Car Partially flooded now no spark at plugs advise required please

[tomtaylor1]

My car was partially flooded, the water covered the starter motor, the car then cut out and will not start, the starter has been removed and serviced, engine cranks over ok, fuel is being delivered by the fuel pump, but no spark at the plugs.

Two ecu's are fitted to this car, the standard Nissan SR20 and an F-Con HKS, the standard ecu appears to be ok a red neon showing, the F-Con has a gren light showing.

Have been told that this unit in the photo is the problem, then again have been told this is not the problem, have tried a second hand unit in it's place, still no spark.

There is no water ingress into the engine.

Please advise as to what the problem could be.

Thank you Tom

[BSJ]

Have you looked at the crankshaft sensor (sometimes called a Hall Effect Sensor)? If it's not sending the fire signal to the ECU the ECU will do nothing.

[steve187]

make model year of car may help others

[tomtaylor1]

Nissan SR20 DET, age of engine unknown, fitted to XR8 2006.

Auto electrician spent 6 hours trying to locate the fault, his conclusion the electrical unit shown in photo is the problem, but maybe he does not know and given up on the issue and fobbed me off.

Could the cam sensor have become faulty due to water around the starter motor.

Regards Tom

[tomtaylor1]

Sorry RX8, miss typed.

Tom

[stubuzz]

Don't waste money on auto electricians,get yourself an OBD 2 scanner and it will check all of the sensors.

[ClutchClark]

Don't waste money on auto electricians,get yourself an OBD 2 scanner and it will check all of the sensors.

THIS.

The fault code will identify the sensor that possibly just has water contamination. These sensors operate in the millivolt range so it does not take much resistance to affect its allowable range.

Once identified, its possible to blast it with electrical parts cleaner to remove moisture--although it sometimes helps to pull the connection apart a few times to provide a fresh contact surface since the water can create an oxidation (corrosion) surface on the contacts.

[lostinisaan]

Could you please post a photograph of your distributor cap? Would be great to see the inside as well.

I'd check the distributor head for resistance first. Then the sensor. Is the ignition coil outside of the cap?

Having somebody who can use a volt/ohmmeter would be very helpful. Where are you located?

[tomtaylor1]

I am located in Pattaya, this car does not have a facility to connect an ODB sensor, because of the f-con ecu as far as I am aware. I do have a volt/ohm meter, but would not know how to do the check.

Do you think this is a separate issue other than the water ingress and it is just a coincidence this problem occurred at the same time.

Thank you Tom

[ClutchClark]

Tom wrote:

"Have been told that this unit in the photo is the problem, then again have been told this is not the problem, have tried a second hand unit in it's place, still no spark."

Tom, just to confirm you are 100% confident the second-hand, used unit you swapped for is a functional unit?

I have swapped a faulty unit by mistake before and it sent me down the wrong troubleshooting path.

And all vehicles since 1996 have been required to have an OBD-2.

Cheers

[stubuzz]

Do you think this is a separate issue other than the water ingress and it is just a coincidence this problem occurred at the same time.

Thank you Tom

Was it running before it got wet?

[tomtaylor1]

Hi All, I do have an OBD 2 scanner, but am assured there is no where to plug this in to my car, because of the F-con ECU.

The second hand unit I tried in the car was the only one I could find in Pattaya and around, have had a new one on order for a week now from a motor factor shop, but as yet they have not been able to source one. Could this unit be the problem,being the cause of no spark.

The car was running at the time of the flood on Beach road, I was caught by the wash off a bus, the engine stuttered then stopped , then unable to crank the engine with the starter motor, the car was flooded to above the starter motor. One of the big issues with this car is the fact it has 2 ecu's, it confuses and puts people off dealing with it.

Regards Tom

[lostinisaan]

Hi All, I do have an OBD 2 scanner, but am assured there is no where to plug this in to my car, because of the F-con ECU.

