85 ford e350 4x4 400m no spark...
 

I been battling this for awhile now which i started to look at it again today..

Here's what happen. The truck sat for a long time in my lot say 10 to 13years, And last time when i started it was around 08 or might of been 2010 it started up fine but it did have a gas leak so we couldn't run it long, So it wasn't started till this summer that went pass,

Me and my dad went out to get it running like 4 or 5 months ago And it had spark and wanted to fire up but it was struggling and we kept spraying starting fluid in the carb, Than all sudden it would ony just crank no matter how much starting fluid or gas in the carb....

Than we checked for spark by pulling a plug and found out there was no spark, So we tried checking the coil spark ...nothing.. So we gave up cause we had other things going on.


So today i figure i go out and do some tests. I tested the coil to see if its getting any voltage and the voltage seems to be all over the place sometimes i see 11v somethings than other times its like .400 4v 5v and yea...

I jump the coil to the battery and see what that does and it still don't start up. So i tried just hooking the coil up to the battery alone + and - and put a plug in the wire and when i move the jumper wire around on the battery post i can get a very faint spark at the plug. So im not sure if its a coil problem or wiring because all the wires on this van is in bad shape but still intact.

Than i check the duraspark 2 module wiring cause i did get one from the junk yard when i needed one for my 79 bronco which had a no spark like this too which also sat this long with it, And the 2 modules i got didn't get the van running.. But they both work in the bronco so i know they good. So i checked the wiring and its getting 11.5 to 12volts from the wires when the key is on. So that seems to be ok i think.


What else can cause this problem? I herd the pickup coil will but wouldn't i had the symptoms of a bad pickup coil before the no start? The truck never stalled out before or anything. There's just no life of a spark. Is there anything on the battery side firewall that can cause a no spark?

Cause there's tons of wires all over the space there. This truck is custom from the ground up pretty much when we bought it in 97

I really like to get this running before the cold comes back in 3 days...


Also bare with me im pretty much new working on vehicles, I know how to work on them pretty much but yea lol I already got 2 vehicles that sat with this truck for the same years up and running. 79 bronco and a 1991 4x4 sonoma which is also custom.

But yea this one been one pain in the ass so far lol


I also forgot to mention that this truck never had new wires or spark plugs put on it sense we owned it. Im not sure if that would cause this because the coil also doesn't get a spark. I can always try the wires and plugs from the bronco and see if that makes a difference. But would like to see what else will cause it first because don't want to take anything off the bronco cause it runs good might cause it to go in a fit.. lol


Thanks:)

Now that i was searching and looking stuff up. wonder if i should go ahead and get this for my next paycheck http://www.ebay.com/itm/Big-Block-Ford-351C-460-HEI-Ignition-Distributor-Blue-Cap-351M-400-429-BBF-/221281685189?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item33856a8ec5

looked up and found out it ony needs one wire to power everything? Pretty much eliminating the duraspark and wiring?

So pretty much all i have to do is put that in hooked it up to the coil than provide 12v power to it?

Still willing to do other test in the mean time. But sense the wiring is pretty mess up on this truck it might be worth getting and bypassing all of it.

Reading the coil is relatively cheap.
Cheaper than that distributor you are looking at.
I would use a test light , and with the key on , check to see if you have power to the positive side of the coil.
You can check the oil with a vom but it will not factor in a load on the coil.
That is where I would start , considering the information you have given us .

I'm not real familiar with the big blocks, and there is a "big block" forum here on FTE.

But, in general, your working on a vehicle that's been sitting for years and years, so the electrical "devices" are corroded internally from not being used, the electrical wiring is corroded, or even attacked by field mice, which feast on the sweet/tasty insulation, so to just check this and that, you might get lucky and fire and go, or you might and should start from one end, and check/test all the sensors, replace know devices, like the coil, coil pick-up, and I'm sure the gaskets/seals in the carburetor are dry-rotted.
Vacuum lines are dry-rotted, it just need to have time spent on it, checking over everything before you can expect it to just fire up and run.

You don't need to get some expensive high performance distributor, a OEM style will work, that is unless your building this up for performance/street racing. Although the price on the dizzy is very good.

Parked/sitting vehicles sometimes are more problems that very high mileage vehicles to get back up and running down the road.

