slant six starting problems

mewk61 said

I pulled the number one plug and turned it over to check to see if I had spark. Nothing at the plug until the key is turned off. That is when it gives a good spark.
I also tried putting on a timing light and I can't get a light to flash while turning the motor over.

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Hmmmm, that may be the clue needed. It sounds very much like the wire from the - coil to the ECU is grounded between the coil - and ECU. With this wire shorted, there will be constant coil current that is cannot be turned on and off by the ECU as it needs to do to create each spark, and it would tend to overheat the ballast too. Turning off the ignition will interrupt the coil current and cause the spark you see despite such a ground.

To explore this possibility, try a few things:
1) Remove the wire from the - coil terminal. Using a separate jumper to the coil - and with the ignition on, ground the coil - for a moment and then remove the gound; you should get a spark everytime you ground and unground the coil - with ignition on.
2) Examine the wire from the coil - to the ECU plug to see if it is chafed and bare and grounded anywhere.
3) If it looks OK, then have it disconnected at the coil - and have the ECU plug disconnected (so that this wire is disconnected completely) and use the meter to check from that wire to ground to see if you can find any shorts.