R32 GTR Cranks but won't start after RightDrive BNR34 coil conversion install

[Armanio]

Hey guys,
I'm stuck.
I have triple checked all of the wiring and it is hooked up as per Rightdrive's instructions.
From 3pin ignitor harness, white is power to new harness' power, ground new harness' ground, black w/ red stripe of 3pin is taped off.

The rest of the individual cylinder signal wires are matched up accordingly to the new harness.

The car ran fine before this except for the occasional misfire at high rpm (hence getting this kit), and has always started/is very healthy.

When I try to start the car I can hear the injectors while the car cranks and cranks, not even a couch of ignition though.
Pulling a plug to check for park there is no spark when grounding the plug.
I cannot see any blown fuses, engine bay on the plenum side as well as the kick panel inside.

Halp!

Thanks in advance.

*edit* ECU is giving me a code 21 - ignition signal and that's it *edit*

[Armanio]

Checked ground at the connectors to the coils and I'm getting 604 ohms. 12v power to each connector. Nobody has any ideas? The car was running that day, did the swap and now she won't start, just cranks and cranks.

[Cuami]

Sounds like the igniters in your coilpacks are fried. Seems odd that that would happen right after doing your harness though...

Check that all connectors are making full contact, then check that your spark plugs are functional and correctly gapped, and then check your coils.

[caliber676]

I will be watching, I have purchased this kit as well but have not installed yet. Highly doubt the packs are fried as they are brand new

[louis110]

What happens when you put your old coils back in?

[caliber676]

Won't fire as the pin outs are different and the r34 coils have internal ignitors vs the r32 external ignitor pack

[Cuami]

If he didn't switch over to R34 coils... Then that would be the problem...

Armanio?

[Armanio]

Hey guys,
I resolved the issue.
Here's what's up: the instructions tell you to attach the ground from the factory 3 pin harness to the new harness' ground pin. In my car anyway, this did not provide an adequate ground for the new coils.
What I did to fix the issue:
Attach the kit as instructed by right drive except for the ground wire (black wire from factory 3 pin harness, instructions tell you to pin it to position #1 of the new connector)
Instead, take the ground wire from the factory 3 pin connector (black wire) and ground it to the chassis/block/head (I used the strut tower as I have a ground for other stuff there).
Take the ground wire from the new wiring harness provided, and ground it to the same point.

You will also notice that there is a ground wire with a ring terminal that comes from the factory 6 pin connector harness, that comes grounded to the factory ignitor. I grounded this ring terminal to the head via a coilpack bolt.

After doing this, the car fired right up. It would seem that the factory ground through the harness has too much internal resistance to allow the amperage required for the new coilpacks. I am not sure if this is unique to my car or not (PO may have done some interesting wiring?)

Either way, I talked to one other person who installed this kit and they struggled with the same issue, and it took them several hours of messing around with the grounds to figure out a way to get it to work.

Also, I should mention that rightdrive was pretty good at getting back to me to help troubleshoot the issue, so I am definitely happy with their customer service.

Caliber, let me know how your install goes, and if you run into issues, pm me if this post isn't clear enough. I'll take some photos to add to the thread this weekend because I hate unresolved threads.