Ok guys, I did the search and did find a couple of cases where people had similar problems as I.

I first think you should know a few things about the car.
95 5 speed.
Battery relocated to trunk
Turbocharged custom like - standard forged crap and run 11 psi daily with a 14b.
AFC - no blue wire mod for me - I have never had any real problems with it, all conections are soldered and it reads normal.
I have the standard gauges - egt/af/boost.
Nothing else special engine/electrical.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that this just started after my motor fuse was blown at an autox event. Due to that stupid silver resitor thing that is bolted to the valve cover (driver side)grounding out. I have since taken it off the car completely. I just unplugged it. I still have it but it seems to only get power when the car is actually running.

First: Car will randomly die. I don't do anything but wait, and it will come back on. Usually about 7-10 min.
Symptoms: No Check engine light on keyed ignition.
Tach/Speedo both die totally. I can't hear the fuel pump going, or any relays clicking to turn on the ignition and fuel. (you know the two Im talking about, they live on the drivers side firewall). Any way to check if these are perhaps not working? Although I don't think its them.

I first thought it may be a low voltage from the battery, but the battery checks out ok. Solid 12.6 volts all the time.
I also checked the routing of the wire, all good there no breaks or bare spots in the main wire at all.

Checked all grounds, all good.

I checked the cam angle sensor and the crank sensor next(as was listed in several instances as problematic). Both check out ok. I tried to pull on them with car running, nothing , put leads to them to see if they get power, all good.


Next I decide to see if the motor fuse holder was bad. (since unpluging this guy will give you the same result as above described). All look ok there, good voltage to all.

Today i have the car running, and I sit in it, push in the clutch and she dies, (mabey a wire is being hit by the pedal- I wish it were so simple, I checked every place the damn thing hits and nothing gives there). Anyway so now the car is dead.
I check the motor fuse for power. Nothing. I check that whole BOX for power at each fuse and relay. Also nothing, then all the sudden. Click all come back! Very strange indeed, since I did nothing at all to make this happen. Time period for this was about 7-10 min.

My next thought was my car alarm. I did not install it, so I have no idea if its this or not, I'm afraid to just unplug the damn thing as the car may never start again!. This could be it??? Anyone have any thoughts here?

My next thought is the ECU. Mabey its just had its day? Any way to check this? If you all think this may be the problem, I saw pushing420A has a 96 ecu up for grabs, would it work on my 95? I have heard they differ a bit. What is different, I have no clue. I just heard that they are.

Im tired of checking wires only to find everything in order. It appears that the computer or a relay, is A.either not getting power, or B.not turning the power on to the system.

I would really appreciate any feedback from you all. Good, bad or ugly! I'll try anything at this point.

TIA
Kevin

Kevin
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That sounds like the problem I had when I accidently unplugged the negative cable from the battery and sat it down, HITTING the positive side. I heard the usual pops from touching positive and negative, and the round connector to the negative was fried. It was doing the same thing that is happening to yours, after I hooked everything back up. Random dying and not starting. I replaced the battery, and both positive and negative terminal rings, and she never had that problem again. Don't know if that helps, but it turned out a battery cell was about to go out because of my mishap.

clean the posts and connections on teh battery...my battery, too, is relocated to teh trunk and i had this same problem...I jus got new terminal rings and cleaned the posts and i haven't had an issue again.

Does it seem like your car is about to die everytime you recess your clutch?? I have that same issue.

Yea I don't think its the connectors, they are brand new. Why would a bad cell in the battery cause the power to not engage to the ecu and give power to the rest of the car?

I will take the battery up to wal-mart and see if I can get a replacement.

No its not when I step on the clutch. Totally random.

Anyone else bump bump bump.

Kevin
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not the battery itself...i'm talkin the connections and terminals n stuff...i gave mine a nice cleaning and made sure all was nice n spiffy...My guess is that there was a lil bit o junk on the metel not letting the current connect...which would reset teh ecu since it had no power.

I'm thinking not, I took all my readings from the main line that connects to everywhere. I'll replace them (the connectors) today and give it a whirl.
There is power to everything but the ecu. Radio, lights, windshield wipers etc. Not bad power either, 12.6 volts continuous.

Kevin
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Bump

Kevin
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bump bump! Help wanted guys!

Kevin
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Hey Kev, glad to hear you upgraded your pistons long ago. I know the one I sent you didn't last long. Anyways check your engine wiring. Check every inch of it to make sure there are no exposed wires grounding out.

intricatelines.com/ -graphics and vinyls

"Tell them of us and say,
For their tomorrow,
We gave our today."
-- The Kohima Epitaph

Yea I have went through the hole loom that goes to the ecu, or I should say from the ecu.

Kevin
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Do you have access to an additional ecu?
Sounds like that could be the case.

Nice to see you around every once and a while.

Nick
97RS

turbo8u> shut your SUCK
ZAO684: NIPPLE warning...maybe>?
turbo8u> yea i was a window licker on the short bus in junior high

Im trying to get a new one now. I'm guessing its the ecu as well. I wish there were some way to test it, but I don't have access to that sort of diognostic tool.

Kevin
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Well from bad to worse now, car won't rev past 3000 rpm, sounds like its getting fuel cut. rev cut rev cut rev cut, i hate my car!

Kevin
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I have kinda of been there. After further investigation it does seem like the capacitor on the side of his engine block shorted out and fried the ECU/PCM. Hopefully a new one is in order here. Also, does anyone know where the capacitor is on the 97-99' models? We checked under mine and after just a quick glance we couldn't locate it.