The second hand unit I tried in the car was the only one I could find in Pattaya and around, have had a new one on order for a week now from a motor factor shop, but as yet they have not been able to source one. Could this unit be the problem,being the cause of no spark.

The car was running at the time of the flood on Beach road, I was caught by the wash off a bus, the engine stuttered then stopped , then unable to crank the engine with the starter motor, the car was flooded to above the starter motor. One of the big issues with this car is the fact it has 2 ecu's, it confuses and puts people off dealing with it.

Regards Tom

Troubleshooting on an Internet forum isn't easy. But when reading your post now, I'd check the distributor cap. Is your ignition coil outside the distributor cap, or inside?

If you take the distributor cap off, there's a coal running on the distributor's head. Check for black stripes inside the cap. If you see some, please replace the cap.

If your ignition coil is outside, you'll have to check if you've got electricity on # 15 at the coil, which you can easily check with a voltmeter, when ignition is on.

If your ignition coil is outside of the distributor, ( I'm asking as it seems that your engine was modified), please check the spark plug cable that runs to the distributor cap if it has resistance.

Is it possible to take the cap off and make two photographs? One of the cap inside and one of your pick up module.

P.S. What do the spark plugs look like? If they're wet, you won't see a spark. Then you have to check without a spark plug, just the cable.

[tomtaylor1]

Hi, have checked the wires going into the distributor/cam sensor, there is no electrical feed going in any of the 4 wires,ignition turned on, I assume the coil is in the distributor.The distributor cap is clean, no tracking or moister.

Did not do resistance check as do not know wich to check.

Thank you Tom

[tomtaylor1]

Hi All, please find attached images of distributor/cam sensor.

Thank you Tom

[lostinisaan]

Hi All, please find attached images of distributor/cam sensor.

Thank you Tom

Would be nice to do some easy checks now and actually see your patient. I'm pretty sure it's just a little problem, fixed in a few minutes. I'm 600 km away, sorry.

Do you have access to another distributor cap? I thought I'd see a similar cap. Please see photo. ( It's not about the right shape now)

[tomtaylor1]

Thank you All,.

Hi Lostinisaan, thank you for your advise, did some further check's on the car to day, there is no input power to the black box electrical unit which is depicted in the the first lot of thumb nails,ignition turned on, so am I to assume then that this unit may not be at fault after all and the auto electrician is mistaken or fobbed me off.

Wednesday taking a trip up to Chiang Saen, girl friends family live in that part of Thailand.

Regards Tom

[sotsira]

The car was running at the time of the flood on Beach road, I was caught by the wash off a bus, the engine stuttered then stopped , then unable to crank the engine with the starter motor, the car was flooded to above the starter motor.

Regards Tom

Tom, is the engine now cranking without firing up?

or, as you described above, unable to crank the engine with the starter?

[tomtaylor1]

Hi Sotsira, the engine is cranking with the starter motor, no spark at the plugs, have petrol delivery.

The car also runs on LPG.

Thanks Tom

[lostinisaan]

Thank you All,.

Hi Lostinisaan, thank you for your advise, did some further check's on the car to day, there is no input power to the black box electrical unit which is depicted in the the first lot of thumb nails,ignition turned on, so am I to assume then that this unit may not be at fault after all and the auto electrician is mistaken or fobbed me off.

Wednesday taking a trip up to Chiang Saen, girl friends family live in that part of Thailand.

Regards Tom

Auto Electricians in this country are really scary. I've seen a few in Sisaket area, checking if a wire had electricity by holding it to ground...

I'm 570 km away, otherwise it would be a great honor to check that out for you, not wanting anything for it.

But before you're wasting more time and money, please try to find a competent car electrician, maybe with help of this forum, let him come to your place and get it fixed.

There're some bright guys around, who'll find the problem in only a few minutes.\\

Good luck from Sisaket.

[tomtaylor1]

Thank you,Lostinissan, for your kind offer, I am now back in Pattaya and will try again to find a competent electrician, if any one out there can suggest or put me in touch, I would be grateful.

Regards Tom