car wont start now, the car has been sitting for a while now doing other things. i installed a msd box and i thought my old computer was messing up so i got a new one. now it wont start, i thought it might be the box so i reconnected the wires back to stock and it still doesnt start, i put an old spark plug in one of my wires and i didnt see a spark from the spark plug. so is my wiring on the coil just messed up or do you think my computer is the problem, can you just install a new computer and just go.

 

As long as you get the same type.. IE.. 1227730 must be 1227730 or 1227165 must be the same.. You can take your Eprom out of the old providing it is good and install into the new computer also.

 

yes when i ordered it they made me provide my number on my old computer, i am also using the prom from the old computer

 

if you are having computer problems, can that make you have no spark

 

most likely not.

 

I am not 100% sure but thinking that eveything including your EST or ESC ties into the computer. I would have to say yes. One good way to experiment this would to disconnect your ECM and crank the engine over with a plug wire dummy to ground. If you see spark then I am wrong.

 

ibmtech, do you know where the ecm/fuel fuse is. 87zjeff was telling me about it that it is under the hood in a weatherpack connector, he said to follow the positive cable, his was on the fender well, do you know where it is or any pictures to point it out to me

 

Look on the Right Fender above and about where the battery is at. Real Easy to see and get to. I don't remember which fuse is in there, but that is how I disable my car so the wife doesn't drive it around.

 

didnt find the fuse, is it like a fuse like that is in your fuse box or a different kind of fuse. i hooked the wires back up to factory, used dvom on coil wires, mine is a dual clip coil, getting 12 volts on both sides of the coil, must be my computer or this fuse that i cant find

 

I will take a pic and send to you within a couple of hours. You can't see the fuse unless you open the weatherproof connector. But, it is just the fuses in the fuse block.

 

Sorry about the delay.. Had to find the camera to get the picture for you. This is the location that I was talking about by the battery

 

im telling you i looked all over, didnt find anything like that, am if i did they all have like three or more wires to them, the only thing i found was a fusible link near the battery and that is it, the previous owner did a messy job of rigging up the fans and other stuff like that, i had it send done to a shop to get it all sorted out, they may have cut it out or something

 

I believe some of the older cars used a fusible link and no fuse. Mike

 

pull the 4 pin plug on the dist. that will take the computer and wiring out of the equation. might be a bad module or pick-up at that point if you still have no spark

 

Not really sure if I gave accurate info on that or not now. I was told that if your ECM is kicking out a code 43 which most of the time is a false code means your ECM is dying. You EPROM and ECU should run in limp mode.. The car should get a spark but the car will run really bad..

 

yeah i changed the module a while back because i couldnt get it to start one day, it ended up being the gear on the distributor went out, i thought it might be the module and had it tested at autozone and it came up bad so i replaced it. in the past, the old computer never kicked out a code 43, it was just idling weird, even replaced the tps sensor and still idle weird, but the code dissapeared then though. i had a shop try to figure it out and they didnt know, they hooked it up to their computer and it came up having 18 codes even though the check engine light was never on. then they hooked it up again and it came up 0 codes then. they thought it might be the computer messing with me too, because i went thru a flow chart and everything was pointing at a defective ecm. i just rebuilt the tranny so i am ready for a break i figure i would just let them look at it. on thur they told me that it seems to be the distr. even though i have never touched it since they replaced that gear, not even wires, i have been no where near it. they were so busy that they really didnt know if that was it or not,they were going to try and get to it today but i saw it still sitting outside so it will be mon. before i know anything else, p.s. sorry it was so long

 

The ECM doesn't control whether there is a spark or not, it only controls the timing of it.
If your computer was completely dead, the car would still start, but there would be no advance or retard on the timing. As long as the distributor has power going to it, it will spark. It sounds like the module, or no power to the distributor or coil.

Sara Lou

 

or the pick-up coil or a grounded tach wire. (single white wire from the cap, pull it loose temporarily)

 

i do have 12v to the coil, i have a dual connector style external coil, i am getting 12 volts on both sides, it could be the module but i replaced that a year ago, i dont think there is any white wire on my cap, there is a white optional tach wire that is connected to my coil. mines not a magnetic pickup

 

I had a similar prob with a V6 'maro I used to have. One day at work it wouldn't start, I had the module tested and it checked out ok.
After I put it back in, it fired right up?. Turned out that the little wire that connects to the module was just trapped under the rim of the distributor cap. It happened a couple of times before I found the problem.
Might be worth checking yours just in case.

Sara Lou

 

Since the Setup that I am running doesn't use all the wires like the standard remote coil, I just connected both Red Wires togethor, And both White wires togethor. My Accell System then got attached accordingly. It is hard to track down a problem sometimes if you don't kmow where to start.

 

have you ever wired up a msd box then, thats what i thought it said for me to do, but i wired it a different way becuase i thought i was wrong, i emailed them at they sent me a diagram that looks different than the instructions that came with it said. This link is to the diagram that came with the instructions, not the one that the msd tech guy sent me.
http://www.msdignition.com/pdf/6%20series/6series.pdf

if you can go to the link and look at it, what wires are the ones that connect to the msds red and white wires, are those the other ends of the wires from the coil that you are suppose to cut

 

page 17 of that pdf should be all you need

 

page 17?, i dont have magnetic pickup, that diagram on 14 is all i need, i just need to know that i am understanding it

 

well it ended up being the module, im just glad that they found it,its running now, now i can go out and test my tranny, finally. Thanks guys

 

about the page 17 reference, that refers to using the pick-up coil in the dist to trigger the box. you remove the module in that setup and wire straight to the coil

 

sorry dont get it, i just figured that i would have to wire up the 4 wires on the msd. cut the coil wires and wire the orange and black to one end and the red and white to the other end and that would be it. but if you look in that setup, you are taking the module off, and you are wiring up the magnetic pickup part from the box, my distr. looks nothing like that and my cap doesnt look like that either, i dont have any vacumn diaphram on my distr. either