sr20fd3st

Hey, I pulled the distributor in my 84 camaro with a swapped L-81 350 to clean it up and hopefully sell it to get a new mallory or w/e. It's a vacuum advance distributor. All i did when i took it out is take off the cap, clean up some grease n grime inside and out with a paper towel, then put it back in the car. checked the plug connections and firing order 10 times but when i crank the motor, there's no spark. I checked it both at the plug and at the cap.

Anyone with any clues, let me know please. Here's a pic of the dizzy

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Make sure the plug from the base to cap is securely connected, and the power (BATT) wire is seated properly. If those aren't the problem, you may have disturbed the control module wires inside the distributor.

sr20fd3st

if all the wires are good that you mentioned, then is there any hope or do i need to replace parts in this thing? or just dump the whole thing for a new one?

Atilla the Fun

If you got it one tooth off, then you can recheck the connections and firing order a hundred times and not get it to start. At this point, you need to pull the left valve cover, get the front cylinder to both valves closed, then use the timing mark to get the piston to 6 degrees BTDC.
Now, reinstall the distributor, without turning the engine any. You may need a long straight screwdriver to get the oilpump driveshaft lined up. The rotor should be pointing toward cyl #1. Once it's in, male a mark on the base, where the rotor is pointing, then put the cap on and line up a post with the mark.
Put your #1 spark plug on the post above the mark, and route the rest of the wires. The dizzy turns clockwise as viewed from above.
If this doesn't get you started, then you have other problems.

sr20fd3st

Yea I checked the initial timing and all that, the stupid thing just won't produce a spark.

If i supply a constant + and - battery source to the coil, will it burn out the coil? i didnt think it would, since the coil receives that anyway when you turn on the ignition. with coil packs you cant do that because they are getting their control from a separate source, but on this thing, the wires coming from the base must go up and interupt battery current between discharges. I could always take it out, hook it up to the battery, and connect a spark wire and spark tester, and spin the shaft by hand. i would just make sure not to leave it sitting on a terminal for too long or i'll fry the poor thing.

i dunno?

jamon8

iTrader: (3)

that grease you wiped out is di-electric grease and must be under the ign control module or you are gonna have problems

take the dissy back apart and grease it up

sr20fd3st

Will do, I'll see what happens

Thanks,
Oliver

rgarcia63

You don't mention removing the Igntion Control Module, you just cleaned around it, Right?

If the dizzy is properly ground and 12volts at BATT wire is present with the key on, or cranking then mostly likely the module is bad.

Are you sure the rotor is turning when you crank it?

sr20fd3st

yea, didn't pull module. I'll pull out the multimeter and start checking. Funny you mention the rotor not turning, that was my first thought, but didnt make sense since the distributor is definately seated all the way. I'm pulling it back out right now so I'll see what I can find out. Thank you all for your help, I'll let you know how things progress after today.

Thanks,
Oliver

sr20fd3st

alright, pulled it out, thru some dielectric grease on a few contacts for ***** sake, made sure the wires were connected (which they were very loosely before but fixed it) bent the center contact on the rotor up a bit to amek sure the coil touched it, and dropped it back in. I didnt waste time timing it since regardless of its position, it should make a spark, whether or not it's at the right time I don't care right now.

So I tossed it in, clamped it down, connected + ign and - ground wires, pulled a plug and attached a single wire to it and the cap, and grounded the plug (straight to Batt GROUND)

I cranked the motor and there was spark!, but god was it lame. Weak and yellow, not what I wanted to see. Does anyone know what the specs should be on the coil or any other parts of the dizzy I could check with a mutlimeter?

Thanks

rgarcia63

Take a good look at the spring loaded button of the cap make sure it's not broken or worn down.

jamon8

iTrader: (3)

the grease goes under the ign module

on the flat spot that is machined into the base of the dissy

heres a little help

buy a book and read first!

rgarcia63

You may already know, but just incase:
FYI; what some people call grease is actually a heat sink compound specifically made for transfering the heat from the module to the base of the distributor. Don't use dielectric grease as a heat sink compound.
New modules should come supplied with compound, but if you remove the old one be sure to clean off the old compound and apply a fresh batch before reinstalling the module.

Would like to hear where you are with this problem.

vette gator

Is the ground strap (third blade) to the coil in place? If it's missing, the spark will be really weak.

sr20fd3st

hey. It's been a few days but havnt had a chance to make too much progress. I am sure I didnt wipe away anything under the module or near it, i simply wiped away some residue on the grey housing to make it look a little nicer. I didnt get my towel anywhere near any of the parts for that exact reason, of not wanting to mess anything up.

When I put it back together this second time when i finally produced spark (the really weak one) I took the plastic cover off the coil and made sure all the blades were fully seated into the connectors, which they are now. Maybe I'll run a direct ground from that blade to the battery or a good spot on the chassis, maybe its just a bad ground source/wire.

I'll take a look at the coil button too.

Thanks again,
Oliver

rgarcia63

Humor me will ya? Check resistance (continuity) first from distributor aluminum housing to the braided copper strap and then to the battery negative terminal with a Digital volt meter. need actual resistance not just that there is continuity.

sr20fd3st

what braided strap? only wires connected to the distributor are the 3 coming from the housing to the coil on the cap, and the ingition and tach wires connecting to the coil on the cap. Do you mean just any engine ground strap? since any engine ground would ground the distributor?

Also btw, that spring loaded button on the cap that was referred to. Do you mean the button that the coil contacts the rotor with? I saw some scorring on the flat blade on the rotor, so maybe there is a gap. The button doesnt seem to be spring loaded, but im takin the coil off to check it out.

Thanks,
Oliver

rgarcia63

Yea the strap on the firewall. The dizzy will be grounded but, if there's significant resistance the spark will be weak.

Your cap is different than mine, but won't hurt to check the button, also check for carbon tracks on the inside of cap and on the plastic part of the rotor even if they're new parts.

sr20fd3st

okay, so for no reason it started the other day. no reason why I can think of. Runs great. Kind of worries me though, I don't like problems dissapearing without knowing what was wrong. Just means could happen again.

Thank you everyone for you help,
Oliver