mdavis4957

I am at my wits end and need some input. I have an 85 coupe, 5.7 TPI, standard engine. Have loved this car for years. I know every inch, rattle and noise yet she is giving me heart burn. I keep the car in Southwest Florida, garaged and while not there have a trickle charger attached to the battery.
My home, garage and car sustained no damage from hurricane Erma. My problem is we did lose power for 3 days. Not unusual but since then my car will not start?!
Fuel getting to injectors, and they are working. I have 12v to the distributor however no spark. New cap, rotor, module and coil and still nothing.
Any ideas?

Joe C

how are you checking the "no spark" condition?

biggiefl

Check battery. I had a similar situation in SW Florida and my battery reversed polarity on me. Damndest thing I ever saw so anything is possible.

mdavis4957

The old fashioned way Joe. Screwdriver in plug boot set next to metal. Garage dark cranking looking for the arc.

mdavis4957

If I put my charger on the battery would it not show that? It charged with no issues I could see.

mdavis4957

The old fashioned way. Looking for an arc from plug wire in dark.

KenMathisHD

If polarity is reversed and the charger is hooked up as normal (+=+, -=-), then the charger should show that it's not accepting a charge. If that's the case, hook it up backwards and see if it's happy. Reversing polarity isn't very common, but it can happen. But, it usually only happens when the battery gets drained and is then recharged backwards. But, if your charger was hooked up correctly (which I'm betting it was), then I think your problem lies elsewhere.

Like Joe C was asking, how are you checking the no spark condition? Are you checking all your wires, or just one of them? Did you check to make sure you've got a good ground? If the coil was bad, when you replaced it, did you make sure to hook it back up the same way it came off? Remember, replacing something broken doesn't fix anything if the new part is defective, so make sure your new coil tests good and that your new module tests good too

yd328

Did you check the pick up coil and connector?

Gary

KenMathisHD

Sorry, didn't see this before I posted, I blame cruddy work internet connection

Joe C

prefer you use a proper spark tester to verify the spark, but if that works for you, we're good.

OK, let's analyze this - sounds like everything is new - several things like the cap and rotor should be a no brainer, but double check them for any damage, cracks, anything broken, etc.. you have 12V (pink wire) going into the distributor - correct? i'm assuming you checked that with a DVM - correct? you indicated you have a new ignition module, so lets focus on that - double check all your connections, look for any damage to the to the internal control harness, and the double check the internal pickup coil. just for the hell of it, measure the resistance (reference FSM - should be between 500 and 1500 ohms). with the car being 30+ years old, check the outer insulation of the coil's windings for age related deterioration - inspect for damage. if everything looks OK, make sure all connections are clean, secure, and per factory. verify everything with your FSM (section 6D-30 to 33). double check the wiring of your ignition coil, especially the ground strap. quick question - when you worked on this distributor, did you removed it from the engine? not trying to be a wise-***, but just for the hell of it, pop the distributor cap, crank the engine -- is that friggin rotor turning? even though you installed a new ignition control module, there is still a possibility of a bad part - not sure, but some of the locals parts stores may have a module tester. basically, get in there and double check everything. the FSM covers maintenance and repair of the HEI distributor in detail. if it is a distributor related ignition problem, it's got to be something simple. good luck....

double check the coil's ground strap, for some reason, I have this gut feeling...


BTW, you do have a FSM? if not, get one.