firebirdturd

Hi everybody. I bought an 89 firebird project. It had the 305 swapped out for the 350 maf when I got it. Had the battery moved to the rear and a bad starter. Put a new starter in it got it to crank. Found a plug wire off cylinder one. Fixed it. Cranked it over. No fuel pressure at the regulator. No power to the fuel pump relay. The pump fuse has power at the fuse box. I hotwired the pump to the battery and the pump ran. I cranked the car and it won't start because the injectors aren't pulsing. The car has a "165" ecm in it and a hypertech prom ( supposedly a 350 chip). The injectors have power on both terminals of the individual injector connector. Also, the check engine light doesn't come on when cranking. I disconnected the tpi and maf sensors and turned the key on and the light didn't come on then either. Is this normal? I pulled the check engine light bulb from the cluster and it is a good bulb. I'm thinking I have a bad ecm. Also, I know the vats disables the starter, but is there any way it could disable fuel injector pulse on an 89? I also read a thread that there is a connector near the ecm for the injectors that you have to connect to hot when a 350tpi is put in a tbi car. Is this true? I'm pulling my hair out. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. ( almost forgot. I shorted the diagnostic terminals on the aldl conn. and the check engine light DID NOT come on then either) thanks everybody

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

If the injectors are getting power on both terminals, then how do you know that they aren't pulsing? Did you pull the plugs and smell them to see if they are saturated with fuel? Run a quick spark test while your at it, could be a bad coil or module....

John 89 Formula

You said you moved the battery so I'm not sure where you will find it, but there is a 20 amp fuse on an orange wire that should be connected to the positive battery cable. The stock location for the fuse is on the drivers side radiator support,near the top, it supplies power to the ecm, the fuel pump, and a few other things I can't remember right now. Sounds like the fuse is blown or some how disconnected.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

Pass-Key II (VATS) has injector pulse disable....

John 89 Formula

If it was a vats issue the security light would be lit plus it would reset itself after about 5 minutes

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

I never said that is was a VATS issue, he simply asked if VATS had an injector pulse disable, and it most certainly does. However, considering that his SES light does not come on when he jumps both A & B in the ALDL port, nor when he's in the "key on" position, I wouldn't be so quick to rule out VATS, as maybe his security light is also failing to come on for some reason or another, as well....

kcallais

The injector pulse will be disabled by VATS. The ignition is only disabled if there is a VATS module installed on the driver side kick panel. If you turn your key on, and there is no check engine light, you have either a bad prom, ecm, or wiring. If you have a friend with a third gen, borrow their ecm. Or you could spring the 90$ to get a remanned one from autozone.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

Right, this is known as passkey II. GM switched from passkey I because people figured out how to start the car by crossing the posts on the starter with a screwdriver....

firebirdturd

Hey everybody, thanks for the response. I know the battery is in the trunk. I was just providing some info about the car. I know the injectors aren't pulsing because I unplugged them and put a noid light across them. Then I had a friend crank it while I watched the light. No light. The security light does come on when you first key up the car. So I know the light is good. But it does not stay on while cranking. I will definitely look for the fuse that powers the ecm, injectors and fuel pump. I'm just hoping that whoever butchered this car didn't mess that up either. I'll let you guys know what I find. Thanks again.

John 89 Formula

No ses light could mean no power to ecm, you stated that you relocated your battery, did you properly extend and reconnect all the wires that came off the battery cables, the orange wire off the pos+ battery cable supplies power directly the the ecm and the fuel pump relay.

kcallais

Also, you could try checking the 3 fusible links on the starter. I'm pretty sure one of those sends has power routed to the ECM through it. Will be a red colored tube on an orange wire.

Street Lethal

iTrader: (16)

But that's not what you initially said though, unless I misunderstood what you originally said. You said the following....;

Are you referring to the "connector" (the harness), or the injectors themselves? If you meant you checked each individual injector, and they checked out okay, but the ECM still isn't sending a signal through the harness, then that's an entirely different story. Your ECM may be bad, and/or your injector harness might be damaged. Since your security light does in fact work, then you can forget about injector pulse disable. I would pull the ECM and have it checked, not to mention reinspect the former owners wiring capabilities....

firebirdturd

So I got the firebird to run! It was that wire coming off the pos. batt cable had a break in it. Thanks so much john 89 formula! You pretty much hit the nail right on the head and sent me right to the problem. I want to also thank everybody else who posted for the good ideas. I took the car out for a spin and it has some good power to it. The idle is a little loopy, but that might be because the previous owner put a cam in it. (There's no check engine light when running. ) This site rocks and you guys are great!

John 89 Formula

No problem. I had to repair that wire on 2 of my cars. It was the first thing that came to mind when I read your post.