Hi everyone,

I decided to do a tune-up last night... installed a new ignition module, cap, rotor, external coil, and plug wires.

However, after all that the car won't start! It just cranks but never starts. I tried putting my old coil and module back in but it didn't help.

Just to make sure I'm correct, I have the green distributor wire to the inside of the module and the white wire to the outside.

Any ideas on what is wrong?

Thanks!

 

Are you referring to the pickup coil in the distributor or the ignition coil.

I think that you have the wires of the pickup coil correct (Unless it's the ignition coil we are talking about). I also think that it shouldn't matter.

If it is the ignition coil you replaced then you should have more then 2 wires going to it. I'm not sure on what the color might be on your car. Also, I'm pretty sure that there is only one way to hook the wires up.

Are you positive that it is a spark issue? I can't count how many times I've gone in one direction because of replacing something just to find out that the issue was completely unrelated.

Once the issue is confirmed to be a spark issue I would check the following:
-Plug wire order
-Connections to the ignition coil
-Test the ignition coil
-Test the plug wires for resistance
-Check timing

On that note if you replaced the pickup coil then you would have had to remove the distributor. If this is the case you may have the distributor 180 off.

Does it even try to start or just crank and no sputter?

 

I replaced both the external coil and the ignition control module.

My distributor was working fine & car was running until i put on the new parts.... now won't start.

I didn't replace the pickup coil. Do you think the new external coil may have killed the pickup?

It just turns over with no sputter.

 

That's what happened to my 87, but we found out it was just one of the cables on the ignition coil was on backwards, so we turned it around and it was fine. But I don't know if that's what happened to you, I know I did it because the way the cable was shaped it looked like it went that way.