Subaru UEC 1 , Ellie 0

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Sat May 19, 2012 9:44 am

I wish I knew which MSD coil Gannon used , I'm guessing a Blaster 2 but not sure . Probably easier to find than any other pie in the sky coil .

A .

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sat May 19, 2012 10:10 am

MEC717 is a stock item in most partts stores and a RisingSun Steve recommendation and worked for me apart from my complaints which may be due to its individual self not common to all MEC717's.

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Sat May 19, 2012 6:47 pm

New coil in and - no joy no change .
I know this thing has fuel pressure because the aftermarket reg , downstream of the std buried one , has a gauge which reads 40 psig when the pumps running .
I can smell fuel from the exhaust pipe after cranking it for a while .

Theres a couple of things I noticed when changing the coil , firstly there is a single yellow wire with an OE connector (round white with the tab you lift to unlatch) terminatung in a brass eye fitting that looks like it once went to the coil . I suspect it went to the negative side but don't want to guess . I don't think this has been connected to anything for some time . Can someone with an early 85/86 Turbo L please look to see if this goes to the coils negative poll .

Also below the coil my car has a glass fuse and I unwittingly blew it tightening the lower coil clamp bolt . It picks up power at the battery with a non std looking white wire and the other side is an OE looking blue wire that disappears into the loom . I doubt Subaru'd use a glass fuse when everything else has blade fuses . Anyhow I haven't had glass fuses since the Mini dats so I'll bum one of Coxy

Something I did find is that when I unplugged no 1 lead and fitted a spare plug looking for spark I noticed it gets a few bright flashes then quite dim blue ones . I substituted another newish looking lead and the plug did the same thing sitting on the inlet manifold .
Will have to test the supply voltage at the coil .
I really hope the module hasn't died in the distributor because I've already used my only spare one . Coxy reckons failing ones usually work cold but heat up quickly and not work at all , thats what my original one did .

My best guess is I have a spark problem but why I'm not yet sure .

A .

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sat May 19, 2012 7:02 pm

argh, bummer on the new coil...what'd ya fit ?

Is it time to join the green single pole plugs near fuse box and see if any codes spit out of the ecu ?

Just been out (got signed out too) looked and looked but no single yellow wire with white round factory plug in sight, yellow wires do go to negative side ...... any more excuses for you no picture supply ??

The glass fuses are often after market stuff or AC install, none on mine , had AC, may have been glass fuse nearby before I removed -saving weight

YouTube · Post by **El_Freddo** » Sat May 19, 2012 7:29 pm

discopotato03 wrote:My best guess is I have a spark problem but why I'm not yet sure .

I'm stuffed as to why you've got a spark issue after you've used a can of UEC - I wouldn't have thought that this stuff would give you grief on anything other than the spark plugs themselves.

Cheers

Bennie

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sat May 19, 2012 11:21 pm

Coincidence is a dirty word. Wonder if it makes sense that Adrian left the brass eye terminal off the negative side of the coil on coil swap and not before, just smacks of where it belongs ....... I do know that should you undo the plug that connects dizzy to knock sensor module fitted at LHS of glovebox - engine still runs quite well so the module can work on two wires - think that connectr is black?? . The mounting holes of the four pin module differ from the two pin module of EA81 and carby EA82.

Jolt up the rrrr's slip the timing belt ??

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Sun May 20, 2012 8:28 am

Going to make life interesting if cam timing is out because I don't think the people who machined the flywheel replaced the timing marks on it . Ignition timing is done with a Vortex front pointer and a mark on the crank pulley .
I'll have to do the basic crank with the dizzy cap off to see if it revolves though the fact that I'm getting some spark from plug leads means something is trying to work .
I think I have a spare flywheel in the cave so will have to see how far round from the ignition timing marks the cam timing ones are . My brain is telling me a quarter of a turn so the pistons would be at center stroke .
I would have thought that provided the dizzy turns there would be the odd cough or splutter but we'll have to see .

A .

Gannon · Post by **Gannon** » Sun May 20, 2012 10:13 am

Yeah Im pretty sure it was a Blaster2

According to the fsm, which has no wire colours or plugs...
Connected to the +ve side of the coil is the condenser, 12v supply from fuse 11 and the wire between the ignitor and the knock control unit
On the -ve side of the coil is the ignitor, the tachometer and the ecu.

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Sun May 20, 2012 2:42 pm

More checking . Distributor turns so RH belt must be intact . Got three bolts out of LH belt cover but lower LH ones done the usual trick , can flex it far enough to see that the LH belt looks intact and under reasonable tension .
Also have within 0.2V of battery voltage at the + side of the coil with the ignition switched on . Would be good to see what its cranking voltage is but need another set of hands to help there . May have to make a temporary bridge wire if cranking coil voltage is low .
I replaced the glass fuse I blew and not surprisingly that did zip .

Getting a bit tired of all this . A .

