Hi all,

I am new to this site as a member but have been lurking for awhile now.

going to try and keep the back story short but I think it's important to maybe get some help.
I inherited a 95 Runner from my uncle. manual trans, 3.0 which had severe front end damage.
In his honor I found someone giving away a body and chassis and spent the last 3 months swapping literally everything from one to the other.
outside of the front end damage everything seemed to be in working order.
he straight-piped the exhaust, eliminated second o2 senor and eliminated factory airbox.
I put everything back to factory including new cat (yuck CA..)

it runs phenomenal no apparent issues and even went to get smog yesterday.
emissions wise it passed with flying colors.

and here comes the issue.
It failed because the check engine light does not come on... even when doing the timing short.

things I have done:

YES.. I have been a part of forums and I searched here and other places and can't find anyone with similar problem.
Checked bulb - it is good I switched to another socket that does light up and sure enough it lights up.
checked all fuses inside and under the hood.

this is literally the only thing keeping me from plates, tags and getting this back out onto the trails as my uncle would have wanted.

PLEASE help! it's driving me nuts!

 

So to pass inspection they make sure the light comes on when the key is turned on but car isn't started?

 

The bulb is good, so it's either a wiring problem or an ECM problem. ECMs are very tough, so start with wiring.

I assume that you don't get the CEL with just key-on (you should). Use your multimeter to the W pin of the diagnostic connector (that connects directly to the CEL). With key-on, you should get battery voltage to ground. (Try it again with the TE1-E1 jumper) If nothing, try it again right at the ECM (a violet wire, probably pin 5 of connector A). Depending on what you find, you'll have a clue as to where your wire is dis-continuous.

Be prepared to find a code once you get the CEL fixed. There's always the possibility that somewhere in the past someone cut a wire to conceal a code.

 

Correct. And the smog tech should also check for flashing CEL with the jumper in.

Lack of codes is always part of a smog check. If all they checked for was "well, no light came on," then you know what some people would do ....

 

Oh, if they also makes sure the light flashes when jumper is in then I won't suggest taking the cluster out and soldering a wire from another light (like the charge light) that also comes on with the key just to get by inspection.

 

That won't work anyway. The charge light is connected to battery with key-on, and the other side to the alternator L wire. The alternator L wire is grounded, until the alternator produces power and raises the L wire to alternator voltage. When the charge light has positive voltage on both leads, no current flows and it goes out.

You'd have to do a bunch of horsing around to "fake" a CEL. In almost every case, more work than just fixing it.

 

Plus, the entire point of the Check Engine Light is to tell the driver that the system has detected a problem. I would want to know that if my Truck had the ability to.