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| New coil - still no spark | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 31 2012, 11:40 AM (1,326 Views) | |
| MaEsTRO | Jul 31 2012, 11:40 AM Post #1 |
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Well I replaced the coil, and I'm still getting no spark. I was driving down the highway last week, and the car just died, and it hasn't run at all since. I guess one of those things that rarely fails has failed. The fuses are all good - under the hood, and under the dash - grounds are solid. The fuel pump runs and stops when ignition switch is turned on, as it should. There is fuel, there is compression, but there is no spark. I'm at a loss. I have to get this car running. Please help. It's a 3/5 '91 vert. Thanks |
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| idmetro | Aug 1 2012, 10:58 AM Post #2 |
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That sounds to me like you may have broken a timing belt. You mention you have compression, how did you test that? Have you verified that the cam is turning when the engine is cranking? If the cam isn't turning then the distributor won't turn either and no spark will reach the plugs. Another far less common failure and not spark related (but it did happen to my vert) is the two yellow wires that supply a signal to the injector had one of the wires break the internal stranded wire but not quite separate the insulation at the connector where they plug into the injector body. When I finally found the issue I could make the car run or not run by moving the wires about. Might be worth a heck there. |
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| MaEsTRO | Aug 1 2012, 11:21 AM Post #3 |
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I'll check injector wires. but I have sprayed starter fluid in the throttle and don't get even a blip. I've opened up the timing cover and checked the belt - it looks good. I've turned the engine over with the distributor cap off to observe the rotor turning. I've pulled plugs and laid them on the engine while connected and I don't get a spark. |
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| Old Man | Aug 1 2012, 12:41 PM Post #4 |
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my '91 3/5 'Vert did the same thing. I pulled the coil wire and found that it was corroded inside the insulation. New coil wire cured the problem.---------also check the inside of your distributor cap. If there is a hairline crack in, around or near the coil wire connection it will cause the spark to follow the crack instead of the plug wire pickups........ might not fix yours but its a place to look.......... |
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| Alpine | Aug 1 2012, 01:37 PM Post #5 |
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1020cc G10 GOML
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is the car timed correctly? |
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| idmetro | Aug 1 2012, 02:36 PM Post #6 |
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Quick test here would be to substitute another of the wires for the current coil wire and check for spark, if you get spark then you've found the issue. Good Luck! |
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| mwebb | Aug 1 2012, 09:56 PM Post #7 |
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FOG
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use a cheap test light the kind that does not use LEDs from battery positive to the coil negative , when cranking the starter , the light should blink brightly if no switch test light to from battery negative to coil negative key on , the light must light , cranking the starter the light must light . if yes the problem is not the coil but is in primary ignition circuit measure AC voltage from the sensor inside the distributor engine cranking should be over 1 volt |
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| MaEsTRO | Sep 16 2012, 04:56 PM Post #8 |
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OK, so next time I'll listen. It did turn out to be the timing belt, which wasn't broken, and that's why it threw me. It was hard to see what was going on under the hood because I was working by myself, so I was peeking under the gap of an open hood while pushing on the clutch to turn over the engine. I could see the rotor turning, and the belt as well, and when I unscrewed a plug and left it in the hole, it blew out. This was how I determined that I had compression, and that the belt was intact. I had done everything else, and finally decided to change the timing belt as well. But I was having trouble getting the main pulley bolt undone (as it turned out, it didn't need to be removed, after all, but in order to get it loose, I finally figured out that if I jammed my breaker bar against the ground with a socket on the bolt, and just blipped the starter, it broke loose as easy as could be.) Anyway, once I got the timing cover completely off, I found that even thought the belt was tight, and looked OK on the outside, there were a few inches of teeth that were ripped off the inside. So the belt would turn fine till it got to that section. So now with all the ignition parts new, and the timing belt new, it started right up and runs great. It still has fewer than 100k miles on the original engine! |
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| clarkdw | Sep 16 2012, 06:07 PM Post #9 |
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Glad you got it going. Just a small reminder. Make sure that the crank sprocket bolt is torqued properly and you have used loctite on it. You don't want to have it come loose and chew up the key and then the crankshaft keyway like so many have.
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7:13 PM Jul 10