So, after doing my 3g swap and having other issues arise, everything is now in working order... Sort of....

My coil is receiving power and creating spark at all times that the battery is hooked up. Only way to get the engine to stop is by pulling the coil wire off the rotor or coil. On the plus side its giving me great spark!!!

I replaced the ignition switch to no avail, the problem is still persisting. Even disconnecting the alternator, ignition plug and the ecm plugs, its still providing spark. Disconnecting the coil stops the spark but I'm still getting power down into the coil plug.

My first assumption is that due to the P.O. (son of a....) "Rewiring" some items that something is crossed somewhere? But, my theory on that seems to fall apart with the fact that this hadn't started happening until after the 3g swap.

When the battery is connected it pulls quite a bit of charge off the battery pretty quickly.

I am going to find a section of good harness at the junk yard to replace the hack job at the coil/distributor. Not sure where to start looking after that though if the problem still continues.

Thanks for all your help.

 

Here is some copy and pasted troubleshooting that involved fellow FTE member FMC, that I hope might help? Maybe mikeo0o0o0 can chime in and help?

"Some of those earlier models had a starter solenoid with 2 small terminals one should say I ignition and the other be stamped with an S, that way the coil will get power while cranking and power will stay when the key is released. Use your DVOM and check for power to the coil with just the key on. They used resistors of some sort to cut the voltage down at the coil after cranking, and during cranking you should get a full 12.6 or somewhere about. Once the engine starts the resistor cuts down the voltage to 10-12 so you don’t burn out the coil. You need to trace the wire that powers up the coil with the key on.

With the key "on" check for voltage at the coil + terminal. If you show voltage, next, disconnect the battery cable that goes from the solenoid to the starter. This is just so the starter doesn't turn over. Now, turn the ignition to the "start" position and check for voltage at the + coil terminal. If you show voltage there, I would suspect four possibilities. First, the solenoid. Second, a wiring problem. Ford uses a resistor wire and these do sometimes go bad. It's rare, but it does happen. These can be "wired around" by using a regular ceramic resistor wired parallel to the original circuit. Next, a bad ignition switch and last a bad ignition module.

Battery at 12.3v, coil at "run" has 6.47v, at "start" has 11.9v next step, please?

If you have a test light, touch it to the negative terminal of the coil and crank the engine. It should blink as the engine turns over.
While you're there, check the resistance between the - and + coil terminals, it should be less than 1 ohm.
(FMC) The fact that the coil voltage drops in RUN means that both the coil and module are getting powered properly - the drop in RUN tells you that the module is grounding the coil at a stand-still, as it should.

In addition to what Mike has described (which will help isolate the problem to either the primary or secondary sides), check the resistance between the ORANGE and PURPLE wires coming from the distributor. It should be between 400 and 700 ohms. Neither wire should have continuity against the BLACK wire (total of three measurements). Often times, if the pickup fails (which is what you're checking), it will not switch the module while the engine is cranking, but letting off the key collapses the coil, which gives that final spark. If the BLINK test BLINKs, then my test is a moot point. I'm just listing it out now in case I'm away when you report in.

The results of the testing
1. Light BLINKED as starter turned engine over
2. 1.5ohm across coil terminals
3. 647ohm across ORANGE and PURPLE wires from dist
4. DMM read "OPEN" ORANGE to BLACK and PURPLE to BLACK
On #2, at first I could not get a reading that was stable for 10 or 15 seconds until it finally settled to 2.8ohm. I cleaned the terminals with scotchbride and that dropped the time to immediate and measurement to the reported number. Dist was replaced 2 yrs ago because vac adv mech was corroded and locked up, along with plugs and wires, when I got the truck running. Coil and ign module remain as purchased from PO
(FMC) All of your observations (1 through 4) are perfect. They tell you that the entire primary side of the ignition system is in perfect working order. If there is no spark in the presence of these conditions, then the problem is isolated to the secondary side - distributor cap, rotor, wires, or plugs. Note, however, that these items have no "sense" of the position of the key, so a problem there would not correlate to your original observations (only get spark when you let off the key). In other words, your two sets of observations can't co-exist, so something changed, or is missing from the story."

 

Wow, thank you 77&79f250 that's a lot of good information!! Gives me a lot to check out!!

 

Replaced starter solenoid with a new unit and all is well now. Thanks again for sharing that diagnosis method.

 

It is a combo to 2 advice threads, and I think I copied some of it out of sequence? I wish FMC400 would stop by and straighten it out.

 

Well it made sense t me and was able to help me figure it out. Granted at least some of it was for trouble shooting no spark, it still served its purpose.