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Help no spark

qkcuda

qkcuda

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I am trying to start my new engine after installing it. The ignition worked fine when I removed the old engine. It is a Chrysler electronic ignition system. I have power at the ballast resistor and power at both coil terminals. I am not getting any flash on the timing light. I have checked all connections and changed out to a known good control box. Any ideas?
 
Is there a rotor inside the distributor? While the cap is off, crank the engine and see if the distributor turns? (distributor drive). There’s a trick to check the coil - unplug center ignition wire from distributor and place end really close (not touching) ground. Unplug 2-prong distributor plug. Turn key to “run”. Temporarily ground the exposed prong on the wiring. Every time you touch the exposed prong to ground, a spark should jump at the center ignition wire. If it sparks just fine, the trouble is inside the distributor (cap/rotor/ignition pickup)
 
Last edited:
Assuming there is a rotor.

Since you just swapped the engine check the ground. Just in case.
 
Good ground from the head to the firewall and good ground on the box. I have swapped out the coil but now waiting for the battery to recharge before I can try it again.
 
The distributor doesn't need a ground but the box does.

Maybe the reluctor gap changed from handling the distributor? Dropping on the floor etc.
It should be .008" set with a brass feeler gauge.
You can also check the resistance of the pickup coil. Should be 350-550 ohms with NO continuity to ground

You can pull the distributor and spin the shaft with your fingers to test for spark in run.
It good to test in start position as well just pull the yellow wire to the starter relay and get a helper to turn the key.

With the key in run if you take a wire and short the distributor leads to the ECU it should spark each time.

Pull the coil wire off the cap and set it 1/4" or so from ground. ( No I don't know how many millimetres that would be maybe 6?)

Hop this helps
 
Thanks Don, I just tried again but the battery is too weak to crank it long enough to do a decent test. My buddy is going to see what he has at the store.
 
qkcuda said:
Thanks Don, I just tried again but the battery is too weak to crank it long enough to do a decent test. My buddy is going to see what he has at the store.
Click to expand...
None of my methods require turning over the engine.
 
Don Frelier said:
The distributor doesn't need a ground but the box does.

Maybe the reluctor gap changed from handling the distributor? Dropping on the floor etc.
It should be .008" set with a brass feeler gauge.
You can also check the resistance of the pickup coil. Should be 350-550 ohms with NO continuity to ground

You can pull the distributor and spin the shaft with your fingers to test for spark in run.
It good to test in start position as well just pull the yellow wire to the starter relay and get a helper to turn the key.

With the key in run if you take a wire and short the distributor leads to the ECU it should spark each time.

Pull the coil wire off the cap and set it 1/4" or so from ground. ( No I don't know how many millimetres that would be maybe 6?)

Hop this helps
Click to expand...

282 ohms need to be replaced?
 
You can remove the distributor and spin it by hand with key on to check for spark. Don't need to crank over the engine. Especially not good to crank engine without running if the cam is not broken in.

With everything right It won't make very good spark trying to crank engine over with a low battery and electrionic ign.
 
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Okay the battery charged overnight. I checked the reluctor gap and reset it. I got my multimeter going and I am getting no signal from the negative side of the coil. Does that mean my pickup is toast?
 
Maybe see post #6 if shorting the pickup coil input to the ECU yields a good spark then everything else is working.

Did you check for resistance and NO continuity to ground?

Do you have power in the start position?
If not check the pins in the bulkhead because you had that apart as well.

Like I said you can just spin the distributor loose in your hand so you can substitute any Chrysler electronic distributor as a test even a small block would work. ( Or maybe not work...)
 
I finally tracked down the problem. I put in a new battery and ordered a new magnetic pickup for the distributor but it won't be in until Monday. I kept trying the different suggestions but nothing was working. I finally started tracing all of the wires, and it turns out there was a bad connection in one of the two wires that go to the distributor plug. Now it makes sense. When we were hooking up the engine on the dyno he didn't have an adapter plug for the distributor to hook up to his MSD box, so we cut the one off the harness and added spade connectors. I had wrapped them with tape but apparently one worked loose. As soon as I repaired them I touched the remote starter button and it fired immediately !
 
Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions. I was about at the end of my patience.
 
When vac adv is used, the p/up wires get flexed every time the VA unit deploys. Over many miles, lots of use, the wire will break.
 
qkcuda said:
Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions. I was about at the end of my patience.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately the key question in these situations is:
"Hmmm now what stupid thing did I do here?"

When you have the time elapse between starting and finishing it gets more likely.

When I started putting my engine back together a few years back I couldn't remember what I'd done with my temperature and oil pressure sensors.
I finally remembered I'd put them in a cardboard box on the shelf. ( No label )
I'd looked all over for them.
 
I still can't find my good set of feeler gauges with the brass ones.
 
Photo copy paper is 0.004" thick. Use two thicknesses as a gauge.
 
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