1987 GTA Turbo still not starting

I had this problem, turned out to be a poor earth on the front fuel pump

but he says there is no spark....

Distributor caps are notorious on GTAs !

Well worth further investigation - shame they're not the cheapest of items but I think you can get pattern jobs from Halfords if you need to save a few quid.

Engine earth strap... (as DG suggested)

Ive already mentioned it but the power feed to the igntion module should be 5v...worth checking...

Like I said, we dont know if there is fuel coming out the injectors yet. Could try a multimeter on an injector plug and test for pulse on cranking..

[Alpineandy]

I think you can get pattern jobs from Halfords if you need to save a few quid.

Alternatively you can get them cheaper from most local motor factors, rather than Halfrauds...

I had a very similar sounding problem, in the end it was the Renix unit (I think that's what it's called) - mounted on the underside of the right hand engine bay shelf in front of the expansion tank.

Also, I did have earth strap problems at another time, but this caused intermittent starting troubles (mainly from hot) - fixed with new straps.

As for the dizzy cap - I have had several on the car, although they get in a terrible state I have also noticed that the car seems to run fairly well even when the dizzy cap looks horrible inside. Does anyone have a permanent fix for this BTW?

Yes, the Renix unit is the ignition module. Best thing to do when the caps do start to get cruddy is replace, as you dont really want any kind of cylinder misfire on a high performance turbo car (and alpines too! )

You can get the caps from most motor factors, the same unit is also used on the BMW 5 series (1990>) and BMW 750/850i

Hi all

Thanks for your suggestions, I will investigate them at the weekend. Just to put you in the picture:

Engine turns over on the starter ok. Fuel pump primes ok for a few seconds on turn of key. Engine does not fire. There is no smell of fuel from exhaust, although fuel is pumping through ok to injector rails(removed pipes and cranked engine over). The red and white wire TDC is brand new (have correctly connected the wires and this has been confirmed by David's Diagnostic unit, did say "ECU not talking" until I swaped wires around!) but still no pulse or spark. Have checked earth for injectors and is ok. Checked contacts and wire in engine bay (the large block next to water bottle, it's an early model and these are prone to rust up) but all seem to be connecting fine. Checked wiring from plug into ECU and all fine. The cap and rota are also new, so are the plugs. Renix ignition unit seems ok too. Starting to run out of patients! Considering offering a reward the the first person who get the damn thing to breath back into life. Will try again this weekend. Looking on bright side, it's keeping the mileage down!

Could the coil have burnt out?

Im a bit confused on the TDC part. Going by what somebody else said in the thread, if the wires were the wrong way round the car will never start. You have now put them the 'correct' way round and still not working, which means how did your car ever run in the past if they were the wrong way round.

TDC sensor, if its out of alingment somehow (if posible) or too far away from the flywheel can affect the signal also...

You said the Renix unit seems ok...so are you getting a spark or not? (re rupert, yes the coil can burn out)

Just realised something on your data readings, may or not be related...disconnect the air temp sensor (sensor in the front of the throttle body) Your reading said 0 degrees which seems wrong (unless you were doing it in freezing conditions!)

I think your going to have to use a good old multimeter and trace continuity of wires of injectors/renix back to ECU. Its going to end up being something very simple. Id check every wire for a short, as the cable sheilding on the older cars gets very brittle and breaks apart.