Still Cant Get Spark
Last edited by donnietruck; Jun 2, 2005 at 04:38 PM.
At the parts stores they sell service manuals that detail these things such as troubleshooting/testing components.
A wild guess on your problem is that the igintion control module may be bad. Apprently these go out a lot. I paid $26 for one the other day.
If no fire, coil may be bad. I don't know much to do with electronic brains. If alt and regulator problems, it should still fire as long as the battery is hot..
When the engine cranks, the reluctor on the distributor shaft rotates past the magnetic pickup in the bottom of the distributor, breaking the magnetic field (hall effect). This sends a signal to the ignition control module, which sends the signal to the coil to fire.
So here are some test you can run. As suggested, first get a Haynes or Chiltons manual, they have good pics and tests. If you have a good digital volt meter you can measure the voltage between the batt (+) terminal of the coil to the distributor base (ground). You should see around 10-12V when cranking, and probably 6-8V when in run. If you have voltage there, you can also check the voltage between the tach (-) terminal of the coil to ground, which should be around 1.5V (if memory serves me).
Then you can check the resistance of the coil from the + to - posts, should be between 7000-10500 ohms. You can also check the + to center post, can't remember the spec but it is in the manual.
If your DVM has a frequency counting setting, which some of the mid- to upper- range ones do, then you can put it across the + and - posts of the coil and watch the frequency when you are cranking. If you are getting a frequency signal (maybe around 500Hz), then your everything in the signal path up to the coil is working. If not, then likely your control module is dead or the pick up in the distributor.
Finally, if you check for spark to the distributor cap and it is good, then check at your plug 1 wire. I had to replace basically my entire ignition because of age, problems, etc... Hope this is helpful.


