair shop where I bought it.
I have changed both the number 1 and 2 coils with known good replacements. The spark is orangish rather than blue with the spark plug laying on the cam cover.
...Lee
Is the cam sensor on the exhaust side like the older whiteblocks, or did they move it over to the intake side. I wonder if possessed exhaust VVT would go unnoticed by because the cam reference signal is on the intake side.
