Gotcha, that looks good so far. This says that the module is getting power and can ground the coil properly.

About the only thing left is the pickup module or the wiring to it. Your resistance measurements indicate that the pickup module output resistance is within spec - as a sanity check, you can make sure you see that same resistance between the ORANGE and PURPLE wires on the female connector at the module (it should be the same as what comes from the distributor).

If all of that checks out, then most likely the pickup module is bad, despite having a proper resistance reading. The resistance check simply proves that the winding is physically intact; there's no way to prove it's actually capable of producing a signal without an instrumentation amplifier and an oscilloscope. There are also cases where the resistance will look fine at a stand-still, but opens back up again as soon as the engine heats up or the unit is jostled.

As one more check, make sure the rotor is actually turning as the engine is cranked. In the worst case where the timing chain is gone, the veined armature in the distributor will never actually trigger the pickup.

I'm familiar with that area; I grew up in St. Joe for the most part and lived in Olathe for a while.

 

I thought last night it might be the pickup since I had power going to the module and the module is brand new so I got a pickup coil and started to install it. I never could get the stator (I think) the metal ring with roll pin in it to come off. I read somewhere that you could pry it off with screwdrivers. I tried that and a small gear puller and never got it.

So this morning I installed a new distributor. I marked where the rotor was and installed it correctly I believe. Hooked everything back up and it still wouldn't start. I'm going to check the fuel flow when I get home.

The reason I'm thinking it could be fuel is that after all the attempts and then changing the module it did start and run for maybe 15 seconds. Perhaps it is fuel starved and just got enough after several attempts? I thought it was a good squirt of gas when I looked into the carb.

At this point we are either at fuel or dist cap/rotor. I believe all other possibilities have been looked at or checked.

 

If the test light does not BLINK, the engine will not fire no matter what kind of shape the fuel system is in. The BLINKing is a sign of the ignition module trying to fire the coil. If that's gone, the cap/rotor, plugs, and wires don't matter either. If the test light was BLINKing yet the engine did not start, then yes, you'd want to be looking elsewhere. But you have reported that the test light is not BLINKing.

Is the rotor actually turning?

 

One thing that helps in troubleshooting is try not to add any new variety to what might possibly be wrong. A new distributor isn't a bad idea, but it can complicate things since we have a no start problem. Generally if it ran before but doesn't now, do one thing at a time. Ask me how I know.

Just as an aside it's tricky to measure coils. The primary side is thick heavy wire. They can short between coils, but don't think have seen that.

Usually the secondary side shorts - it has a whole bunch of fine wire. This is more likely to short, and it's really sneaky because it only shows up when things get hot. So, coils really need to be tested when hot (normal operating temperature) and while the secondary will still work with shorted turns, the spark duration is dampened or attenuated. It fires, but not long enough. And also a sign that the coil will probably fail soon. Condensers, too, should be checked heated up good, or replaced if suspect with known good.

They used to use "high frequency coil tester" to spot this, not sure what that was. Maybe keeping a baseline measurement from any new coil would be a good idea, see of things are breaking down inside.

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Sorry I left out some important info in that last post. After installing the distributor, I have a blinking light! Rotor is turning. I tested the gas flow just in case and it is strong.

So at this point what do I test next? double check coil readings? Get the voltage on the blink test/batt side of coil?

Tedster9, I agree I should have done one thing at a time. Patience isn't my strong suit. I originally thought I would just add that coil pickup but since I couldn't get my old one apart, I had to resort to the new distributor.

Thanks for the help so far guys.

 

Your coil is likely fine. Next check for spark the old fashioned way by holding a screwdriver close to the block. You've proven out the primary side; this will check the secondary side.

That's not going to tell you anything.

 

I have spark at the plug. I thought it was weaker than it should be though.

What do I test next?

