My new '95 16 valve Sidekick has quit running. The CEL had not been working at all when I first bought the Kick last week. From day one I had a problem with it stalling while driving down the road. It would shut off like someone turned the key off. Then if you tried to restart it, it would turn over but not fire. After 5 minutes it would restart and run fine until it stalled again, a few miles later. My buddy thought for sure it was a fuel pump or filter, so I changed the filter first, no change, still stalled. I then ordered a new Denso fuel pump. While I was waiting for the pump to come, I pulled the ECU to have a look at it. It looked great, all the caps looked fine (no leaking or swelling), no evidence anywhere of overheating. So I put it back in. Then I pulled the instrument cluster to see if my CEL bulb was burned out. It was, so I put in a new bulb. I couldn't do a test start because I had already pulled the old fuel pump. Today the pump came in and I installed it. I put in about 4 gallons of fresh gas and turned the key, I could hear the pump running, I did this several times to get fuel back into the lines. Then I tried to start the car, it cranks, but has not fired up a single time. The CEL is on all the time now. I found the nag switch and switched it. I put in a paper clip to get codes, but all I get is the light is on all the time, no flashing. I have disconnected the battery several times to reset, but just keep getting the same results. CEL on all the time, no flashing, car won't fire. I have not yet checked spark or fuel pressure. Any ideas before I dig deeper?
Another Check Engine Light Question
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The ECU will stop fuel delivery if it does not see spark.
With regard to the CEL, you have to make sure that the little switch is in the correct location for the CEL to work, so, when you put your jumper into the diagnostic connector (making sure you are jumping the blue/yellow to black wired pin) move the little switch to one side, to see if the CEL will flash, and if not, move it to the other side.
As you have all buttoned up with your new fuel pump, see if the engine will start with test fuel sprayed into the intake. If it does, this would indicate that your problem is on the fuel side of ignition. If it doesn’t, then it would be spark/electrical.
If you can get that CEL to flash, then there is something else to try. Put your diagnostic jumper in, and crank the engine, and leave the key in the ON position. Do you now get a code 41 or 42???
All of the above is based on having proper valve and ignition timing. You don’t advise how this car ran, before you encountered problems, but it might be a good idea to do a compression test, to verify the timing of the engine. On your 16v engine, you should be getting about 170 psi on all cylinders (cold engine).
With regard to the CEL, you have to make sure that the little switch is in the correct location for the CEL to work, so, when you put your jumper into the diagnostic connector (making sure you are jumping the blue/yellow to black wired pin) move the little switch to one side, to see if the CEL will flash, and if not, move it to the other side.
As you have all buttoned up with your new fuel pump, see if the engine will start with test fuel sprayed into the intake. If it does, this would indicate that your problem is on the fuel side of ignition. If it doesn’t, then it would be spark/electrical.
If you can get that CEL to flash, then there is something else to try. Put your diagnostic jumper in, and crank the engine, and leave the key in the ON position. Do you now get a code 41 or 42???
All of the above is based on having proper valve and ignition timing. You don’t advise how this car ran, before you encountered problems, but it might be a good idea to do a compression test, to verify the timing of the engine. On your 16v engine, you should be getting about 170 psi on all cylinders (cold engine).
OK, I did some more checking; you said on the 4 pin test connector I need to jump the "blue/yellow pin to the black pin". I may be on the wrong 4-pin connector. The connector I'm on has the following four wires: Solid yellow, black/white stripe, red/green stripe, solid pink. I've jumped the red/green to the pink. So is this right or wrong? Another side note, the car ran very well the first 80 miles I drove. Then the occasional stalling started. Even after the stalling started it ran good while it was running. The previous owner had it for 4 years and did not put a lot of miles on it. Before that a local Suzuki "expert" had rebuilt the engine.
I think you are looking at the wrong connector. Mine is a '91, and has TWO unconnected, four-pin connectors in front of the battery. One has a black rubber cover, the other has no cover. On mine, the one with the cover is the correct one and you jump the blue/yellow to black wired pins. It also has a blue/red and purple wire.
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Wrong connector. If you go to the engine department, you will find a tiny black box with a white locking top, dangling on either 4 or 6 wires. On your car, it may be up by the passenger side headlight (previously is would have been in front of the battery). It’s very small, maybe one inch by one inch. You depress the tab of the black locking top, and inside you will see either 4 or 6 pins. You need to jump the pin that correlates to the blue/yellow wire to the pin that correlates with the black wire. Then, with the key on, the CEL should flash, like morse code. Flash, pause, flash flash, longer pause, would be a code 12. Keep your eye on the longer pause, as Suzuki has kindly made a code 12 and 21, etc.
Alright, I was on the wrong connector, the correct one was a 6 pin connector near the 4 pin one that I wrongly jumped. The 6 pin had the correct color wires blue/yellow and black, so I jumped them and tried to start the car for at least 10 seconds of cranking, (no start), then left the key in the on position. I got a 42 code, Crank angle sensor. I'm not sure at this time what to do about that, but I'll start doing some searches and see where I get. Thanks for the help!
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Good!! You’re making progress. The code 42 indicates a problem with the ‘crank angle sensor’ which is in the distributor. Before you go buying a new one (as normally one just replaces the whole thing) do some testing on the wiring. One of the tests is to use a test light, backprobe the white wire to the distributor, and crank the engine. If the test light flashes while cranking, there is an open in the white wire.
Next you can disconnect the connector at the distributor, have the ignition in the on position, and probe the blue/black wire to ground. The test light should be on. If not, you have an open in the blue/black wired circuit.
Then connect your test light to the positive batter terminal and test the black/green wire. If the light is not on, you have an open in the circuit.
If the light is on, then the crank sensor is faulty. No sense getting a new distributor, only to find that the wiring was the fault to begin with.
Next you can disconnect the connector at the distributor, have the ignition in the on position, and probe the blue/black wire to ground. The test light should be on. If not, you have an open in the blue/black wired circuit.
Then connect your test light to the positive batter terminal and test the black/green wire. If the light is not on, you have an open in the circuit.
If the light is on, then the crank sensor is faulty. No sense getting a new distributor, only to find that the wiring was the fault to begin with.
First, I disconnected the distributor connector and tested the blue/black wire the test light lit up. Then I tested the black/green wire, again the test light lit up. So I plugged the connector back in the distributor and got my wife to crank the engine while I back probed the white wire. The test light did not come on, but the engine immediately started. It is now flashing a 12 code and not 42. Not quite sure why it is running now, maybe the connection to the distributor was not good but when I unplugged it and then put it back in it made a good connection. I still suspect the crank angle sensor may be intermittent, so I ordered a new one to have as an emergency spare, it only cost $23 on ebay. So I'll start driving my new Sidekick and see what happens. At least now I have a working CEL and can get codes if need be. If anything changes, I'll post again to update. Thanks for all your help!
Check the pin fit and corrosion in the connector, get some DeOxit,
![Liquid Fluid Plant Cosmetics Drink]()
spray into the connector and on pins, adjust pin sockets for good drag..
spray into the connector and on pins, adjust pin sockets for good drag..
Update: The Sidekick started stalling again, and some days wouldn't even start in the first place. Today the new crank angle sensor came in the mail. I installed it and so far it hasn't stalled. The code 42 has cleared itself and only getting a code 12, all is well so far. When I installed it I was very careful to mark every moving part with a dot of finger nail polish so that I would not get anything out of alignment. It fired right up and ran great. The Deoxit is in the mail channel should be here in a day or two.
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