Mr_Metal

OK, I had the '89 2.8L MPFI running for about 24 hours before I did something pretty boneheaded.

Here's the deal:
When the car wasn't running, I bought an aftermarket MSD coil for MPFI cars (like ours), just in case it wasn't getting adequate spark. (Well, it wasn't a spark issue after all).

Yesterday afternoon I got the inline fuel pump in there and she fired right over... idling very well w/ a slight miss due to old plugs, etc.

So, today... after changing oil and giving a proper tune-up... I remembered that I had the MSD coil sitting in a box out in the shop.

I mounted the coil on the passenger inner fender (to keep cool), which meant that I had to extend the 4 wires that go to the coil (2 that come out of the distributor module & 2 that come out of the main harness).

Well, I spliced/extended the 4 wires... but FORGOT to unhook the battery cable before I did that.

When I got done and went to start the car... it just cranked and cranked... NO SPARK whatsoever... NONE ! So, I immediately switch the coil wires back to the original coil (still mounted next to the engine) and try that... NOTHING there either, NO SPARK.

I figured I blew the distributor module, so I swapped that out w/ an extra one that I had out in the shop.

STILL NOTHING... NO SPARK coming from the COIL... NONE.

Can anyone offer any assistance to what I may have fried or blew?

Surely, something like this has happened to someone on this board... and hopefully someone will remember and can help me remedy this problem.

I'm SO frustrated because I JUST got it running... and now, a boneheaded move may delay the launch even further... Arrrrrggghhhhh !!!

-Metal

CaliCamaroRS

Sounds like you either crossed up the wires while splicing or you didn't make good connections on your splices. Did you use solder or butt connectors?

Mr_Metal

I didn't solder the wires; I just spliced them in and wrapped the wires w/ black electrical tape.
I'm pretty sure that the wires didn't get crossed up, as I spliced/lengthened only one wire at a time for just that reason.

Soldering sounds like a good start though, I'll solder the splices and try going back to the original coil.

-Metal

oil pan 4

iTrader: (1)

I don't know if you could have damaged any thing by grounding out one of one of those wires because I have never seen a wiring sechamatic on how it works, I have only seen it portraied as it's own system. Wait, if there were power going throught those wires to the coil there when the car is off your battery would be dead from power going through the coil. There is only about a few dozen ohms of resistance in the coil so if there were power applied it would get hot and you would have a nice dead batt. The only way I can think of to damage it would to be if you touched one of the wires to the positive side of the battery.
It sounds like you need solderless connecters or a soldering pen.

Mr_Metal

SITUATION REMEDIED !!

A quick trip to the local junkyard yielded 2 distributor module to coil wires, 2 TPSs, 2 IACs, and a host of other wiring/sheathing.

Long story short, I simply swapped an 'uncut' factory distributor module to coil wire (2 wire setup) and it fired RIGHT over... NICE !!

Once again, thx for the replies and support.

-Metal
'70 Camaro
'89 Camaro RS