Symptoms of a stuffed crankshaft position sensor on 1JZ?

[Jabtronic]

Just wondering if anybody knows what the symptoms are of a stuffed crank angle sensor (crankshaft position sensor?) on a 1JZGTE?
I'm having trouble starting mine, when cranking it over it fires once then stalls, and then I get error code 14 which is to do with ignition.

It's not the igniter (tried a working one)
It's not the ECU capacitors or ECU (tried 2 others)
It's not the coilpacks (replaced with Bosch coils)

I've had two mechanic mates have a look at it, and they both suggested it's probably something to do with crank sensor. However I don't think either mechanic has worked on a 1JZ before.

I've narrowed it down to a few possible things
Crank sensor
Igniter plugs faulty (am yet to try and fix.. I'm going to ditch my plugs because the pins are stuffed and some broken... so I'll use insulated crimp connectors or solder the wires onto the igniter pins and run 2 new universal plugs instead)
Igniter
ECU
Entire wiring loom (there are alot of soldered joins and twice now I've noticed broken solder connections so I'm willing to replace the whole loom)

I've found this PDF which is part of the manual for the 2JZ that covers the diagnosis and removal of the sensor, I'll try it when I get some spare time.
http://www.wjw.co.uk/Toyota/95%20Sup...%202JZ-GTE.pdf

So I thought I'd post up this thread, hoping that someone can tell me what happens when the crank sensor is faulty? Maybe if anybody is willing they could unplug their sensor and tell me what happens when trying to start the engine? The plug is on the bracket that holds the front turbo actuator.

Cheers

[HAVABEER]

i've just been through some crank angle sensor woes of my own on a 1jz

i was getting error 12 though not 14 and my engine wouldn't start at all, would just sit there trying to crank. this is the thread i started about it:

http://www.toymods.net/forums/showthread.php?t=38950


but it turned out to be this toothed thing (green, cas is just left of it), it came off and wasn't spinning, so the CAS told the ecu not to give spark or fuel. check the wiring around the CAS and make sure it hasn't been pinched by anything or damaged.

[Mos]

Isn't 14 IGf pulses?
(which has everything to do with ignition.... your loom and ignitor plugs sound very sus, and they are related to the error code. I don't know if the bosch coils will affect the IGf pulse but it's possible).
Mos.

[HAVABEER]

Igniter plugs faulty (am yet to try and fix.. I'm going to ditch my plugs because the pins are stuffed and some broken... so I'll solder the wires onto the igniter pins and run 2 new universal plugs instead)
Entire wiring loom (there are alot of soldered joins and a twice now I've noticed broken solder connections so I'm willing to replace the whole loom)

after re-reading and looking up your error code i'd say these two are probably your culprits, especially if pins going to your ignitor are busted?

[Jabtronic]

Ok thanks for the replies, I'll double check the CAS wiring back to the ECU first. Then if that doesn't fix it I'll move on to sorting the igniter wiring.

One of the reasons I was suspecting the CAS to be the problem is because Ribfeast was getting error 14 also when his CAS was damaged.

I had a code 14 when my CAS got smashed and the sprocket was snapped off the timing belt cog.

In this thread

[Jabtronic]

Ok... still no go.

I checked the wiring to the CAS, as well as the resistance of the CAS which were all fine. So prob nothing wrong there.

I've cut off both plugs to the igniter and am running small (good-quality) insulated crimp terminals temporarily to see if the plugs were the problem. I also checked all the wiring to the plugs and they all go where they're supposed to.. EG on the 4 pin plug.. IGF signal wire to ECU, Ground, 12V, IG (-) to the check connector. (As shown in this diagram http://mkiv.supras.org.nz/manuals/engine/ET6.jpg)

And still no go, it still starts then dies straight away. And still brings up error 14.

So then I replaced the spark plugs with new BKR6E's... this made it run for about a second longer before stalling. If I touch the accelerator at all while it's trying to run it dies.
I'm starting to think maybe the igniter or ECU has shit itself only recently..

