No spark, no start!

[gadget73]

You should have two small posts on that relay. There is a red/something that is the S terminal. Thats what makes the relay throw. The other terminal is the I terminal, and powers the ignition system when its cranking.

HEI needs the same power feeds as duraspark. The ignition hot wire that feeds the system in run mode has no power in start mode. Its a Ford thing that I can't really explain the reasoning for. Long story short, it won't start as long as you hold it in start, but it will light when you let go of the key unless you hook it up exactly as the wiring diagram says to. Don't put an HEI in there, its more effort than its worth and it won't fix anything. You have an ignition voltage supply problem that changing the ignition system won't fix. if the Dspark has no power, HEI won't have power either.

[johnunit]

I've gotten good results from just taking off ALL the stuff on the forward post of the starter solenoid and cleaning the contacts. You may just have a general voltage problem resulting from a bad connection from the positive battery cable to the rest of the systems. Those wires all sort of run current through eachother in a weird way on that post. Some time with a 320ish grit sandpaper or emery board on all of those, and a thorough inspection of all the wires (my positive cable was shot, but only right where it met the solenoid post) is worth a try.

[1987cp]

Have you been able to verify that the ignition box is getting power? What I'm picturing is an 8-pin (7?) rectangular plug on the d/s inner fender. One of the pins is hot in Start and the other is hot in Run. I'm thinking one may have been plain red and one red with a black or white stripe.

[Brown_Muscle]

Ah ok I know what your talking about now thain...I'll check that out. thanks

I do have a lot of crap on there...I"ll clean it all up.

And yes the box is getting power...John came over with his fancy step by step electrical book for Ford electrical systems and we tested multiple things....resulting in the most likely problem is in fact the ignition module.

[Brown_Muscle]

Pretty sure we found the problem today... BIG thanks to John AKA Vicky86LX..

The stator aka distributor pickup module wires were reading around 14 megaohms...when they should have been between 400-5000 ohms... took it apart and well... as soon as i touched it one of the wires fell apart....

also i touched one of the "teeth" on the reflector ring and it broke off so im replacing that as well...however preliminary tests look good and this appears to have been the problem! all hidden from sight....

PIX!

[1987cp]

The stator aka distributor pickup module wires were reading around 14 megaohms...when they should have been between 400-5000 ohms...

That's extremely useful information ... never thought to try testing one. Was that info just from the Haynes manual or something? Now that I know that, I'll have to test my spares and make sure they're OK.


Excellent that it's an easy and cheap fix.

[Brown_Muscle]

It was actually from a special electrical/vacuum diagram book John has... I can get the name of it if your interested, I should pick one up. Its definitely easy enough to test, on mine it was the orange and purple wires coming from the module...although if there was a lot of resistance in the wires in between the module and the pickup it could just be in the wires, so we tested right at the connector by the dizzy before taking it apart.

[87gtVIC]

cool beans Phil.

[gadget73]

probably the Electrical Vacuum Troubleshooting Manual if I had to guess. The Ford shop manual would also have the appropriate testing info.

[gabegt90]

good thing you got here running

[Brown_Muscle]

probably the Electrical Vacuum Troubleshooting Manual if I had to guess. The Ford shop manual would also have the appropriate testing info.

Thats it!

And thanks guys... i wont know 100% sure if its good until tomorrow...but it seems to be fine, at least, it was producing good spark now