Geardo

I just bought a 93 Ruby Red, and had it towed home. Bought the car for $2000, it's a six speed car with 155,000 miles on it. The previous owner was ChopperClay, he gave up on it. It has no spark, so I'm going to start from the 1st step, and test every component.

Geardo

No voltage to the coil, all fuses are good

ghoastrider1

in the old days, I would check the wires and connection @ the starter..the small wire hooked with the battery cable.. that's where the hot was. Don't know about the new computer cars. (coil wise) but am learning quickly.

Geardo

after pulling all the fuses, and reseating all the connectors, the car started on 1st try, and ran perfect. looks like maybe the coil harness doesn't fit the connector securely

ghoastrider1

thanks for the update. Keep us posted on your journey with this ruby..some of us like to follow the the project.

Geardo

Now the car is back to no start

1985 Corvette

Not to degrade to throwing parts at it, but given the mileage, would replacing the existing ignition system as a whole be an option for you? Any pictures?

Geardo

The previous owner replaced the Opti, coil, and ICM. The no voltage to the coil, makes me think PCM, Auzone has a Cardone reman for $160

ghoastrider1

I think I saw one listed here from "parts for sale". Wanted maybe 1/3 that price with free shipping.

RandomTask

Is there an aftermarket tach installed? If so, make sure the wire isn't grounding out on anything. . . although that should pop the fuse.

Check the coil with a multimeter.

Pull all the connectors off. Put the + on the wire that goes to the opti and put negative on the four different connectors on the coil. Should be ~8500 ohms.

Any auto store can check the ICM.

Oh, another thing to check is the ignition relay. You can try to jump it, may be the relay is sticking?

MJFuss

I wonder which wire you jiggled made it work for a while.

Anytime I see unplugging and re-plugging temporarily fix a problem I look to the wires themselves.

Geardo

I ordered a Opti harness, the one on the car looked really nasty, and a new ICM.

bogus

the coil harness is prone to wearing out and failing... replace same.

Geardo

Looks like you buy the connectors, and splice them in?

RandomTask

Yup, solder them in, don't just splice.

81c3

Im not sure, but, the clutch safety switch if bad, or going bad, will prevent the car from starting....might be something to look at, test or change out...

Geardo

Wouldn't the clutch safety switch prevent it from cranking? I don't have a problem cranking the engine, just a no spark problem.

81c3

Yes, I would say youre correct.

Geardo

Replaced the ICM, still no start, replaced the coil with a MSD, and replaced the Opti harness, now it starts, idles a little high, but ran it till it was 200 degrees shut down, and restarted several times. I did notice the ASR light, and security light flashed a few times.

indallas1978

I never had an issue with my ruby & I'm not thinking it is this but, my 87 had a start/no start issue and it was the resistor on the key itself was worn. I'm guessing that it wouldn't even crank if that was the case but you did say the security light was coming on. Like I said it's probably not it, just wanted to throw that out there. Good luck and keep us posted! I love those rubys.