BUT The only other thing is I installed adjustable cam gears recently (lined them up properly though and they're set to 0) and I've sorta been having these troubles after that. Should I buy a timing light and check the timing?
Argh I'm starting to get fed up with this... the problem is starting to get a bit beyond my mechanical knowledge

[HAVABEER]

have you checked to see if your plugs are actually sparking?

[Draven]

BUT The only other thing is I installed adjustable cam gears recently (lined them up properly though and they're set to 0) and I've sorta been having these troubles after that.

This is a good thing to mention first
Always always always think what has changed since it last worked

I'd also check the CAS "ring gear" trigger thingy - as has been mentioned, it's not unheard of for them to free-spin, meaning that a good sensor still won't get a signal. Not sure if you can squeeze something behind the crank pulley to see if it's free spinning, or might have to pull it

[Jabtronic]

have you checked to see if your plugs are actually sparking?

Yep plugs are sparking. We also used an injector light on the injectors to find they only pulse once or twice when cranking but stop after that.

I'm going to put the stock coilpacks back on tomorrow, just to rule out any chance of the Bosch coils being the problem. I put the Bosch coils on a while back when I was trying to solve a misfire problem I was having. Also I did it because 4 out of 6 coilpack plugs were brittle and damaged. (I actually ordered new coilpack plugs from toyota but they took about 3 months to arrive and so I got impatient)

This is a good thing to mention first
Always always always think what has changed since it last worked

I'd also check the CAS "ring gear" trigger thingy - as has been mentioned, it's not unheard of for them to free-spin, meaning that a good sensor still won't get a signal. Not sure if you can squeeze something behind the crank pulley to see if it's free spinning, or might have to pull it

Problem is I've been having problems getting it to start since day one, but it's basically been so intermittent I can't really relate it to anything in particular. If you look back through my members ride thread on toyotacressida.net you'll see all the troubles I had... and all the times I though I'd fixed the problem (because I somehow got it running) only for it to come back again 1 month later for example. Most of the time I thought it was wiring related though.

Tomorrow I'm going to put the coilpacks back on. Then remove the alternator and take the CAS out for better inspection, I'll see if there's any way of inspecting the gear thingy through the hole.

Thanks for the help so far guys, it's kinda getting depressing that I've had the engine in the car for over a year and it's still not running (reliably anyway).

[HAVABEER]

i don't think you'd be able to get it to start at all if the cog wheel thing was free spinning as i had that issue recently. and i was getting code 12 not 14


you also mentioned that you have solder joins in your loom... where abouts in the loom are they? not earthing out on anything?

[Jabtronic]

All the soldered joins are insulated, they don't short I'm just worried the connections may eventually crack. I tugged on each one though and they all seem fine.

Today I put the standard 1JZ coilpacks back on and also pulled the crank sensor out. The sensor and the gear seems to be ok, I was able to stick my finger in the hole to check the gear and it rotated when I turned the engine by hand.

So I guess that leaves it to igniter or ECU probably... sigh. I did try another JZA70 ECU about a year ago.. but that's ages ago now and I've fixed alot of other things since then.
And I tested another igniter last week but that was with the dodgy plugs.. I'll test it again or better yet test my igniter on another 1J.

The only other thing of concern is my camshafts don't line up with the mark100% when I turn the balancer to 0 degrees. They only sit about half a tooth out though, is this anything to worry about??

[HAVABEER]

being half a tooth out won't stop it from starting up.

but it think it safe to say your should be looking at the igniter or the ECU.

i'd be thinking more the igniter then ECU, know anyone near by with a spare one your could borrow for testing purpose's?

[Mos]

Prostitute yourself to someone with an oscilloscope. It will help reduce the guessing.

[Jabtronic]

Hehe.
Well as of today I think I've finally got the problem sorted. We were testing 1jzjakey's igniter again and I noticed his 1JZ is actually from a JZA70 or similar also (it's mid/rear sump so I previously thought it was from a JZZ30)

So we decided to swap ECU's and as it turns out mine is stuffed.. when I put my ECU into Jakes soarer it wouldnt start etc. Then when I put his ECU in my car it ran fine.

Now I just need to find another JZA70/JZX81 ECU. If anyone has one for sale please let me know
In the meantime I'll try replacing the capacitors again, just incase something has failed there.