Car 1999 GS 5 speed

I took off the negative batery cable installed new of sensor, before cat, and hooked up battery and then this is what happened.


Problem no spark. Car turns over and over. No check engine lights


Solutions so far...

tested old coil and tried new coil....both okay
new cas...ok
the other sensor on back of block..sorry brain fart can't think of the name right now...tested ok
battery..ok
new ecu... ok
test asd fuse...ok
checked wiring harness for shorts...ok

Any other things I should look for...I'm running out of options.

The rear O2 sensor should have nothing to do with the car running or not. Was the battery disconnected when you did the swap? How do you know the ECU is okay? How did you test for spark?

Yes the battery was disconnected before the swap. I tested for spark by taking a new plug and testing it to a point, metal, on the car. I know the ecu is okay b/c I just bought one reman. It could be that the reman ecu is bad too, but I thought i might be missing something else.

Just wanted to check on how you checked for spark. You didn't mess with the timing belt at all, did you? The only other thing I might suggest is finding someone around you with the same year car as you and try swapping ECUs for a couple minutes. Sounds like a poseur to me, man.

I'll see what I can find. Can the dealership check your ecu to see if it's good. I think I read somewhere that they can, but I could be wrong. Don't want to tow the car 30+ minutes if I can just take the ecu up there.

..and no I did nothing with the timing belt.

Thanks agian for the help.

if your computer was bad, the car should still start...me thinks (at least from my experiences w/ my dead computer) but once it starts and warms up it would run like crap. do you have power to the coil? did you check your fuses? you may have popped one when you were messin around w/ the battery.

Sanity's Eclipse

I have power to the coil and all the fuses have been checked inside and out.

Everything still checks out okay. I have recently taken it to a shop and they are going through the whole system...same problem. They can't figure out what is wrong. I am going to try another computer, if I can find one and then check my fuse box under the hood. I think it might be shorting out?? It's a long process but I'm sure to figure something out.

well if you got power, ground and a reference signal to the coil then there is no reason for the car to not start...unless theres NO spark plug wires on it or the wires are grounding out before they hit the plugs...which seems to be a common problem with the 2.4's found in the dodge stratus.

did you check the crank sensor or the knock sensor when you said you had the brain fart and couldnt remember which sensor you replaced on the back of the engine? cuz if the crank sensor is no good, then you'd not have a reference signal...

Sanity's Eclipse

I checked with new spark plug wires and new plugs too. All sensors have been checked by me and now the shop. All sensors check out fine.


I'm starting to think it might have something to do with the fuse block in the engine bay. Maybe a short in there?? I am waiting to hear from them and see. I'll keep this updated.

thanks for all the suggestions so far.

what kind of condition are the engine grounds in. cuz if you have power ground and a reference to the coil, then it should be discharging. then from there the only way i can think is that maybe the engine ground is bad, cuz that voltage has to make it back to the battery somehow. maybe that dumb little capacitor that sits above the starter on the side of the block is screw'd up.. . this is starting to confuse me.

Sanity's Eclipse

The engine grounds looked good to me.

It confused me too so I took it to a shop. I should find something out today or tomorrow. I am going to talk to them today and tell them about the grounds and see what all they, if anything, have found. I will also tell them about the capacitor and make sure that gets checked too.

maybe have them take off the ground and actually inspect it...ive seen cases where the ground passes visual inspection, and then i spent hours chasing my tail...only to find that the same ground i had looked at earlier is corroded and wasnt providing a good ground. but lemme know what that shop says

Sanity's Eclipse

I went to the shop last night and they said they have checked all the grounds and that he found a couple of loose wires, he didn't say where and I didn't ask, that he thought would fix the problem but to no avail. We are still trying to find another computer out of a running car to make sure it's not the computer. He tried the reman. computer, but like you said it could be bad too. So we are still looking...

Take a volt meter and verify your getting 8 volts coming out of the ecu for your cam and crank position sensor. Then verify AT the sensor your getting the same. I had 8v coming out of the ecu but not getting to my crank sensor thus a short in the line, somewhere. I reran my own line right off the harness and the car fired right up. I believe the blue wire w/ white stripe at each sensor should be getting your 8v +, if memory serves me correctly.

400whp or bust.

I will call the shop and let them know and see if they have tested all the sensors that way. If not it will be off to the dealer$hip tomorrow.

First off I want to say thanks to those who responed.

Now with that being said here was the soultion. After having everything checked by me, the shop and checking everything suggested on here it turned out to be a bad ECU caused by the 02 sensor. Either I wired the sensor wrong, it was a universal, which I doubt b/c I have checked it a 1,000 times or the directions were wrong that were in the box? After I received the first ECU and plugged it in along with the 02 sensor the car still would not start. Thankfully the shop fought long and hard and got them to replace the first ECU. When that came in, last week, they unplugged the 02 sensor and put in the new computer....the car fired right up. I have now ordered a new 02 sensor form mitsubishi and waiting for it to come in so I can plug it in and see if that was the cause. So for now I have my car back and running and keeping my fingers crossed that the new 02 sensor won't do the same as the universal.

when the new 02 comes in I will post again to tell anyone who cares if it worked or not.

Thanks again!

I received my new O2 sensor in Friday and all is well. Plugged it in and kept my fingers crossed and everything works and my car still runs. I guess it could have been the wiring job, but after looking at the directions again and checking all the connections I know it wasn't in the wiring. Maybe dumb luck this all happened at the same time? The main thing is it's back up and running.

Thanks again to all those who helped!

Yep, I had the same problems... check the cam sensor on the side of the engine... or the crank sensor just above the oil filter... Replacing both sensors are like $60 total... but check the clips to make sure both are plugged in first! Good Luck!