Red Raspberry

Sounds to me like the idle air control is not working right.

mousepad

friend told me that a faulty Fuel Pump could cause the needle pinging when the pump suddenly shoots out gas. this would also explain why the car doesnt start or bogs down during inappropriate times. any thoughts?



i also suspect the IACV.. might have to replace TPS, IACV and CPK if ever..

Red Raspberry

Just what is the speed needle?

mousepad

sorry, i refer to the speedometer's indicator as the speed needle. didn't really know what to call it so decided on calling it the "speed needle".



Same goes for my RPM needle.

koreancorvette01

The one thing all these sensors have in common is they all need a good ground and if they dont get it you can have feed back or noise in the signals and really crazy sh*t can come of it . My guess is the grounding kit. Make sure you are grounded to the frame and ran a strap from that point the engine itself , just to cover all bases and see what happens . No use buying a bunch of stuff if its just a bad grounding issue.

tib _500

mine was newer as well. does not mean its not bad. my didnt go bad it was bad wiring on mine, not the sensor. swap the cam and crank sensors test it, and cross it off your list man. plus your out no money if its not the problem.



if its not the problem, continue testing by running wire (any size for testing) from you neg battery terminal to a good grounding point on you engine. the hoist hook by your power steering pump is an easy and sure ground.



if this is not the problem continue on by unplugging each of the suspected faulty sensors until your car starts. from my experience my tiburons have started with one of the sensors unplugged at a time. also try the maf during this process ..







Edit: also you know your problem is no fire (spark), so fuel is not going to be your problem(until u re-establish fire and it doesnt start).

Stocker

I almost hate to give you one more thing to check, but the only time I had a set of jumpy needles (speed/RPM) was when the battery was going dead after the alternator stopped putting out juice, and using turn signals or windshield wipers would cause voltage spikes through the whole car, sending the needles flying.

mousepad

thanks for all the help guys! i really owe you all a beer.. or at leas an update regarding the car's status



anyway, did all i can to diagnose the car not having any spark. was able to isolate all probable basic faults but nothing really came of it. i now had to bring it to a proper mechanic to have it checked. turns out that the ECU is busted. mechanic says that the box isn't sending signals to the Ignition Coil hence the lack of spark.



What's puzzling is how did my ECU destroy itself? i know it's electronic and it's an old car but do ECUs really break down "just like that"? i'm suspecting a short due to the grounding kit but mechanic also says that the grounding kit was set properly.



on a side note, i was also thinking of this as a solution while i'm replacing the ECU anyway:

1) Replace my camshafts with the 1.8l cam

2) Replace my ECU with the 1.8 cam



are the 2 extra options i have sensible? i know there are threads out there but wanted to voice my ideas here just to keep the thread organized.



all in all, i'm in need of a new ECU. i'll try to source one from here but, just in case, anybody in the forum have a spare ECU i can purchase? my tib is a 1997 2.0L coupe fx A/T.

Stocker

If you really and truly flubbed the installation of a grounding kit I guess it could have zapped the computer.

wheel_of_steel

A computer that won't send a spark signal isn't necessarily fried! Go to your wrecker and swap out your crank angle and cam sensors before laying out hundreds of dollars for a new computer.