Hi guys, Ive recently got a fairly decent tp of a mate for 500 bucks. Its metallic blue and has efi, 5 speed and 180,000kms with new cv joints. Clutch is on its way out methinks. anyway its had a few ignition problems like at high revs it stutters sometimes but i think this is all related to my magor problem. Anywho, my main fusible link of the battery fried the other day, only i thought it was smoke from a fire in town that i was smelling... the smell went away and she was fine except the battery light came on every now and then... well the other day i was driving and put put put ALMOST died but i made it to a mates... thank god cos i cant start it. I bypassed the fusible link only to get dash lights and crank but no starty starty. have i fried my ecu? or is my dissy cable playing up... any help would be much appreciated as i work night shift and NEED a car to get to work...:ninja:

have to make sure you have spark to the plugs
if not
ecu is on the passengerside kick wall

a short like that may have blown other fuses
or the ecu

The fusible link would not have burned out without a reason. There must be a short circuit somewhere. You need to find and fix it because (a) it may be the cause of your problem and (b) as the protection of the fusible link is now bypassed, it may cause a fire.

The battery light coming on and off is usually due to a faulty voltage regulator in the alternator. To be more precise, the brushes wear down so short that they only make contact intermittently. It is possible to just replace the brushes but, having tried that, it is much easier and more likely to be successful if you replace the whole voltage regulator. The aftermarket ones cost about $40 on eBay. The originals can be upwards of $90 and that was ten years ago.

Having said that, the voltage regulator doesn't affect starting so it won't be the cause of your starting problem unless the battery has already discharged so much that the starter can't turn the engine over fast enough. You'll need to fix it though or you will be stranded when the battery does go flat which it soon will. I'm assuming you re-charged the battery at your mate's place.

Check whether you are getting spark at the plugs. If not, your dissy cable, dissy cap, rotor button, coil lead and plug leads are all worth checking. If you have spark, check the fuel pump. Don't worry about the ecu yet. They are very reliable and easily checked (built-in diagnostics). It is more likely something very simple.

fusable links are funny things. they are designed to blow within 15 seconds of their rating being exceeded but when they are old the rating drops. sometimes they just go for no reason but to me it sounds more like there is a major problem if smoke was related. could be that the alternator was seriously overcharging or there could be a short somewhere.

to me the mysterious battery light seems like the alternator had issues. maybe the reg was stuffed and severely overcharged the battery and in the process fried the fusible link.

first test for spark and injector pulse. the best way to check injector pulse is to use a long screw driver, with the blade against the injector and the butt against you ear listen for a pulse while someone cranks the engine. if it has neither spark or injector pulse look for a blown fuse both under the bonnet and in the dash fuse box. your better checking with a multimeter or test light then by sight.

ide say the breakdown at high revs is totally unrelated to this problem unless it did overcharge and the ecu has fried its self. but in saying that if the regulator on the alternator was bad at high engine revs the output voltage of the alternator would spike and that could play games with the ecu. ide disconnect the alternator cables and test how many amps are drawn through the ignition with no accessories (headlights, fans ect). be careful tho as some unfused multimeter will go up in clouds of smoke doing this. best to get a large scale analog meter.

the manuals first gens especially are great cars, mine keeps on going, but as with anything at this age electrical gremlins are a problem. mine had a short for years with the previous owner. turned out to be a door light cable in one of the back doors that shorted out when the door was open past 3/4 wide. use to do all sorts of things but after about half an hour i found it and been great ever since.

anyway ill jump off the soap box, let us know how the tests go.

regards jay

the regulator on your altinator is probley cooked the fuse did it to mine plus the cable size is not really big enough for the amprage.

funny when i started writing there was no posts but by the time i finished and actually posted it there was 2 others lol. i must be slow!

I checked all the fuses... they seem ok but i dont have a multimeter yet.. it was siting at a mates for ages and i towed it back to mine with the jackeroo ive been using... but I really need to get this thing fixed soon as i cant keep using this fuel guzzling 4x4!!! I drive 50kms one way to work!!!! if it helps My clock and CD player are gone aswell, but the clock fuse seems to be fine... ill take some pictures and upload them

I checked all the fuses... they seem ok but i dont have a multimeter yet.. it was siting at a mates for ages and i towed it back to mine with the jackeroo ive been using... but I really need to get this thing fixed soon as i cant keep using this fuel guzzling 4x4!!! I drive 50kms one way to work!!!! if it helps My clock and CD player are gone aswell, but the clock fuse seems to be fine... ill take some pictures and upload them

as stated above check if you have spark first .

Nup no dice, no spark at all... WHY??? what did i do i my past life lol?? i checked the dizzy it looks ok...

only suggest you sorce a s/h ecu

location passengerside kick wall
level to the glovebox

Hey thanks for all the help... how do i get to the ECU? do i have to take the dash apart?

no it in the left hand side foot well about the same hight as the clove box two 12mm bolts

Nup no dice, no spark at all... WHY??? what did i do i my past life lol?? i checked the dizzy it looks ok...

Check the Ignitor near coil.