83ho86tpi

I have a 86 tpi automatic TA.
I was all psyched to start my new engine for the first time KOEO and my fans turn on & the check engine light flashes at me while the electric connection gadget on the charcoal canister (or that area) makes a clicking noise. This is with Key on engine off KOEO. The IAC sensor clicks also, even with the key out. I did not try to start it because something is obviously wrong. Everything seems to be hooked up. I am guessing I got the ground wires / starter / or wires that bolt to the back of the heads mixed up or on wrong.

What order do the wires go? I am not sure what ones should be bolted together and what ones use the star ground washer, or what side of the wires the star washers go on.


Here are how I have my wires done:
1) starter: 1 small wire going to the small post, 1 black ground wire on the big post, 1 red wire on the big post, 2 red wires with one connector on the big post. I searched around here and that should be correct.

2) drivers side head has 1 bolt total in it holding 2 connectors. Both connectors are made with two wires, the first one has a bigger black wire along with a little black wire. The other has a black white stripe wire and a tan black stripe wire on the connector. All of these wires touch eachother and the head.

3) passengers side head has 2 bolts in it. The bolt closest to the distributor has a connector with a single black white striped wire and then a star washer then the ground to body wire. These all touch eachother and the head. The other bolt has one connector made of 2 wires, a black white striped wire and a tan wire are on that one connector.

Does anyone know how these wires should go on the back of the heads?

83ho86tpi

ok It is when one of the the connectors on the heads is bolted on. The clicking / fan / sensor problems go away when I disconnect it all of them. But it comes back when I try to hook any of them up. Its all the same wiring that worked before.
Any ideas?

8Mike9

Check resistance from pin A to Pin B on the ALDL, seems like Pin A is grounded and you're in diag mode.

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

The flashing SES is teh ecm resetting after a prom failure or some other problem causes the processor in the ecm to lock up or halt.

The grounds sound ok. Each rear side will have dedicated ground wires for the ecm as well as other ground straps. there will also be a bare braded copper wire that grounds teh chassis as well as a large ground strap at the front pass side head. make sure all the ground points are clean, free of rust, and make sound connections.

83ho86tpi

I do not have or remember having the large ground at the passengers side front head.

The only one I have is the bare braided ground that goes from the passengers side firewall to the back of the head.

tonight I will re-clean connection points with a razor and sandpaper to get bare metal.

I could add an additional ground strap or two just for fun.

I will also try to unplug and swap proms.

wish me luck

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

Thats probably why it doesnt work You need to ahve all the groundstraps hooked to the back of the heads. Those are teh grounding paths for the ecm.

Lo-tec

If it is truly a ground wire hooked to the starter, I would think that is your problem.

83ho86tpi

I cleaned and re hooked all my grounds and added a strap to the drivers side head also. still acted up. I unplugged the prom and then put it back in, that fixed the problem last night. This morning when i do KOEO it acts up again. I unplugged and replugged prom and it was fine again. Then I disconnect the ESC jumper wire for timing so I can try and start it for the first time, put the key on and it acts up again I thought I could unplug the esc anytime without having problems?. I assumed it was the prom and tried to start it while it was still acting up but it does not start, I wore the battery out before trying to unplug/replug the prom again. I guess I should not have tried to start it with the sensors ses thing going on, too late now. I have 42lbs fuel pressure and spark was ok (tested #1) Timing was ok i think but I will tell what I did to make sure. #1 drivers side front plug hole gave me the compression puff and I turned the crank a little more till it was at 0. then I put the dizzy in and got the rotor bug pointed twoards the front of the motor a pointing a little more twoards the drivers side between #1 & #8. I have the wires correct according to the plastic cap that has the #s on it and checked drivers side 1357 and passengers 2468. all look good. I am guessing that it does not start because of the ses goofy computer thing or because I goofed up timing.

I will try the unplug / replug prom thing again and try and start it if it acts normal. But for now my battery charger is being slow

I think that big black wire has to go to the starter, it is held in place with a bolted down strap and can not reach anything else.

Lo-tec

Where does the other end go? It cannot be a "ground wire" and be hooked up to the starter; that is where the positive battery cable hooks up.

Edit..also, where does you negative battery cable run too?

83ho86tpi

Oops. it is not a ground, It is a big black wire though!

It goes from the starter to the positive battery cable. The negative battery cable runs to the bottom of the engine. I have them both cleaned and shiny metal for a good connection.

unplugging and re-plugging the prom does not fix it anymore. I will try another prom to make sure. If it still acts up I dont know what to do besides yanking all the wires out and check em all against a wire diagram.

83ho86tpi

my other prom did not work at first, it acted up with the ses and sensors / fan like it had been doing before, then after 10 seconds it went to normal. So I tried to start it, it seemed close to firing but the computer ses / fan / sensors thing started again, I only got 3 minuites of normak operation. Now it acts up with either prom. Im afraid I fried both proms, but I am pretty sure it is not a prom problrm because both proms worked fine prior to this.

Could it be the ECM?

I would hate to waste 100$-200$ on a ECM if that is not the problem, or fry it.

Also, the positive battery post got hot when It started acting up with my other prom. I disconnected it and reconnected it and it was fine (not hot) but the fans, relays / sensors still clicked.

Here is a picture of the passengers side head ground strap and wires. I used a ohm meter to check the ALDL circuit. I hooked a aligator clip (the thing in the picture that says china)to one of the wires (I did not seperate the wires, so they all were still touching eachother). and the other wire to the top right terminal on the diagnostic port (A9?) The circuit was complete, just like touching ohm meter wires directly to eachother. I got no reading from the bottom left terminal port.

What do you guys think??? Bad ECM or bad wires????

8Mike9

I don't see "china" in the pic?

Anyway, disconnect the harnesses from the ECM and test A to B(ground) again, if still a short, then it's in the harness, if not, most likey in the ECM

83ho86tpi

I have a wire problem for sure. I have this same thread in electrical, I will keep it there now. My wiring seems to be mixed up at the ECM but I did not touch it or change anything before. It also worked fine before. Please reply to my post in electrical if you have a ECM diagram for 86 tpi trans am. I would like to compare it to my diagram. I need to see C-1 to C-16 and D-1 to D-16.