UGH@#$%@#$%#

[Sharpie]

Deja Vu http://www.dfwmiata.com/threads/2182...ght=honda+dies

Only this time it is the miata. About two miles north of where it happened before.

[VFR750]

sounds like you need to avoid that area......

[black roadster]

Deja Vu http://www.dfwmiata.com/threads/2182...ght=honda+dies

Only this time it is the miata. About two miles north of where it happened before.

Sharpie,

Give me a call if you need help diagnosing the problem.

[Sharpie]

Does anyone remember reading anything about the tach going to 0 then coming back up. It did this twice, and I'm not sure if the car actually died or not when this happened.

[trickyrix]

Did you check the battery cables?

[Sharpie]

Yes, I had cables on it trying to get it to start yesterday afternoon, just in case. I can hear the fuel pump and smell it, the starter cranks, but the car just acts like it doesn't have spark. Plan is to try and get home this afternoon then start checking everything.

[Rob®]

Ignitor (PTU) or coil. I'd look at the ignitor first.

im not too far from Flower Mound and could run by with mine to swap in real quick if you want. I'm out of class by noon.

[Sharpie]

I was discussing the ignitor with my dad last night. I'm stuck at work....but appreciate your offer.

[Rob®]

No problem. If you can't get ahold of a known working one, I'm at both UNT campuses five days a week and willing to spend the ten seconds to pull mine if needed. It worked last time I drove my car (Monday).

[Flyin96M]

I'm guessing this could be a grounding problem or maybe even the LINK ECU.

[Rob®]

I'm guessing this could be a grounding problem or maybe even the LINK ECU.

It could be either, but if the tach went to 0 before it died (read: it didn't read 0 because the car died already), it most likely wouldn't be the LINK since the cluster gets its tach signal from/through the PTU, not the ECU. By far the quickest and simplest thing to check is the PTU, which is best done by swapping with a known-good one. Once he rules that out he should dig in deeper if needed.

Usually when the LINKs fail from the typical cause it's far more spectacular than he described here. They will randomly reboot, reboot when you put any pressure on the case (more a 1.8 thing from my experience though, mainly due to the location), they will give crazy readings, or sometimes they will completely lose a tune. Usually is of course the key word.

[Sharpie]

Rob, I really hope you're right, and I appreciate you and BR offering assistance.

Angels on my side, devine intervention, whatever your belief likes to call it, but here's my story for today.

I had called Rogue, Stevan, Miata Solutions, earlier in the day and left a message. My buddy and I were about to leave in his Jeep to tow the car to my house. (probably would've been unsuccessful, but that's another story).

Stevan calls back as we're about to leave Denton. Asks me about an ignitor to test and I tell him the story. He says, well I'm about to drive down 407 with an empty trailer, I could pick it up and take it to my house and we can work on it there. So 45 min. later, my car is loaded up on it's way to his house and I was home in time to put my kids to bed. I'll be headed out to his house to throw his plethera of test parts at it and figure out what is going on. The timing could not have been better, I'm still amazed that it worked out the way it did.

Stevan and his brother Jeff ROCK. Everything happens for a reason and today I feel blessed. As for getting running again, I hope it's an 'easy' fix and get to enjoy my fall top down weather.

THANK YOU Stevan, Rogue, Miata Solutions. I'll be seeing you soon.

[black roadster]

Way to go Stevan!

[Sharpie]

So I went out there yesterday armed with a fuel pump and fuel filter, and we decided to try starting it first. It started and kept running. The only thing Stevan had done was switch out the negative battery cable for giggles. Well, we took that off and used my original, and it still ran. So I drove it home. So was it the battery cable or the LINK ecu. ? I may never know.

[Flyin96M]

I really hate mechanical gremlins like this as you never know when or why. I'd recommend a membership to AAA really worth the money and IMO a necessity when you own an older car.

BTW glad you got it running!

[Nails]

It could be either, but if the tach went to 0 before it died (read: it didn't read 0 because the car died already), it most likely wouldn't be the LINK since the cluster gets its tach signal from/through the PTU, not the ECU. By far the quickest and simplest thing to check is the PTU, which is best done by swapping with a known-good one. Once he rules that out he should dig in deeper if needed.

Usually when the LINKs fail from the typical cause it's far more spectacular than he described here. They will randomly reboot, reboot when you put any pressure on the case (more a 1.8 thing from my experience though, mainly due to the location), they will give crazy readings, or sometimes they will completely lose a tune. Usually is of course the key word.

What is the PTU? The tach went to 0 before the engine died on Rick's car yesterday.

[trickyrix]

PTU = Power Transistor Unit... aka the ignitor unit.

[Rob®]

What is the PTU? The tach went to 0 before the engine died on Rick's car yesterday.

Trickyrix answered what it stands for, but it's a 1.6 thing. The tach going to 0 doesn't always mean it's the PTU (sorry, I'm a Nissan guy, so it's a PTU to me) but it's by far the easiest thing to check when that happens.

Not surprised at all a new cable didn't make a difference. My negative terminal connector is split - the thing is just barely touching my battery post. It's so loose I have to open the trunk and wiggle it to find just the right angle to hold it "tightly" to start the car every few times. My current record for consecutive starts is 5, I usually only get 3 before I need to fuss with the cable. Besides the lack of starting at times, there have been no signs of a bad ground - no crazy sensor readings, no stalling, no bad idling, no tach drops, et al. One day I'll get motivated to replace it (you still have the one Stevan put on for you? I might be interested in taking it off your hands), but for now eh.

Either way, glad you're up and running again!

[Sharpie]

Stevan kept his negative battery cable.

[Rob®]

Thanks.