Venom · Post by **Venom** » Sun May 20, 2012 3:23 pm

What about cap/rotor leads plugs and ignition module? Could be chasing your tail when one of these may have been on their way to failing, hence weak spark causing excessive carbon build up.

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Sun May 20, 2012 4:28 pm

Cap coil and coil lead are new . Its hard to believe all the plug leads would die at once , surely it would cough and missfire a little .
Distibutor guts wise no way to tell , and no spares .
I guess I could remove the rotor button but I don't think theres much to learn doing it . I am 99% sure the cap is the right one because it looks just like the old one - all over .
Anyway just been on the batphone to Coxy and he's saying line the front Vortex pointer up with the crank pulley and remove the dizzy cap to see if the rotor arm is lining up with 1 or 4 . Actually it would be 1 or 2 I suppose on a flat four because of their screwy firing order ie 1-3-2-4 instead of 1-3-4-2 for an inline four cylinder .
I guess I can try and remove the RHS belt cover and make sure both cams are oriented on their marks .

Other than this I have to assume something is wrong with the distributor itself . Are the modules available here or only ex Japan ?

Don't suppose anyone has a known good dizzy they wish to part with .

A .

Venom · Post by **Venom** » Sun May 20, 2012 4:59 pm

Do plugs have equal amounts of scum? Any play in dizzy shaft?

Your car is 3 plug?

I bought a new complete distributor for my 4 plug jap import turbo ea82 wagon. Was same as listed part for normal ea82 and plugged straight in. Googling the hitachi number on the dizzy casing found it. Can't find it myself right now on clunky phone.

Venom · Post by **Venom** » Sun May 20, 2012 5:09 pm

Nardek.com.au nd850, specifically says non turbo but was same p/n and identical to my old one. Came with loom that plug straight into my car.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun May 20, 2012 7:36 pm

TB slip, did not mean the hit up the bum broke it ...... slip a few tooth and she won't start, maybe fart and pop....

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun May 20, 2012 7:39 pm

initially no need for the three marks on flywheel to be seen, just the two cam wheels and their marks should be opposite each time you pass the timing pointer mark.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun May 20, 2012 7:41 pm

ex Japan and cheaper to fit a standard dizzy with MSD adjustable dizzy controller

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun May 20, 2012 7:56 pm

*cough, splutter * choke * blows dust off desk and waddayaknow, an invoice from August '09 for 22433 AA041 COIL AY-IGN list price 120.69

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Sun May 20, 2012 11:11 pm

I lined up the crank pulley and checked the rotor position which was almost past no2 cap contact so went another turn to line up no1 . Obviously the crank and dizzy side cam timing is correct .
Next set the LHS cam pulley up with its reference mark and checked the other side which is 180 deg diferent or straight down . From this I reckon everything is spot on belts and cam wise .
I can only conclude that the problem is the module in the distributor .

Now that yellow wire with the white OE plug couple in it and the brass eye end . Basically it joins a semi exposed set of wires that goes back into the cabin via the large rubber gromit to the right of the windscreen wiper motor . The Wire colours are Yellow/Green Red trace/Red/Blue/Black Yellow trace/Red White trace . My guess is they go inside to the Knock Box or possibly the Air Con switch gear . All the air con was removed from my car years ago and I don't remember what was disconnected from it .

Lastly the new coil . Funnily enough it is "Vortex" branded pn V462 .
Anyhow Coxy works near a place called AFI or Australian Fuel Injection so I'm going to see them tomorrow afternoon about Igniter modules .
When I searched the correct one seemsto be available in the US as Pn 491468711 .

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=1189532

A .

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Mon May 21, 2012 9:05 am

Rockauto cat >Subaru>1986 > RX> turbo> distributor ignition pickup

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=443635

revealed another at $324 with 3 or 5 year warranty ! About a third of Subarus ask price !

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Mon May 21, 2012 10:55 pm

It occured to me today to ring Paul at Subareck to see if he had any early 82T dizzys or modules and ended up telling my story of woe .
He suggested I do a compression test . He told me about a dirty Lib engine he had that got some carbon caught between the valves and their seats . He reckons when this happens the lifters pump up holding the valves off their seats so no compression .
So I aim to borrow a compression tester and see what I've got to work with .
I'm not sure how to bleed lifters in situ or remove carbon from valve faces and seats . Paul suggested tapping the tops of the valve stems to I suppose break any carbon up .
I can see things getting messy with the cam covers off and a PITA if the cam boxes have to come out .
Anyway with the plugs out we may be able to see something down the plug holes with a light .
Also Paul reckons with the ignition modules they either work or they don't and when on they way out they function cold and play up when warm .

Its probably a lot to hope that valves not sealing is the issue but AKAIK its really the only thing I can think of they may have changed because nothing external shows any difference .
If I had my time again I would not spray this SUEC into an engine that was not running , it can't spit out any rubbish until it is going so I think you run a risk by doing the soak in like the directions say .

A .