Yea brian and I tinkered with it for a while last night before I just gave up. While its down, im going to rewire ALL my electrial aftermarker componetnts. Minus the stupid car alarm, I have no clue on that freaking thing.

Kevin
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one way to check if the ecu is fried, when you turn your key , all the lights in the cluster will turn on and off, if your cel doesnt turn on and off then the ecu is fried...if it is fried, check to see what coulve done it... i had some guys who were trying to rebuild my motor a while back and completly messed up my car and fried my ecu... turns out they swapped my coil pack plug and put it on my crank angle sensor... and vice versa..

also, you said that your car wont rev past 3000, had the same problem a while ago, mine was a bad ground... check everything again....

i hope you find your problem man...

Have you checked your power wires at the starter? The power comes in from the battery to the starter, from there it feeds most of the car, lights, wipers radio and what ever else. You must have a breakdown in the wire(s) leading from the starter to the cars electrical system. That is really one of very few problems that would cause the problems you have. You need to do a resistance test on the wire/wires. Im not sure off hand how many lead off the starter to the rest of the car, but you need to trace them all out. They can corrode under the wires insulation and you may not be able to tell if you wer'nt sure what you were looking for.
Peace

ASE certified master auto technician

Funny you should mention the starter wires, I just re wired those. Unfortunatly the starter is getting pleanty of juice. Car cranks like normal. As stated above the cel goes totally dark, as if you had pulled the fues labeled 'motor'. Then its just a matter of time till the damn thing wants to start again.

All the testing I did gets a good voltage read to all the fues/wires.

Just an fyi: I hate my car now.

Kevin
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You said you get 12.6 volts. Is that with the car on or off? If it's 12.6V with it running, you're alternator is going bad.
Just another idea...

No it gets like 13.xx (hight end of that) with the car running. As far as I know the alternator is working fine.

Kevin
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Just for the hell of it, is it possible to unplug the alarm for a little? Maybe your alarm has some sort of shutoff switch on like a automatic car starter when you hit the brake. Maybe the guys that hooked it, hooked it up half ass to the clutch somehow and it only works now and then.

It really sounds like youve narrowed it down to two things or a bad ground. If above doesnt work, I'd try an ECU. I dont think the computers are compatible, somebody correct me if Im wrong. I have a 96, and I was told "Do not buy a 95 ECU". So Ive been going off that statement.

Good luck man, hope you figure that out

DJ

There is a large plug that goes into the alarm main box but i have no idea what the hell it would do if i unpluged it. I guess things couln't get much worse!

FYI I still hate my car!

Kevin
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Don't touch the alarm. Ok give this a try: next time it goes off, take a wrench, and beat on the ecu with it. If it clicks back on within a few "good" hits, its your problem.

what other wires are on your alarm? do you see a plug and a relay? or just the alarm module itself? if its got the relay, it'll have a starter kill on it, car wont start with the alarm armed... but i can say this much, your alarm is probably not the problem... i mean, you can check for shorted wires, or if you do have the starter kill, the realy might be bad but it wont make the car die randomly...

keep trying man

I have an ecu on order now (thanks talonspeed), as well as an IAC motor (thanks pushint420a). I'll try the beating on the ecu thing. Just for kicks now.
I also ordered an EGR block off kit to assure that the stupid egr pipe no longer is in my way.

Thanks everyone for your help here.
RxR

Kevin
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Well, I think I found the culprit. One of the wires that was in the loom that goes to the IAC, was bare from the egr tube(yes we all hate that tube). I still can't get the car to rev past 3500 RPM though . I don't knwo yet what is causeing that. Mabey plug wires? Doubt it, It started doing this right after its last incedent where it died randomly(most likely the ecu). I have the car now so it will start, and idle rev to about 3500 then its like a rev limiter.

Kevin
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what did i tell yah?

intricatelines.com/ -graphics and vinyls

"Tell them of us and say,
For their tomorrow,
We gave our today."
-- The Kohima Epitaph

Yea I know. Im totally re-wireing my ride now . Sucks but has to be done.

Kevin
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yep i had an incident long time ago that my car would just shut off and turn on all of a sudden...the problem...that damn EGR pipe melted my wires...most of those wires come from the PCM and which leads to mostly everything. so there you go good find!

Yes that stupid pipe was the culprit. Last night it just died again. This time I tried the 'hit the ecu with a hammer trick' and it actually worked!. I'm glad I have a new ecu on the way. I just hope it gets here before the end of the week, as I have an auto x on sunday!.

Kevin
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Yeah that tric usually worked for me, but it got to a point where beating the shit out of it wouldn't work any more so I had to buy a new ecu, $50 off of ebay.

Well the ecu arrived today. It seems to be working ok on the dying randomly end, but I still can't get the damn thing to rev past 3200 rpm. I'm going to try to change with new plugs tonight. Its really pissing me off here!
Good news is the A/C started working again. So i guess that confirms the ecu being totally fried.

Kevin
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My 95 Eclipse did the same shit man ,,, its def the ecu.. 95s had a problem with em i guess

www.cimotorsports.net

Just wanted to update you guys on this one.
Car is now running better than ever (a/c and all). I can't tell you what wires were bad, but I replaced near all of them, and now she is working great. I'm guessing that the loom (one under the damn egr pipe) had a wire that was prob broken or about to be broken (tps is my guess). Anyway Thanks for everyone here that contributed to fixing my car. Looks like I'll be able to make the auto x event tomorrow after all.
Again Thanks for everything guys/gals.!
Kevin

Kevin
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