Ok so about a week ago it had been raining non stop. I didn't drive my car for about 3 days. When I did drive it it took a while to start, I thought it was just probably moisture from the rain. Well 2 nights ago I left work and got home. Car started and ran fine. 3 hours later I went to leave and it wouldn't start. I killed the battery trying. Today I swapped out the cap and rotor for a new set I already had, still no start. Swapped out my msd coil with the old one, still nothing. So I pulled a plug and set the end on the headers and cranked it and I didn't see it spark. So what could this be cause ive ruled out cap, rotor, and coil. I need some help figuring this out cause there really weren't any signs to any thing wrong. Hope yall can help. Let me know if ypu need more info.

 

Also i have an aldl cable and winaldl on my laptop, will it show me what isnt happening or atleast let me know if the computer is fine?

 

Are you getting power to the coil (red wire)?

 

Dont know, i have a fluke multimeter. What do i set it to to test it

 

DC..what model number is it?

 

I aint home at the moment, i looked it up once though and it sells for around 300, i just aint good with electrical. It was a gift lol. Ive only used it to test resistance.

 

Set it to the V with the dashed line. When you move the selector it should show on the readout "AC" or "DC"....mine does anyway. A test light should work as well. Oh, red wire on the grey plug at the coil.

AC is alternating and DC is directional....C is current. AC is inside the house. DC is directional and refers to batteries.

 

Got it, also just to verify i aint gettin spark can i hook my timing light up and turn it over just to see if it flashes.

 

That would work. Could pull the coil wire stick a screwdriver in it then set it near metal and see if ti arcs when cranking as well.

 

So if the coil isnt getting power whats next, the icm?

 

Not sure, but I would certainly take it to have it tested.

 

Pick up coil?

 

Icm

 

Is the icm the piece under the rotor button? If so that did look very rusty when i switched out the dist. cap and button.

 

When I had spark problems on my '88 TBI K1500, the distributor (pickup coil) was at fault.

A replacement distributor, or in my case, a replacement distributor main shaft permanently cured the intermittent lack of spark.

 

I had a similar problem over the summer with my car. The distributor was original so I pulled it an replaced the ICM and pickup coil in there as well as a new cap & rotor. Cost less than $100 and took a few hours.

May as well replace the pickup coil & ICM at the same time, not worth the hassle to do one at a time.

No need to replace the whole distributor unless the gear or shaft is visibly warn when you pull it. The whole thing comes apart with basic hand tools in like 20 minutes.

 

I took out the icm, im gonna get it tested tomorrow. How do I remove the pick-up coil? Is there a puller tool I need? This sucks, im having to drive my Dakota so for the amount its gonna take me to fill up the Dakota's tank that'll only last 3 to 4 days I could have my car fixed. My car being down is killing my wallet.

 

so ive done some looking and I guess the dizzy has to come out to remove the pickup, I tested it and the ohms reading I got was .833, is this within standards or bad? Thanks

 

Pulling the distributor isn't that bad. When I did it I marked the rotor position along with the position of the housing all relative to the body/intake.

You will need to time the motor afterwards but as long as you don't turn the motor over while its apart you should be able to get it to fire after lining up the marks.

I'm not familiar with the spec of the pickup coil but if it hasn't been replaced its 20 something years old and only costs less than $20. Might as well just swap it while you in there.

 

Im getting the icm tested today but i think im gonna go with a cardone reman distributor. Advance has a 15% off deal when you order online going on so that drops the price to $109 and after returning my core i'll get $25back. So i can get the entire distributor with a new pickup and icm for $84. Seems like a good deal to me, and the cardone reviews under the vendor review seem good.

 

So the icm tested bad 3 times, guess its bad.

 

Kinda depends on WHO tested it, using WHAT equipment and procedure.

I have approximately zero faith in the accuracy of "on-the-bench" ignition module tests. I don't trust most parts-counter people to properly test a starter or alternator off-the-car.

IF (big IF) you were testing a four-pin HEI module, I'd be more confident in an on-the-car test. The more pins, the more likely the module will be improperly (or at least incompletely) tested. Similar-year trucks use an eight-pin module, apparently the cars use something different, since folks have told you the pickup coil is easily changed and less than twenty bucks.

If the vehicle runs with a new module...great. If not...you might want to hold onto that old module.

 

Well i got it back up and runnin, it was the icm. I ended up not getting a reman dist. and just waiting to get a good one with a lifetime waranty.