Guys, this is driving me nuts. A buddy came up to go fishing and his truck died in the Burger King drive thu just like he turned off the key.

No spark at all. Test light is solid (no flash) at the tach lead on the coil.

Ran through all the troubleshooting steps in the Haynes manual and everything checks good - with the exception of not having any spark

ICM checks good at O'Reilley's and all voltage to the ICM checks good.

Coil checks good and I tried one off of another motor as well.

No spark with or without SPOUT jumper.

Voltage for PIP and SPOUT at the ICM connector check OK also - although with a digital meter the readings do jump around quite a bit.

No codes other than some EGR codes (62 and 33)

From what I could find on other threads it looks like the general advice in these situations is to change the PIP.

I've got the PIP and am getting ready to put it in - any other suggestions to check in case that doesn't do the trick?

Thanks!

Branden

 

If you have no pulses at the Tach lead then it is most likely a PIP problem. You could try momentarily grounding the Negative side of the coil, you should see a spark at the coil or plug lead. Then you know the coil really is good, but I suspect it's a bad PIP.

 

Thank you! My buddy and I both have more time than money so I pulled the distributor out of a rebuilder motor I've got and we'll put the new PIP in it and see what we've got. I could just try the other distributor, I suppose, but I'd much rather use good parts than unknowns for testing.

Thanks again for the info!

Branden

 

Many of the "rebuilt" distributors were not fully tested, so they tend to have the same failure mode.

 

New PIP installed and same problem - truck's deader than a hammer....

This is truly aggravating since everything else tests good.

Any way to take the ECM out of the equation to see if it's a problem with it?

The only other thing I can come up with is that the parts store misdiagnosed the ICM as good but I doubt it since it's a simple check.

 

Pull the SPOUT connector. That should take the PCM out of the equation. The ICM can be a pain to test, but the testers at the stores are usually pretty good. Assuming the parts counter jockey has some idea of what they are doing.

If you do the momentary grounding procedure, that eliminates the PCM for sure. If the grounding does not work you are missing something very basic such as voltage in, and a path to ground.

 

Thanks for all the help - turned out to be the ICM. Yanked the one out of my truck and tried it just to second guess the counter guy test and she fired right up.

Thanks again!

Branden

 

So the parts counter jockey did fail the test! Glad you found it.

 

BKS72- Did the engine ever fire at all or would it not start at all? They tested the ICM at the parts store and said it was good, but it really failed? I'm kind of in the same boat right now.

 

No fire at all - she was dead as a hammer. Counter guy said it checked good but when I pulled a known good ICM out of my truck and put it in my buddy's truck it started fine. Hope that helps!

Thanks!

Branden