No Spark

[parsok]

My '80 carb was running and I just finished all the work I had to do to get it certified so I could drive it (been working on it all last fall, winter and spring). I just put in a new to me distributor and got the engine more or less tuned. It was still running a little rough so, according to some help on previous posts, I moved the rotor to point to the #4 pickup.

Now it turns but it will not start. I pulled #1 plug and it had a good blue spark. Pulled #2 & #3 and no spark at all. Re-pulled #1 and now it has no spark.

I tested the ignition coil and it meets the specs (I also took it to the local garage and they passed it); I cleaned up the terminals as they were somewhat rusty. The ignition control module was severely corroded and showing high resistance (according to garage) so I replaced it. Still no spark. Battery is new and fully charged. I've checked all the connections and grounds I can think of and they are clean and snug.

I'm stuck. I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to car electronics. Honestly at this point I'm not sure where to look and even how to look.

Any ideas, especially if they come with good directions on how to conduct the test, would be greatly appreciated.

[rlux4]

Things to check: Is 12V going to the coil with the key on; Are the wires in the dist. from the magnetic pick up OK; is the gap in specs at the dist. stator/trigger. If these are good you should concentrate on the ignition timing and the condition of the cap and rotor.
Ron

[parsok]

I went through all the instructions in the manual starting on page 55-19. Also as suggested by rlux4
Power going to coil with key on - Check - also confirmed all the warning dash lights come on as these apparently come off the pink ignition wire
power from the high tension wire from the coil to the dist - check - good solid continuous spark
dist cap and wires - new
rotor - nearly new and looks it
magnetic pick-up - looks brand new

On a chance I put back in the old dizzy with the frayed wire magnetic pickup and the broken vacuum advance. I pulled plugs #1 & #2 and laid them on the engine. Turned the engine and got a spark from both. Tried it again and only got a spark from #2. Thought I was getting somewhere. Put the new dizzy back in after disassembling and re-assembling the pickup. No spark. Put the old dizzy back in - -no spark. Re-confirmed dizzy is getting power from the coil. Tried again - still no spark. Put the new dizzy back in and packed up.

WTF

Any ideas?

[rlux4]

The only other thing I can think of would be the base under the magnetic pickup. Either broken or if it's installed upside down it won't work. Was it out just before this started?
Ron

[parsok]

no it wasn't. I had the distributor as a whole in and out a bunch of times as I was playing with the timing but I had not taken it apart. how can you tell if the pickup fails?

If a coil is producing current, is it always a strong current i.e could it be too weak to produce a plug spark?

[So Cal Mark]

laying the spark plugs on the engine doesn't guarantee a ground. Without a good ground spark won't jump the gap in the spark plug. You have to use a jumper wire and positively ground the plugs. Garbage in, garbage out

[parsok]

Ok. I used a jumper cable to hold the spark plug and the other end was clamped to a known good ground. Still no spark.

[majicwrench]

Slow down, if you indeed have a good solid continues spark from high tension (coil) wire, the problem is really simple, it is in the cap and rotor. "New" cheap rotors are often bad. Or it is installed way off, will it rotate on shaft?? Got another cap and rotor?

[parsok]

I thought along those lines and I have now tried 2 different caps and 2 different rotors but get the same results. It is possible they are both malfunctioning but I'm thinking it is a stretch.

By your question will the rotor rotate on the shaft, do you mean when the engine is cranked does the rotor spin? If so, yes, I've cranked the engine with the cap off so I could line up everything to be TDC.

I also added a new ground to the coil as per a previous suggestion.

What is the little silver thing next to the coil?

[majicwrench]

If you are getting a good, repititous spark jumping from the coil wire to a ground, the coil, module, pu, icu etc are all doig their job. If the spark will not go from the coil wirer to the plugs the issue is right there at the cap and rotor. Hold coil wire near center of rotor with cap off and have other crank engine. Spark SHOULD NOT jump to the rotor. If it does, it is finding a ground thru the rotor, which is should not.
Back in the 80's I saw a TON of bad rotors right out of box, junk overseas stuff.
PS Use some thing nice and insulated to hold coil wire or spark will jump to you.

How did all this start?? Driving down road, car shuts off??

[parsok]

majicwrench, thank you very much for all your insight.

The problem manifested itself sitting in the garage. I am in the process of getting it certified after purchasing it late last summer. It was running but quite rough. When I had it at the garage for its safety I asked the mechanic to check out why it was so rough. He found that the dist. pick up wire were rotten (no sheaving and fraying) and the vacuum advance diaphram as broken.) I purchased a dist. of a forum member and to my untrained eye it looks really good, even came with a rotor and cap. I put it in and it started right up as always. With the new dizzy I was able to set the timing and it ran not bad but still rough. I took off timing belt cover and discovered that the PO's previous mechanic/boyfriend had not aligned the intake cam properly to TDC, it was 1-2 teeth to the right. As the timing belt was quite new I loosened it and moved the cam back to align with the indicators. tightened everything up and tried to start it. It has not run ever since.

There is a little silver cylinder situated right next to the coil with a single wire coming from it to the +B side. It sure looks like an ignition condenser to me but when I look it up on the various parts providers they all state it is not for the '80 model, it only seems required up to the '78 model. could this be a problem? What would happen if I take it off?

Again, many many thanks for your help.

Dave

[parsok]

I just tested the coil wire to the exposed rotor as suggested and there was no spark to the rotor.

[majicwrench]

Is there still spark from coil wire to a good ground??
That little cylinder is a capacitor, it is there to help your radio reception as much as anything. Unhook it if you want.

[parsok]

Arrgghhhh!!

No, now there is no spark to the ground

[parsok]

oops, ignore the last post

I had just put a ground wire from the coil neg side to a ground cluster. this caused the coil tension wire not to spark to the ground. I removed the new neg wire and it sparked to the ground.

Also - I then re-tried the test from the coil wire to the exposed rotor center. There were intermittent sparks from the wire to rotor.