400 no spark

[monaco75]

What do you guys think??

The 400 in the cordoba stopped dead in its tracks last week. Been tinkering with it a little hear and there.

Coil is sending spark to distributor, but nothing coming out of distributor to the plugs.

I've swapped out ecu's. The ballast resistor looks ok (to me). Just installed new distributor to no avail. I'm getting 8.4 volts at the dizzy connector. Is this normal??

Pulling my hair out over this..

 

[Wildaugust]

Well, if you're getting a good spark at the coil, I would check the rotor and cap. There really isn't anything else between the coil and the spark plugs, except plug wires and they couldn't all go bad at the exact same time.

 

[monaco75]

Rotor, and cap both new. No moisture in the cap either.

 

[furyfinn]

Sounds like your distributor is shot, then.

I was trying to get a friend's car running (with a similar problem) some time ago, no luck... It turned out a Hall something (maybe pickup) was broken inside the distributor.

Could be the same thing with your car?

 

[jct]

hall effect

 

[cantflip]

You may have a coil too weak to send enough spark. Test it with an ohmmeter before replacing it. Also look for a thin carbon track down the inside of the cap or under the rotor(may look like powered rust) if the rotor has burned through.

 

[monaco75]

Sounds like your distributor is shot, then.

I was trying to get a friend's car running (with a similar problem) some time ago, no luck... It turned out a Hall something (maybe pickup) was broken inside the distributor.

Could be the same thing with your car?

Thats what I was looking into. After installing new (rebuilt) distributor nothing changed

You may have a coil too weak to send enough spark. Test it with an ohmmeter before replacing it. Also look for a thin carbon track down the inside of the cap or under the rotor(may look like powered rust) if the rotor has burned through.

I'll double check the rotor today. I just went through this mess a few months back,and installed a new cap/rotor/coil/plugs/wires lol.

The coil was putting out 12 volts when tested.

 

[65Fury440]

Sounds like a PIA. You did double check the pickup gap in the new distributor? Also check and make sure the pickup is sending a signal?

If your getting 9ish volts into the distributor, your ballast is good.

Do a quick test, pull the coil wire off the cap,put the end near a ground, see if it puts off a spark when you turn the engine over.

In a completely different direction, your rotor is turning, right?

 

[65sporty]

In a completely different direction, your rotor is turning, right?

I had the same thought.

 

[monaco75]

Yes it is turning. That was the first thing that crossed my min.. Was raining all day.. Couldnt get back under the hood.