I just went thru the horrow show of changing my timing gears and when I buttoned it up I couldn't get any spark. When the ignition is on there is juice at the two wires that go to the coil and I got juice in one of the wires in the connector that plugs into the distributor. The rotor is going round and round.
Can anyone out there tell me where and what to look for?
Thanks
Lloyd

 

What year is your truck and does it have duraspark or tfi ignition ?

TFI has the module mounted on the distributor.

 

On the dist, TFI

 

1991 e-250, automatic

 

Primary coil resistance is between .3 to 1.0 ohms

Disconnect the wiring harness at the coil and measure the resistance at the two connectors on the coil with an ohm meter, if you dont get a reading or the meter shows infinity then your coil is bad.

With the connector back on the coil put a test light to ground and insert the other end into the negative side of the coil connector and crank the motor, the test lite should flash, if not you might have a bad module.

The coil wire that goes from the coil tower to the middle of the dist should have about 5000 ohms per foot.

When you did the timing gears did you leave anything disconnected?

Did any wires get cut or pinched? Retrace your steps, look around and do a complete visual, it only takes one wire or connector not plugged all the way in to cause problems.

Personnally I carry a spare module in my glove box at all times.

Its the first thing that I would suspect, after that if it dosent start then I would follow the diagnosis chart from a manual. There are alot of them and they need to be followed in a certain order to trace down a problem logically.

 

These distributors are good at loosing thier grounds, every once in awhile I'll pull mine, take it apart, clean it up and put new goo under the module. That goo or grease is to help cool the module. Are all the connectors at the battery plugged in? I remember a connector on the ground side of the battery cable.

Good luck.

 

I talked to a friendly auto electric guy yesterday, who suggested I test for spark by pulling the coil wire out of the dist. and holding it near a ground and turning the ign, not, starter, on and look for a spark. I stuck a bolt in the end of the wire, because I didn't think the spark would jump the inch or more thru the wire hood. No Spark.
Before the gear problemwas found, the guy who was diagnosing lack of spark, poked and unplugged everything under the hood, testing things. There is a small rectangular aluminum can with a 3 wire plug going to it. One wire has pulled out of the plug and the circut board popped out when I tried to unplug it. I think it is the resister. The only thing I'm sure of is when the ign is on there is power at both wires in the plug that goes into the coil and two of the 6 wires in the plug that goes into the dist.

 

You want to run that by again ----I test for spark by pulling the coil wire out of the dist. and holding it near a ground and turning the ign, not, starter, on and look for a spark. I stuck a bolt in the end of the wire.---- You have to run the starter and the dist has to turn to get a spark from the coil wire. That is unless it is a Model "T" with four buzz coils. The coil has to charge up and discharge (open the circuit)to make a spark, you can't just hold the wire there and turn on the ignition and expect to get a spark. Having voltage on certain pins really doesn't mean too much as it is the ground side of things that the computer handles to make things work. That small aluminum can sounds like the EEC relay and If that is damaged there will be NO spark. It acts like a main power relay for the computer and the ignition system. When you turn the key on it activated the EEC relay. Where is this object located ????????

Bob/ stractor

 

Behind the grille in front of the battery, next to some kind of module.

 

Sorry , don't have a clue as to what it is and without seeing it and it's actual location , I can't locate it on my ford component pictures. The EEC relay on your van seems to be located on the firewall as near as I can tell from the 92 -E250 component diagram I have. There is an ignition test in the service procedures I have but it takes making a simple test jig .


Bob

 

The ignition coil test lloydbob tried should have worked. (Use sparkplug instead of a bolt). Connect one Ignition wire with a spark plug in the other end, directly to the ignition coil and hold the plug on the engine. It will spark six times per revolution of the distributor. The rotor cap just channels the high voltage spark into the appropriate wire.

 

IceWagon, you are absolutely correct. From his post it looks like all he did was to turn the key on------"turning the ign, not, starter, on ". That will go no where. There is a Ford test,(run-mode spark test) that requires an old condenser and a toggle switch (10amp) and some resistance wire ( could substitute a 1.5 ohm resistor)
this will , when connected as per the instructions , produces a spark at the coil wire when the switch is turned off and on.This tests the primary wiring and coil. It is something like opening and closing the points with a screwdriver ,on an old point type ign system and getting the coil to spark.

stractor