No spark but 1 spark on "shutdown"

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SwingerSteve

SwingerSteve

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Giving myself daily headaches trying to figure this out,,, I had a running driving car but motor was messed up so I pulled the motor out of a 73 parts car. Installed new cam and lifters and cleaned it all up,, installed the motor and trans. Hooked up wires just like they were before motor swap. Now no spark,, its set on TDC,, everything is the same. I had no spark so had coil tested,, turned out it went bad so installed an Accell comp coil,, I have a procomp HEI dizzy.. Still nothing but I pulled the coil wire off the dizzy and tried it only to get the 1 spark when I turned the key off.. Where do I look now guys?
 
SwingerSteve said:
Giving myself daily headaches trying to figure this out,,, I had a running driving car but motor was messed up so I pulled the motor out of a 73 parts car. Installed new cam and lifters and cleaned it all up,, installed the motor and trans. Hooked up wires just like they were before motor swap. Now no spark,, its set on TDC,, everything is the same. I had no spark so had coil tested,, turned out it went bad so installed an Accell comp coil,, I have a procomp HEI dizzy.. Still nothing but I pulled the coil wire off the dizzy and tried it only to get the 1 spark when I turned the key off.. Where do I look now guys?
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I'd give the dual ballast resistor a hard look
 
I don't know how my reply will apply to a bunch of aftermarket stuff. From the factory...
There are 2 wires from ignition switch to spark/ignition, a blue and a brown. When one of them faults you'll get sparks in start but not in run. When the other faults you'll get no sparks during start and only 1 spark as switch is released back to run.
Many aftermarket ignition systems require tying these 2 wires together and/or deleting the ballast resistor.
 
You should not be using a ballast resistor with that hei distributor ....two wire from distributor...red to plus side coil and black to negative.... Coil needs full 12volts....should be using an ecoil
 
70aarcuda said:
You should not be using a ballast resistor with that hei distributor ....two wire from distributor...red to plus side coil and black to negative.... Coil needs full 12volts....should be using an ecoil
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On this dizzy, it has a black red and orange wire coming out of it. I have red tied with the blue hot wire coming out of the harness connected to the pos on the accell coil,, orange to the neg side of coil and black grounded to the firewall just like it was before I swapped motors. Installed new resister today with no luck. BUT,,,, Theres another old looking resister on firewall by drivers side hood hinge.. Whats that one for?? It was broke so I hooked up the good one I took off attached to the heater blower motor..
 
can you post a picture of the distributor or part number of the distributor?

ONCE AGAIN...THE PROCOMP HEI DISTRIBUTOR DOES NOT USE ANY BALLAST RESISTOR...NEEDS 12 VOLTS AT THE COIL.....PLAIN ENGLISH

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I had the same issue with stock ignition...turned out the wires to the distributor were broken...drove me nuts!!!! All I did was swap carbs out and all the sudden no spark.....make sure your coil wires are on the correct terminal also...
 
70aarcuda said:
can you post a picture of the distributor or part number of the distributor?

ONCE AGAIN...THE PROCOMP HEI DISTRIBUTOR DOES NOT USE ANY BALLAST RESISTOR...NEEDS 12 VOLTS AT THE COIL.....PLAIN ENGLISH

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71dswinger said:
Bad coil ,I just had the same problem, installed stock coil fired right up
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I'm thinking about going with a stock dizzy and coil.. The car came with the HEI setup..

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SwingerSteve said:
I'm thinking about going with a stock dizzy and coil.. The car came with the HEI setup..

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The yellow wire on the coil is spliced to the blue wire out of the harness for length. And I have 2 resisters on the car,, 1 above the dizzy and one by the drivers side hood hinge.. Whats that one for?? It was broken so I put the new one on.
 
SwingerSteve said:
The yellow wire on the coil is spliced to the blue wire out of the harness for length. And I have 2 resisters on the car,, 1 above the dizzy and one by the drivers side hood hinge.. Whats that one for?? It was broken so I put the new one on.
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The car started and ran fine before the engine swap,, I changed nothing.. But now no spark except for the one spark when I release the key from start position.
 
plymouth67 said:
I had the same issue with stock ignition...turned out the wires to the distributor were broken...drove me nuts!!!! All I did was swap carbs out and all the sudden no spark.....make sure your coil wires are on the correct terminal also...
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That may be the problem,, one of my "helpers" hooked the coil up backwards and ended up burning out the Procomp coil,, I just replaced it with an Accell competition coil.. Thinking I may have burned up the dizzy module but can't find anyone that tests aftermarket coils.
 
that is different distributor from the one I posted above....that is why i asked...let me use GOOGLE....and see what I can find.
 
SwingerSteve said:
That may be the problem,, one of my "helpers" hooked the coil up backwards and ended up burning out the Procomp coil,, I just replaced it with an Accell competition coil.. Thinking I may have burned up the dizzy module but can't find anyone that tests aftermarket coils.
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Aftermarket distributors,, they could test the coil..
 
you have the correct coil...put a volt meter on the + side of coil and see if you are getting 12 volts...i see your ballast resistor is wire....but do those wires go to the coil?.....there should be no resistor in the circuit...if you do not have 12 volts at coil...connect the two wires on the ballast resistor ....then check coil again...

the ballast resistor is dropping the voltage to the coil for the mopar system....you dont want that with that distributor and coil
 
70aarcuda said:
you have the correct coil...put a volt meter on the + side of coil and see if you are getting 12 volts...i see your ballast resistor is wire....but do those wires go to the coil?.....there should be no resistor in the circuit...if you do not have 12 volts at coil...connect the two wires on the ballast resistor ....then check coil again...

the ballast resistor is dropping the voltage to the coil for the mopar system....you dont want that with that distributor and coil
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Not sure where they go or what it's for.. What would the one by my hood hinge be for? That one was popped so I put the one that I replaced on the wiper motor.. So I should unhook the resister by the dizzy and connect them to bypass it?
 
SwingerSteve said:
Not sure where they go or what it's for.. What would the one by my hood hinge be for? That one was popped so I put the one that I replaced on the wiper motor.. So I should unhook the resister by the dizzy and connect them to bypass it?
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IF I don't have 12 volts.. I've got that. This things just driving me nuts and I have very little concept of car electrical.. But I can wire a damn house. Lol
 
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