two weeks ago i was out cruising when the car just flatout died on me. i was going 50mph and just cut out. when i pulled over and opened the hood i was greeted with smoke that kinda smelled like clutch material coming from behind the engine/in front of the trans. funny thing is i have an automatic (700r4). i tried starting it numerous times but it just keeps cranking and cranking and never fires up. just recently i decided to finally diagnose what was the matter. i first diagnosed the trans. gladly it's not seized. plenty of fluid in it and it moves when manually pushed in all gears. my next thought was maybe there's no spark? i hooked my spark tester up to a few plug wires and lo and behold there's no spark. i tested 3 different plug wires, then hooked it up to the coil wire that goes into the distributor. no spark there either. i then got my volt meter out and started tracing wires. a buddy of mine told me to test the voltage at the 2 connectors at the coil to check for voltage. one connector is black and the other is gray. he told me to test the gray one as that one sends the power to the coil. both connectors have 2 prongs in them. when i checked the voltage for the gray connector, one prong measured 0.024 volts and the other was 11.8 volts. the prongs were labeled A and B. i believe it was B that had 11.8 volts. i recently changed the coil, cap and rotor and thought maybe the coil was bad. i bought another one yesterday and it still didn't start. now i'm at the point where i'm stumped (obviously) and call on your help. save the bird, guys!

-Mark

p.s. i have the GM factory repair manual and was following the repair flow chart on page 6E3-c4-5 for those who have one as well. i got as far as the third part of step 4.

 

Make sure the HEI switching module is actually turning the coil primary ground off and on.

 

is the switching module the same as the ignition module? if not where is the switching module and how does a n00b like me test it?

 

Yes, it's the same thing. That's what the HEI module does - Amplify the trigger signal from the pickup coil, send the amplified signal to the ECM, and also uses the signal to operate the transistor which switches the coil primary current with some timing input from the EST.

 

You can take the ignition module to a place like autozone and they can test it for free...

 

i just had the module replaced like 3-4 years ago. are they prone to go bad?

 

No, but it happens...

 

problem solved. the module crapped out. thanks guys.

 

You should have been able to ascertain that through a thorough visual inspection. All the little piles of module excrement should have been your hint.

 

lol true indeed. good thing i bought another one because i didn't want to do a colonoscopy. thanks for you help, guys.