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A bit of a puzzle: 1988 Gl-Wagon problems


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You stated in post 14 that you see voltage on the plus side of the coil but not on the minus side of it. This means either the coil windings are open or there is a short to ground on the minus side of the coil. Remove the wire connections to the coil on the minus side of it. Then check the voltage on the minus side with the ignition switch ON. If you now have 12 volts on the terminal then the pickup inside the bottom of the disty has a problem and you need to replace it or if there is another wire tied to that point it might have a problem. Check the resistance to ground on each of the wires. One will most likely have a low resistance to ground which is causing the problem. If you still have no voltage on the coil terminal then replace the coil, it is open.

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hey rpholz... you know what else is 'fairly simple'?  Giving good detail and instruction.

For an example of this... read Cougar's post.   Pretty Good, eh?

Your post is vague... hey check the TCP/IP on the system bus architecture... it's easy!

Between the coil windings???   What do you mean?   What's between the primary and secondary winding?  Air?

Can you explain better?  OP and others would appreciate it.

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You actually can hotwire the ign circuit by jumping a wire from the battery to the + coil terminal. the car should turn on and make live the ign circuit. If the car runs this way, you may have trouble with the circuits on fuse #5 and or #11.

 

Check to see if the set screw came off the rotor. make sure the rotor os spinning while cranking. 

That would work with a carbed EA82, but not an FI.  Could actually damage the ECU.

Edited by MilesFox
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The OP has already stated power is getting to the plus side of the coil. The problem is on the minus side of the coil. Either there is a short to ground on one of the wires connected to the terminal or the coil is open.

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I've had this post banging around in my head all day... I was thinking... sometimes igition switches can cause weird starting or no start issues... even it other things still work ir its not obviously broke... I would find I used switch and plug it in ...it couldn't hurt I guess... ignition swithes can make things act all kinds of funny ant a moments notice but also could show symptoms... its not to common but not rare either

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The OP has already stated power is getting to the plus side of the coil. The problem is on the minus side of the coil. Either there is a short to ground on one of the wires connected to the terminal or the coil is open.

 

+1

Measure voltage again w/wires removed from the negative terminal to test the coil winding.

If 0 while positive terminal is 12 volts,coil is bad.

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on the loyale i was working on yesterday the red wire from diss was broken internaly in the car side of harness wiglle the wire and car died check diss wires for breakage and contanuity also check were they plug into the bottom of diss they do a 90 there and are prone to breakage

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to add more on my post.

 

To check the crank angle sensor do as follows. with the battery hooked up and IGN on look at the plug to the distributor

take a volt ohm meter and put the ground in the black/red wire

place the positive probe to the black wire and spin the engine you should see the voltage rise and fall as the motor turns (not 12v but more around 4-5v)

repeat for the white wire, you should see the same result, if you do then the ECM is getting the signal for spark and fuel to happen

 

as far as checking coil windings:

with the coil wires off and using a volt ohm meter again, i'd type it but this page has pictures that would better explain

http://www.international-auto.com/fiat-lancia-electrical-system/how-to-test-an-ignition-coil.cfm

 

 

i would definatly take a look at the ingitor wire from the ECM, again looking straight down at the coil, there is a plug underneath it facing the front of the car. the wire to the right (driver side) if it's grounded there will be no spark. check for cracks, breaks, anything that could be causing a short with that wire

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