I am only getting spark from the coil when I first crank the engine and when I go to shut it off. This is the same with the brand new coil I bought and the old one. Does anyone know what I should check?
prolly ign switch. try starting it and roll the key back off start slowly and see if it still runs if it does then that is your problem.
does not run at all right now lol
we just did the carb swap and are trying to get fire to the fuel. :]
Let me make a wild guess.
You have +12 volts to the Batt side of the coil in the ignition "run" position but not in the ignition "start" position.
i believe he has 12v in start not in run at least thats how i took it
we will check with the multimeter
Ding!
It's not the ignition switch, it's your wiring. You swapped in a DuraSpark ignition as well, correct?
I'll bet it's the wiring. Carl, next time you see me on, I'll try to find out what ya did ok
trying the canister coil tomorrow
I hope that fixes things :cougarsmily:
He has his wired EXACTY like mine. Only difference is the type of coil. He has a TFI and I have a canister. You need pics or anything let me know man.
So what did the meter show?
Everything checks out ok. We have had 3 people who are good with cars look at it. Everything checks out ok. been through 2 modules 3 coils and now I am going to change the ignition switch tomorrow and perhaps the rotor. If THAT does not work I am going to be thoroughly pissed and just send it to a garage. Then I have to Go to Colorado b/c I am running short on time before I have to be at my next base....
I guess I won't get to see her start for now :toilet:
lets just hope what I do tomorrow fixes it.
I think I found the problem, we were trying a distributor with a steel gear when our cars call for Iron ones which I just found out. Could this be the reason why the spark is off?
I am more of a trouble shooter than a parts swapper.
Your ignition module should have six wires to it and two plugs. If you have more or less wires you have the wrong module.
In the two wire plug:
The white wire should be hot in start only.
The red wire should be hot in start and run.
On the coil:
The Batt (red wire side) should be hot in start and run.
To make these checks without cranking the engine:
Remove the little red wires in the plug-on connector from the start relay.
If you have both start and run anywhere above you do not need an ignition switch.
Unplug the four wire plug from the ignition module. With your OHM meter check the resistance between the orange and purple wires going to the distributor.
If it is between 400 and 1300 ohms, the stator coil in the distributor is good.
Check resistance between the black wire and the purple, and the black wire and the orange.
Both should be greater than 70,000 ohms. (70K ohms)
The green wire in the module four wire plug should go to the Tach (green wire ) side of the coil.
Pull the center high voltage wire from the coil off the distributor cap.
Remove the distributor cap.
This will get the distributor cap, rotor and timing out of the picture.
Crank the engine.
Does the rotor turn?
Put the end of the coil wire near ground with out touching ground.
Do you have spark?
I don't know about the different gears on the distributor. It may make a difference in gear wear or something.
BUT as long as the distributor is turning it should have spark.
Carl's not on, but I can help with some of this. I was on the phone as we tried to figure this out
This part he's good. Green, Black, Orange, Purple, Red and White
He's good. He wired it just like I did to mine. White to red/light blue and red to grey/yellow. Not sure if this is textbook how to do it but mine is and it starts right up
IIRC, he's good on this one
I didn't even think to have him check that
He's good.
As I remember, he didn't. May or may not have imporoved or changed though.
This doesn't seem a problem. It wouldn't effect sparking. Would ruin a cam gear quick I've heard though
as I said before, we already checked everything with the multimeter.
Voltage Ohms on everything that you mentioned and more.
Also, I have all the right parts besides the distributor. I think the iron gear goes down a bit further than the steel one so maybe the gear is not spinning properly.
According to my diagrams, the grey/yellow wire should be hot only in "run". Not in "start".
The original red/light green wire that went to your coil is hot in both "run' and "start".
Very well might be right. I guessed on all of my wiring and it just seemed to work. I do have my red(+) side of my coil to the red/light green wire though. So should I move my red duraspark wire over to that r/lg wire too?
No I would not change the grey wire if it is working.
Carl; The Grey/Yellow wire was an unused wire in your car. It is for cars with a carb sold in Canada. So don't assume it's hot in "run", someone may have cut it under the dash and used it for something else.
Carl; The rest of this has nothing to do with why you have no spark while cranking.
The thing we have been ignoring is the ballast resistor that the DSII system uses. The"run" voltage goes through the resistor to get to the coil. This drops the voltage on the coil to 6 to 8 volts.
The DSII coil is not designed for continuous operation at 12 to 14 volts. This would increase the current flow through the coil and ignition module. Possibly causing them to overheat and be damaged.
The purpose for this is to compensate for the battery voltage sag during starting. The voltage sags to 10 volts and lower. So they bypass the ballast resistor during start.
I don't know how they compensate for this in the TFI ignition.
The unknown is how your coil compares to a DSII coil.
When I said the red wire on the module was hot for "start" and "run" I lied. It is hot in "run" and warm in "start". In "start" it gets its voltage through the ballast resister.
To wire it the way the DSII diagram shows you would have to follow the R/LG wire from the coil back to an area behind the left headlight where it is splices together with a BR/PK wire. Cut off the BR/PK wire and extend it to the coil area where you would install the ballast resistor. The BR/PK is hot in "Start", The R/LG would be hot in "run".
DSII coil primary resistance Batt to Tach (+ to -) .8 to 1.6 ohms
DSII coil secondary Batt to high voltage terminal 7700 to 10,500 ohms
DSII ballast resister .8 to 1.6 ohms
TFI IV coil primary Batt to Tach (+ to -) .3 to 1.0 ohms
TFI IV coil secondary Tach (-) to high voltage terminal 800 to 11,500 ohms.
The DSII diagram is in another Carl thread.
Wait, I don't have a ballast resister on mine and it runs fine. Again should I do this now. Sorry to jack' Carl but our setups are near twins.
this is Carl I am at kingcars house.
I hooked the red wire from the module to the positive from the coil, in fact we hooked the white from the module there too. We are now getting great spark so that problem is fixed. Now, I just need to work on timing.
If it helps, I have mine set at 14* with preimum gas. But for regular 10-12* is safe bet
I will redo a Wiring Diagram for this that makes everything really simple
All you have to do with both the red and white is connect them to the plus side of the coil.
I am also going to be working on a step by step instruction guide to do this without the any of the problems I had. This is so easy once you realize the diagram actually tells you to connect the red and white to the positive of the coil. We just never saw it because the diagram is horribly done.
btw
Kingcars and I got the car to start! 2 times and run for about 30 seconds the best time. We are getting closer!
I'll help out with the writ up any way I can.
Help me understand why this did not uncover the problem.
b/c everything checked out fine.
Did ya ever time it. And did that solve the problem?
Maybe you can understand my confusion. You used the red wire on the coil to provide voltage to these two wires that you say "checked out" as having the required voltage on them.
It runs now! :D
just gotta tune the Carb and TV cable/throttle
Same boat as me. I need to tune the carb up nice and stop a few things from leaking ( trans fluid) and I shuold be set. Good deal man, and good job