 

Personally, at this point I would try and start it off ether to make sure that fuel delivery really isn't a problem. If it still won't start that way, I'd be concerned the distributor is off. That's the problem with multiple variables. Maybe it didn't start originally because of a bad pickup; and this time it's not starting because the distributor is off a tooth. That's where the basics come in: you've got spark, and supposedly have fuel (assume you're going based off what the accelerator pump shoots into the venturi's). After that is timing and compression, the latter of which wouldn't have gone away overnight so long as the chain is still there.

 

Sounds good. I may start by double checking I installed the distributor right. In theory though if I was off a tooth wouldn't it still start?

 

Update:
I used a little starter fluid tonight and it didn't work. I have the blinking light so at this point the only thing it could be is that I installed the distributor wrong? I went back over it tonight and moved it to TDC on #1 and then put the rotor at the beginning of that firing position on the cap. Am I forgetting something?

If we make the assumption that I have the distributor in correct, what else could it be?

I forgot to check tonight at the plug wire for spark.

 

It sounds like you're on the right track, but recall that there are actually two cases where the motor is at TDC, and only one is correct for positioning the distributor. You want the TDC where you feel compression in the #1 spark plug hole right before the motor comes up to TDC. The other TDC is the exhaust stroke and you don't want to static time the distributor off that.

I thought you said you already saw spark at the plugs?

 

I had spark at the plugs previously but again I had changed the distributor so if I didn't get it installed right, I might have spark but at the wrong time.

Is there any correlation between the speed of the starter spinning the engine and spark intensity? It sounds to me like the starter is spinning it fast enough but that isn't something I've checked.

 

Just so I'm clear, you do have spark with the new distributor? Important: Are you sure that you clocked the distributor relative to TDC of the compression stroke and not the exhaust stroke? That exact mistake happened in another thread this week.

Spark intensity is not correlated to cranking speed. It's hard to quantify "fast enough" over the internet but the main thing you want to hear is the starter "fighting" to turn the engine, meaning the rungh-rungh-rungh sound that everyone associates with an engine cranking. What you don't want to hear is the starter effortlessly spinning the crankshaft around in a continuous motion, which is a sign that compression is gone altogether.

 

Hear ye, Hear ye all must bow down before the King of Idiots which is me! I'm a moron.

The trouble is not ignition related at all! I got the distributor in correctly with the help of a neighbor who is a heavy equipment mechanic. It still wouldn't start despite having good spark and being in time.

I had checked for gas in the carb when this first started and there was some. I had also removed the fuel line after the in line filter and before it entered the carb and checked to make sure the fuel pump wasn't bad. It had good flow when turning over the motor. So tonight we take off the fuel line right at the carb and no fuel runs out. We again tested the fuel pump and got good flow. I blew into the hose going into the carb to hear if there was air flow into the carb. Nothing. It is blocked. Something in the carb is blocking fuel flow into it. This is the 2 barrel stock 2150 ( I believe that's the number) carb.
I think when I first looked at it initially there must have been enough fuel in the carb to get a good stream when I pulled the throttle and looked into the carb. My neighbor had checked that at the time to and thought fuel wasn't the problem.

So before the head idiot makes any assumptions on what is wrong, please give me your suggestions, tips, etc.

I guess the one good thing I learned is to be more patient, diagnose and not to try more than one thing at a time. FMC thanks for hanging with me.

 

I still haven't got this fixed.

I took the carb off and inspected the needle/seat. Everything looked good. I tok it apart, cleaned it, then re-installed it. It acted like it wanted to start but didn't. Checked the flow before the carb while cranking engine and still have good flow. Out of desperation installed a new fuel pump anyway thinking it may just be weak enough to not start it. it didn't help.

My next step is going to be to run a hose from the fuel pump into a gas can to make sure it is going through. The reason I was going to do this is, when I remove the fuel line to check for flow, it is hard to pull the line off like it's pressurized. Fuel will go everywhere and yet there isn't much in the carb.

Collapsed rubber line? Gummed up filter at the pickup in the tank?

If I pour a little fuel in the carb it still doesn't start though? I still have good spark.