Yep the weather really played hell on this truck over the years than the 2 other vehicles, like the 79 bronco had no problems at all like the carb seals hoses and everything else are fine, Wires feels good Ony thing that got rusted threw on that was the floors and brake lines..

Than there's the 91 sonoma which was pretty much siting on its frame because flat tires. And that hardy has any rust on it and everything works on that except the fuel pump was shot at first. Pretty much it can get inspected right now surprisingly.

Pretty much just luck and draw i guess.

But yea i still like to get this one going cause it had alot of money thrown in it when we bought it. And pretty much its rare. If i cant get it completely on the road hopefully i can but if not i probably use it as a offroader project.

Will get a test light and test the coil today and see what it does. And check all the connectors and wires for corrosion. And maybe switch out the plugs and wires from the bronco and see what that also does.

And mostly why i said about that dizzy instead of oem is because the wiring is pretty bad and buying that one will eliminate all the wiring to just one wire from what i read up on it. And the price is cheap.


Will update when i get any results :) hopefully good ones..


And i wasn't sure were to put this but i thought this forum would be good sense this is for vans. But than again i don't think that these vans came with 400m. All i know it was rebuild like 2 or 3 times 30 over and took place in a tracker pull and also was at the airport moving the planes around from what the dealer told me.

I didn't mean you posted this in the wrong section of the forum, you are in the correct forum "E-series Vans"

What I meant, was that the "big block" forum will give you more insight on the 400M as far as mechanical and electrical issues. There will be others that scan that section of the FTE forum much more knowledgeable with your engine.

There were not a lot of 400M used in vans, thus most of us here never had, or worked on one.

Also, coils can be funny, they work, or don't, and in the '80's era, where they were mounted, right above the engine, they would become "heat-soaked" and shut down. After a 20 minute wait at the side of the road, they would be cool enough to get you going again, been there, and after several problems with this, I relocated it higher above the engine block, others moved it to the bulk head to solve the problem, and yes, this was all before Al Gore invented the internet..........so it was a "word of mouth" back then....

Best if you just check this out with a good known working coil, and the plugs/wires from your "donor" before investing in any parts.

Have a update but not a good one...

I couldn't get a test light... But i pulled the wire on the pickup coil and tested it with my mutimeter on ohms.. And while testing the 2 color wires i get .595 to .600ohms But when i touch the black ground and one of the colors i get nothing..

Im not sure if this reading is good or not? I read if it reads around 600 ohms the pickup is good? But yea the plug and wires are really in bad shape on the pickup coil pretty much the black plug casing cracked trying to get it open..


The coil and harness is still questionable because i cant get a stead reading on it. Its just all over the place...

Pretty much i need to pickup up a test light this week.

And i was going to switch the plugs and wires over from the bronco, But i couldn't get the wires off the plugs on the bronco And i didn't want to force it off right now because the boots probably will crack. And didn't want to take that chance sense the bronco runs good. Don't want 2 trucks that wont start again lol

But at the moment i put a big tarp over it that covered the whole van so it wouldn't get even more rust on it and it has a leak so yea best to cover it for now.

Really a bad time of the year to work on stuff when you don't have a garage:\ Heck it wouldn't even fit in a normal garage either sense it has a lift and 35s.


I think the best thing to do is save up for that dizzy and new spark plugs and wires and go for there. I don't see why it wont start after those.

Sucks tho this stuff really bothers me if i don't get something going lol... Going to bother me till i get it running..

Yes, it is a bad time of the year to start a project..........but if it's needs to run, we all don't have a choice.

Try getting a cube van into a garage.........most of my work is done outside, and with the storm we had this past week, I got to the shop Thursday, after being snow-bound for 3 days, and found my van under 5ft of snow :-X15:-X15

Been melting down the past couple of days, and the snow bank was down to 2 feet today, might get to the van tomorrow???

if i read right you grounded the neg side of coil? it should only be momentarily grounded, just like a points dizzy would do, I would first check the "brain box" or duraspark unit, it unplugs easily and you can find from a friend and just plug in and crank, if it sparks go buy one, i had an E350, i shut it off went in for lunch, came out no start, was the rotor, dont replace the distributor, you can buy the pick up if needed.
to start get an led test light, you should have solid power to + and when cranking the - should flash, if it doesnt its the duraspark or pick up