No spark

-
LOL you will have to drive a LOT further than that!! I'm in the N end of Idaho!!
 
dartfreak75 said:
Del and I had a really good conversation tonight. He solved the problem with the relay. The solenoid wire has a bad connection. I will clean that and reattach it. As far as the other problems del mentioned ^^^
Im gonna clean and the bulkhead connection and see if I can find my drop. Also gonna replace the ecu and see if that helps . Here we go! Thanks Del @67Dart273 for your help I greatly appreciate it. Maybe when this thing is running I can drive it to Iowa and thank you in person! Lol
Click to expand...

Yeah, Del's a hoot. He's the best of the best.
 
67Dart273 said:
LOL you will have to drive a LOT further than that!! I'm in the N end of Idaho!!
Click to expand...
Well ****!! I thought you sold Iowa! Hahaha my bad. It sure was good talking with you tonight. I sure do appreciate it.
 
Ok did some more work today and got nowhere lol, @67Dart273 im gonna need your help again. So here is what I did. I charged the battery, I took the bulkhead apart cleaned all the connections. Took all the fuses out cleaned all the connections installed new ones. Installed the new ecu. Just a reminder the new ecu is a 4 pin the old one is a 5 pin. Here is what I got. I made dang sure the ecu was grounded, I even ran a 10 gauge wire from the ground on the battery to bolt on the ecu. I tested it with the multi meter and it is grounded. With the 5 pin im getting 12.7v at the battery, 11.6 at the positive side of the coil and 11.6 at the neg side of the coil. With the new ecu ( 4 pin) im getting 5.5 at the positive side and 0 at the negative side of the coil. Im also only getting 5.5 at the bottom left side of the ballast but 11.6 on the left top and the right side of the ballast. What would cause me to loose voltage to the coil with a new ecu?
 
For one the readings show the coil is drawing current which is what you want. The 11.6vs 12.7 indicates you are getting voltage drop through the harness. I assume this is "sitting" and not cranking?

I would continue on.........rerun your spark test by tapping the distributor harness side connector and see if you get a spark. Or just "rig" a test gap and crank it and see what you get. You might want to clip the meter to the coil + (and ground) and measure coil+ when cranking. If you get at least 10V I would think you will get spark.

(Or did you fix the no-crank issue yet?) You still have my number? likely the only 208 (Idaho) you have. Give me a call it's early here
 
67Dart273 said:
For one the readings show the coil is drawing current which is what you want. The 11.6vs 12.7 indicates you are getting voltage drop through the harness. I assume this is "sitting" and not cranking?

I would continue on.........rerun your spark test by tapping the distributor harness side connector and see if you get a spark. Or just "rig" a test gap and crank it and see what you get. You might want to clip the meter to the coil + (and ground) and measure coil+ when cranking. If you get at least 10V I would think you will get spark.

(Or did you fix the no-crank issue yet?) You still have my number? likely the only 208 (Idaho) you have. Give me a call it's early here
Click to expand...
Yea the crank issue is fixed. But with the new ecu iv only got 5 volts at the coil still no spark
 
Well went out and ran some more test i got some spark now. The engine actually fired off and ran for about 20 seconds and died now it won't start again.
 
S
dartfreak75 said:
Yea the crank issue is fixed. But with the new ecu iv only got 5 volts at the coil still no spark
Click to expand...

Is this condition with the key on or with the engine cranking? And if cranking is it using the key to crank or jumpering the relay?

You TWO voltage sources, and you must test them under proper conditions

1....Test coil+ with "key on" engine stopped. You will expect anywhere from say, 6-10V at coil +

2...Test coil+ when cranking and USING THE KEY to crank You would expect at least 10V here assuming you are also getting more than 10 at the battery. The battery voltage when cranking and the coil+ when cranking should not be far apart. If they are say, 2V different, then you still have a voltage drop problem. For test two we are talking about the IGN2 brown wire circuit.
 
67Dart273 said:
S


Is this condition with the key on or with the engine cranking? And if cranking is it using the key to crank or jumpering the relay?

You TWO voltage sources, and you must test them under proper conditions

1....Test coil+ with "key on" engine stopped. You will expect anywhere from say, 6-10V at coil +

2...Test coil+ when cranking and USING THE KEY to crank You would expect at least 10V here assuming you are also getting more than 10 at the battery. The battery voltage when cranking and the coil+ when cranking should not be far apart. If they are say, 2V different, then you still have a voltage drop problem. For test two we are talking about the IGN2 brown wire circuit.
Click to expand...
Key on not cranking.
 
I worked on it all day and night. I managed to get spark. I have a spark. I got the engine to fire off a couple times it actually started once and ran for about 20 seconds and just stopped now I got nothing again. It does backfire and throw flames out the carb tho. I checked and I still got spark but it won't fire off again. I think I got the timing where it needs to be. I turned the engine over and got the timing mark on about 10-15 degrees before tdc and the rotor is right in the 1 wire on the cap. So that should be enough to get it started. It just pops and backfires out the carb. Idk
 
If it ran and you DID NOT change the timing it might be
Two crossed plug wires. Carefully check the order and pay attention to 5 & 7
retarded timing...........you might suspect the timing marks

Is it possible you have a valve gear problem? IE bent pushrod, misadjusted, stuck / bent valve, broken spring etc?
 
