I changed out my spark plugs and wires yesterday and now it won't start. I have an 84 Z28. I recently changed out the starter & battery (within a month or two) and the alternator was done within a couple years. I know the firing order is correct since I did the wires/plugs one at a time. I also double checked it against my book.

I started to pull of the distributor cap as I was going to replace that as well, but I got the wrong one (Amazon, oops), so I put it back on as it was.

I pulled off the air-cleaner to get to the wires better, is there something I could have disconnected? As I was pulling off the air cleaner, I noticed a random wire about the size of speaker wire dangling on the driver's side of the throttle body. I didn't see it come off of anything and I can't find anything that it looks like it hooks up to.

I still have power and the car tries to turn over. It sounds like a dying battery or bad starter, but both of those are practically new. And it's just weird timing, since I was doing the wires/plugs. Any ideas would be great.

Also, I almost forgot, after I try to crank it, there is a clicking sound coming from the throttle body. I can't see anything moving and it only happens with the key turned. As soon as I turn the key back from start the noise stops.

 

Are all wires (tach, ground, power) hooked back up to distributor cap? Youre dangling wire by the throttle body if its touching bare metal cld be arking maybe.

 

As far as I can tell, all the wires are good. I didn't actually get any wires disconnected, just got the cap off and a look at the ignition coil. The dangling wire isn't touching anything.

Also, I forgot, it did crank once for a half of a second right after I finished everything. Is it possible I fried something? I've got a test light and I'm poking around but I don't really know what I'm poking, tbh. And the test light seems to be acting up. If I ground the test light and poke the positive on the battery, I should get a light, correct?

 

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Your car should have a carburetor?

However all that may be, first find where the wire goes, and hook it back up. That BY ITSELF might be all you need, to get it back running.

If it goes nowhere, follow The Universal Rule Of Wire. Which is: if one end isn't hooked up, then it's not doing anything. And if that end isn't doing anything, then neither is the other end. And if neither end is doing anything, then none of the middle is either. It's just a passenger, dead weight. Get it out of there before it wastes any more gas hauling it around.

If it ran before you worked on it and doesn't run now after you worked on it, check your work.

See my signature for a helpful pointer in logic and reasoning.

 

If the car did crank as you claim, or tries to crank as you also claim, its not the tune-up nor is it likely any loose small wires in the engine bay.

Age of battery and starter don't have much to do with whether they're good or not, and nothing to do with whether or not the battery has been run down.

Now is the battery bad or just in a low state of charge? Check the voltage. Check for loose connections. Pull the cables, check for corrosion, clean them anyway. If its all good load test it, or have it load tested. Battery's good, well must be the cables or the starter, so check your ground cables, check your starter cables, and if all's well have the starter tested. When it cranks and doesn't start worry about the tune-up and/or misc engine wires.

 

Ok, ended up being a bad rotor. Had a small crack that I missed. I'm still new, so if I sound stupid, it's probably because I am. Anyway, here's where I'm at. (I need a bit of help still)

I ended up replacing the entire distributor, since it was only a thirty dollar difference to order a new distributor from Jegs vs buying rotor + ignition coil + cap. Might not have been the smartest decision, but it's all installed so a bit too late now.

Anyway, the new distributor has a vacuum advance, whereas the one I removed did not. I can see where it would connect, but since I don't have any vacuum line (not sure if that's the right terminology) I cannot connect it right now. The car does run and seems to idle fine. Should I pick up some line and connect it? (I'm thinking yes...)

Also, the piece inside the old distributor which my manual calls the amplifier module had a connector that plugged up to a 4 prong connector in the engine bay. The new one, though it has an amplifier module, does not have this connector, leaving the four prong connector in my engine bay unconnected. I don't imagine this to be an issue, since I am assuming the newer distributor is less complex thanks to increasing technology and such, but I figured I would mention it.

So, bottom line, car runs and sounds perfect. Everything looks very good.

BUT I now have a check engine light. If it wasn't for the check engine light, I would be very happy with the end result. Any ideas?

 

Your check engine light is most likely from the fact that your new distributor isnt set up like the old one, therefore the computer thinks something is wrong seeing as you dont have the wires hooked up, and also you have nothing to advance the timing as you put more load on the engine and whatnot. I would just put in the style you had before so everything is running correctly. I dont know how you'd go about converting to a vacuum advance because I've never messed around with it much, but it does seem possible to get it to work right if you know what you're doing with it.