So I have put a new head gaskets and cylinder heads on my 2.8L. One of thr cylinders had zero comptession. After I got it back together it will not start. It just constantly cranks. You can smell fuel on the plugs so the fuel is working. But I pulled one of the plugs from the distributor and grounded it to test for spark and there was nothing. I also put a
plug in the end of the coil wire and grounded it to see if there was spark coming from the coil and there was none. I checked all the cables and they are all plugged in properly. And the distributor is wired correctly. The ignition coil is like 3 weeks old so I don't think it's the problem. Any ideas?

 

Make sure you have power going to the coil....red wire.

 

So on top of the ignition coil there are two electrical connectors that plug in. I have them both plugged in. Then there is the wire that goes to the distributor I have that plugged in too. I Don think there are any others?

 

Sorry, just realized this is an '85 but images show the coils are the same essentially. For my '89 the distributor has two sets of wires going to it. One is a jumper from the coil and the other is from the main harness behind the heads. One has four wires and the other has two (jumper from coil). The red wire to coil should show voltage (12v) with key on. But the ICM may not be sending a signal to the ECM as another possible problem...which is where I would check after checking the red wire for power.

 

Oh sorry I did not put the year its an 85. I am doing this on my moms phone out in the middle of nowhere. So i put the key in and turned it on where the idiot lights in the dash came on. Then I went out and set my multimeter to DCV 200 and grounded the negitive on a strut bolt. And there were two sets of wires one leading to the distributor and the other going to the harness. The one going to the harness had two wires a black and red. I tested the red and it peaked at 00.3 . Is the ignition control modual usually located in the dash or in the engine?

 

ICM is in the distributor under the cap...it is what the wires plug into at the distributor. That wire you tested should indicate "12." Double check your meter by putting your meter on the battery and see if it reads "12."

Did you hook up the ground wires on the back of the heads? Just trying to give you some ideas.

Sometimes all we need is a day away from a project and then our mistakes will slap us in the face when we walk back out to the project.

 

Oh ok that is the ICM. Ok about the ground wires on the drivers side head there were 4 I got them all screwed down to the back of the head. I don't think they had to be on in any specific order so I put two on each nut. I did not see any more. On the passengers side I missed the one that looks like a shoe lace. So I put it on the nut that holds down the bracket for the ignition coil. That bracket is attached to the exhaust manifold so it should be grounded? Sorry don't know much about electrical. I need to Google some stuff on my multimeter. Its odd that something would fail after replacing the head gaskets.