Welcome to the all new Geo Metro Forum. We hope you enjoy your visit.You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are features you can't use and images you can't see. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: Join our community! |
| 91 metro orange/weak spark | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 21 2010, 08:26 PM (3,256 Views) | |
| BrandonWhite | Feb 21 2010, 08:26 PM Post #1 |
|
Fresh Fish
![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Well I Just bought my buddies 1991 geo metro 1.0 for $300. It ran fine for about a month, then it wouldnt start at all. I checked spark directly at the coil and its orange which is weak. I am also getting spark to all the plugs, but weak as well. I bought a new coil and still no luck. This year has the round canister type coil. I checked all grounds and they had continuity. I checked ground to +coil and got 11.8v with coil on. It is only slightly low, but the spark is way weak for almost 12v. The motor cranks over quite fast and battery was at 12.8v which should be enough to start. What are all the causes of an orange spark? Thanks everyone in advance, and note I've been searching for the past hour or so with no such luck. Edited by BrandonWhite, Feb 21 2010, 08:37 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| Bad Bent | Feb 21 2010, 09:04 PM Post #2 |
|
Facetious Educated Donkey
![]()
|
Welcome to the forum, BrandonWhite! Every source I can find says bad coil. I simply replaced my old coil with a Pertronix Ignitor II. Much the same as your MSD Blaster coils. Checking the continuity was a good move. I clean the grounds from time to time and added a ground wire set I got off eBay for $20 to increase the current flow... path of least resistance. My service manual says the primary resistance, + to - on the disconnected coil should be 1.33-1.55 ohms. and secondary (negative connection to tower/Dist. wire connection) should be 10,700-14,500 ohms. If not, replace. Someone will be along shortly to give you more information...
|
![]() |
|
| Memphis metro | Feb 21 2010, 09:07 PM Post #3 |
![]()
|
Bad or shorted coil wire or plug wires could be the problem. Hows the wires look? Spray some starting fluid into the intake and see if it will run on that. It may be flooded and needs to run to clear itself out and sometimes they will hit on the starting fluid and crank up and clear themselves out. Oh and another thing. Never assume the worst first. Start with the little likely things.
Edited by Memphis metro, Feb 21 2010, 09:15 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| BrandonWhite | Feb 21 2010, 09:27 PM Post #4 |
|
Fresh Fish
![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Well it had a full tuneup right before I received it. new cap/rotor, plugs, wires, and now coil. I can smell the fuel and I tried ether. It wont try to fire at all, but does have the orange weak spark. The timing is dead on as well.
Edited by BrandonWhite, Feb 21 2010, 09:38 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| Johnny Mullet | Feb 21 2010, 09:33 PM Post #5 |
|
Fear the Mullet
![]()
|
Remove the distributor cap and carefully check the contacts in there. They might be corroded or moisture in there. |
![]() |
|
| Memphis metro | Feb 21 2010, 09:36 PM Post #6 |
![]()
|
Little confused as to what is going on. At first you said weak spark and down below you say no spark. Big john has a good point check under the cap, any moisture blow it out good with a airhose. |
![]() |
|
| BrandonWhite | Feb 21 2010, 09:44 PM Post #7 |
|
Fresh Fish
![]() ![]() ![]()
|
Sorry, what I meant is the engine wont attempt to fire at all because its so weak. Maybe the internals of the distributor have gone bad, but I cant afford anything too expensive at the moment. Everything inside of it looked clean though. This site is great already!! I actually can get a response lol. Edited by BrandonWhite, Feb 21 2010, 09:46 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| mwebb | Feb 21 2010, 11:36 PM Post #8 |
|
FOG
![]()
|
let us assume your spark is NOT WEAK let us assume KV demand is low because of conditions present at the spark plug gap hmmm let us think what would UN elevate KV at the spark plug gap .... could it be incorrect gap ? oh yes , that would do it , what is the correct gap ? are your spark plug gaps set correctly ? what else would cause low KV demand at the spark plug gap ? how about cylinder LOW COMPRESSION ? would that do it ? you betcha , what event would lower compression on all 3 cylinders at the same time ? hmmm maybe the timing belt is out of time ... would that cause "The motor cranks over quite fast" you betcha . Edited by mwebb, Feb 21 2010, 11:37 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| BrandonWhite | Feb 22 2010, 12:23 AM Post #9 |
|
Fresh Fish
![]() ![]() ![]()
|
I'm not sure on the compression, I will test it tomorrow. I would laugh if the plugs were never gapped That is one thing i didnt check. |
![]() |
|
| starscream5000 | Feb 22 2010, 08:38 AM Post #10 |
|
Got 70 MPG?
![]()
|
Don't hold me to this, I'm just going off of memory, but I think my sticker under the hood says to set the gap at .029" |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Engine Tech & Diagnostics · Next Topic » |


Welcome to the all new Geo Metro Forum. We hope you enjoy your visit.


![]](http://z3.ifrm.com/static/1/pip_r.png)







1:54 PM Jul 11