318 intake swap, now no spark

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dusterglenn

dusterglenn

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I just did an intake swap on the 318 in my 79 Aspen, now no spark at the coil. (Yes, it did run fine before.) I didn't touch the distributor, and just lifted the coil out of the way. It had been converted from lean burn to the 4 pin module/single ballast before I bought the car.
I checked the resistance on the ballast, and it tested the same as my "good" spare, and I tried my spare module, but no go so far.
Any suggestions to help me diagnose in the dark/rain after work tonight?
 
Any ideas? My service manual seems fixated on Chrysler Tester # 4166. That and diagnosing Lean Burn issues.
 
distributor gear ? maybe ive broke them b4 ig its got a tooth missing it will not ask for the spark right ? im so tired i aint thinking good so dont sue me lol
 
You did have to disconnect and move a lot of wires. Is the 2 wire connector to the distributer connected ? + and - wires correct on the coil ?
Honestly... Pulling the intake with the dist' in place isn't so bad. I can't imagine sitting the intake on properly with the dist' in the way. Good luck
 
I actually didn't disconnect any wires. When the previous owner converted the car from Lean Burn, they left the ECU harness rather long. I was able to move the coil up between the valve cover and the diagonal brace, leaving room to drop the iron intake into place. The wiring under the hood of an F-body is really quite messy compared to an A-body, especially with the whole unused Lean Burn harness still in place.
 
Chk that 2 wire connector that goes from the distributor to the coil.
Pinch it down a bit and plug it back together, then see if it starts.
Happens all the time.
 
Hate to admit this but when I put a different manifold on my 273 I didn't remove the
dist. cap and just pulled it out and sat it on it's side thinking nothing would move. Well,
it went in just fine and when I went to fire it up it wouldn't start - like yours. Kept
pumping the gas and moving the timing around - then a big boom and my one month
old new right side muffler blew apart. I put the dist. in 180 backwards - the rotor spun around when I sat in on it's side.---- needless to say - please take off your cap and check that number one is on number one.(have to pull of the driver's valve cover, manually turn the motor over and make sure the timing mark comes up at the right time
and not 180 out). AND YES - it was a big boom and my head was hanging low!!!
 
take a test light and see if you have power to the positive side of the coil
 
Berlins, I never took the distributor out. There is enough room to re&re the intake with the dist still clamped down. I'm starting to think that the factory coil has packed it in, or I broke a wire while manhandling the coil out of the way.
 
If you have a volt meter you can insert straight pins into each wire at different ends of the harness and test for wire breakage on the ohms setting on the meter. if you don't understand what I'm talking about pm me. Every car nut should own a volt meter they are very inexpensive for a basic meter!
 
Yes, I've got a multimeter, but really, it's just been too rainy the last few days for me to want to work on the car. I've been hoping for some sun/motivation.
I remember years ago doing an electronic ignition swap on my old Fury, in the rain, by flashlight. Seems I've gone soft sometime in the last 10 years...
 
You can just run a wire from the battery over to the coil to test your wiring if that's the case(if have points) - just don't try running it like that for a long time, will burn out your coil(I've done that too). I had a wire break on the firewall connectors a couple of times which kept the car from starting. It broke when I moved the throttle cable. Didn't see if you had electronic ignition or not. I picked up a dual point a year or so ago - great for troubleshooting dist. issues like this. Just pop in the points dist, run the wire to the coil,
hit the started sol. with a screwdriver --- I like the old school way of doing things, keeps it simple...
 
If it started just fine before with no issues, and now it doesnt, it stands to reason that it is more likely to be something you touched as the problem, not a new problem.

Even though you just moved the coil aside, you could have loosened up the connectors on the coil wires....or any other wiring you touched. Or maybe the coil-to-cap wire connectors let go. That sort of thing.

Start simple. Just go back over any wire you touched or even flexed. Retrace your steps --did you work on the driver side of the engine bay, perhaps knocking a wire loose?

Or maybe the coil itself was ready to fail and you jostling it around took it out?

That sort of thing.

Good luck.
 
Well, it's definately a broken wire. I swapped coils, and had spark until I moved the wires putting the coil back into the bracket. Then, nothing. Just not sure which wire yet...
 
Alright, I've found and fixed my broken wire. I checked and have spark at the coil. I have spark at the plugs. I have fuel, but still no start. I've run the battery down cranking, so I'll try again tomorrow.
 
If you have no fire at all, (no popping or anything) chk your distributor and plug wire placement.
You said you didn't pull the distributor, right?
Did you pull the plug wires?
If you have spark and fuel, theres only two things left, compression and spark timing.
We will assume that the engine has compression since it ran before the swap, so spark timing is all that's left.
Recheck your firing order and plug wire placement.
18436572 clockwise on small blocks




dusterglenn said:
Alright, I've found and fixed my broken wire. I checked and have spark at the coil. I have spark at the plugs. I have fuel, but still no start. I've run the battery down cranking, so I'll try again tomorrow.
Click to expand...
 
check to see that the lean burn harness isn't shorting things out and causing a no spark, other then that check for power to the ECU, check to make sure the ECU is grounded and the ballast resistor has power in and out, then check the coil. also check for power when cranking at ECU and coil. I hope this helps I have a few F bodies myself
 
I would imagine its flooded by the time you got a spark. Charge the battery good, Try it again. Good luck
 
With the fully charged battery from the Duster, plus a squirt of starting fluid, it started right up. Thanks for all the help.
 
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