67Dart273 said:
If it ran and you DID NOT change the timing it might be
Two crossed plug wires. Carefully check the order and pay attention to 5 & 7
retarded timing...........you might suspect the timing marks

Is it possible you have a valve gear problem? IE bent pushrod, misadjusted, stuck / bent valve, broken spring etc?
Click to expand...
I have changed the timing I moved it back and forth to try and find the right spot. I wouldn't think anything would be wrong with the valve train its all new. But I guess anything is possible lol. I will double check my plug wires tomorrow. I think it's still a weak spark issue. I will run some test tomorrow.
 
I had the same weak spark problem on my crate engine. It ended up being the alternator wire running through the bulk head connection. All the way to the ignition switch. My engine broke in but after break in it would just weak spark and back fire. One night it backfired so loud my friend heard it 2 blocks away.
 
Last edited:
Dartsun said:
I had the same exhaust weak spark problem on my crate engine. It ended up being the alternator wire running through the bulk head connection. All the way to the ignition switch. My engine broke in but after break in it would just weak spark and back fire. One night it backfired so loud my friend heard it 2 blocks away.
Click to expand...
By far the loudest backfire I ever heard in my life was a 29 model t...
 
dartfreak75 said:
I worked on it all day and night. I managed to get spark. I have a spark. I got the engine to fire off a couple times it actually started once and ran for about 20 seconds and just stopped now I got nothing again. It does backfire and throw flames out the carb tho. I checked and I still got spark but it won't fire off again. I think I got the timing where it needs to be. I turned the engine over and got the timing mark on about 10-15 degrees before tdc and the rotor is right in the 1 wire on the cap. So that should be enough to get it started. It just pops and backfires out the carb. Idk
Click to expand...
Flames through the carb ...... sounds like a timing event OR spark jumping across in the distributor, like a cracked cap?
 
318willrun said:
Flames through the carb ...... sounds like a timing event OR spark jumping across in the distributor, like a cracked cap?
Click to expand...
Thats what I thought too. I was thinking it was a timing issue. So I cranked the engine over to around 10 degrees before tdc and checked the rotor, I had marked the #1 wire in the base of the distributor. Then turned the distributor till the rotor was right on that mark so that should be around 10 degrees advance. To me that should run there. The cap the rotor wires and plugs are all new. So I don't think the cap is cracked.
 
dartfreak75 said:
Thats what I thought too. I was thinking it was a timing issue. So I cranked the engine over to around 10 degrees before tdc and checked the rotor, I had marked the #1 wire in the base of the distributor. Then turned the distributor till the rotor was right on that mark so that should be around 10 degrees advance. To me that should run there. The cap the rotor wires and plugs are all new. So I don't think the cap is cracked.
Click to expand...
This is what I'd do:
  1. Remove drivers valve cover
  2. rotate engine until intake valve opens and shuts on number 1 cyl
  3. bring piston to TDC rotating same direction engine runs.
  4. Clock the number 1 plug wire at the cap and remove cap and see where the rotors pointing
  5. Then go around the cap verifying firing order.
 
318willrun said:
This is what I'd do:
  1. Remove drivers valve cover
  2. rotate engine until intake valve opens and shuts on number 1 cyl
  3. bring piston to TDC rotating same direction engine runs.
  4. Clock the number 1 plug wire at the cap and remove cap and see where the rotors pointing
  5. Then go around the cap verifying firing order.
Click to expand...
That is pretty much exactly what I did except removing the valve cover. I just put my finger over the plug hole then turned the engine back to 10 degrees (maybe a shade before). TDC then marked the "1 wire on the base and remove the cap on the dissy then turned it till it lined up. I think it's still weak spark issue. I have checked multiple wires and I'm getting a spark but with my test light the light is very dim.
 
dartfreak75 said:
That is pretty much exactly what I did except removing the valve cover. I just put my finger over the plug hole the turned the engine back to 10 degrees (maybe a shade before). TDC then marked the "1 wire on the base and remove the cap on the dissy then turned it till it lined up. I think it's still weak spark issue. I have checked multiple wires and I'm getting a spark but with my test light the light is very dim.
Click to expand...
put your finger over the hole till you felt compression?
 
Dartsun said:
I had the same weak spark problem on my crate engine. It ended up being the alternator wire running through the bulk head connection. All the way to the ignition switch. My engine broke in but after break in it would just weak spark and back fire. One night it backfired so loud my friend heard it 2 blocks away.
Click to expand...
I think that a weak spark is my issue. The backfire is loud lol my kids thought I was shooting a gun outside. Lol
 
318willrun said:
I'd pull the valve covers and verify timing and make sure ALL the rockers are moving up and down as they should
Click to expand...
Ok I will do that tomorrow. Something has to be going on. The fact that it started and ran and then just shut off makes me have a bad feeling. I got it up to about 2300 rpm and it sounded good I was about to shoot the timing and just shut off like a power issue. It didn't sputter and spit and die it just shut off now all it will do is back fire it don't even want to try and hit now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top