Twitch de la Brat Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 (edited) So the Blu Bomb project is stalled right now because of one little problem. I can't get spark. Replaced everything on the ignition system aside from the distributor, pickup, and ignitor. New wires, new cap, new rotor, new coil, replaced a couple sketchy end terminals, and still no fire. The car ran when pulled apart, drove to its spot where it sits. Verified proper wiring to the coil, replaced a blown fuse (been twiddling with wiring a tad too much), verified continuity from the positive and negative, fresh battery, starter cranks great, fuel pump pushing fuel, distributor has minimal shaft play, I'm at a loss unless somehow the pickup and the ignitor smoked from messing with the wiring so much. Any other suggestions? I'm no noob, but this is kicking my butt. Twitch PS: Full specs for those who don't know of my project: 1983 GL Wagon, Fresh Build (hasn't even broken in yet) High Compression Torque Cam EA81 w/ electronic ignition, weber 32/36, former cali spec electronic carb, manual 4sp d/r Edited October 10, 2014 by Twitch de la Brat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dee2 Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 You verified that the distributor rotor is spinning when the engine is cranking ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twitch de la Brat Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 Everything suggests that it is. Because if it weren't, I have some serious issues to take up with the machinist. But I will verify that after I get off work today. Twitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naru Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 At the risk of repeating myself.... Put a test light on coil -. It should light up and pulse w/cranking. Light but no pulse = bad module No light on coil - or + = power problem No light on coil -,but,lights on coil + = bad coil It is almost impossible to prevent an EA81 dizzy from turning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Check the condition of the disty wires were they come out of the base and are held by little clip. Seen lots of cracked, frayed wires there and if they touch eachother, or the body of disty will not fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twitch de la Brat Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 Naru, no light at all, under any conditions. Gloyale, going to check the wires tonight, but no pinches or appearances of anything broken. Again, there is verified power and ground on the coil. Literally have a ground lead running straight to the negative terminal on the battery. And tested the fan off the hot side of the coil so there is amperage as well as voltage running to the coil. Twitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Again, there is verified power and ground on the coil. Literally have a ground lead running straight to the negative terminal on the battery. Wait... You are not saying you grounded the coils negative terminal are you???? That should not be grounded. If you have a wire going from that to ground that would be why no start. You should have 2 wires from harness to coil (B/W=12v "Ig. on" , Yellow=Tach) and 2 wires from disty (BW to +, Yellow to - ) and perhaps a noise supression condensor on the + side. None of those wires should be connected to ground. (except the condensor should be mounted) the body of the coil should be mounted and grounded....although it shouldn't matter with this type of ignition (the EFI transitor type need bracket to be grounded) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naru Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 (edited) Naru, no light at all, under any conditions. Gloyale, going to check the wires tonight, but no pinches or appearances of anything broken. Again, there is verified power and ground on the coil. Literally have a ground lead running straight to the negative terminal on the battery. And tested the fan off the hot side of the coil so there is amperage as well as voltage running to the coil. Twitch NO LIGHT = NO POWER Make sure the 2nd test light lead is connected to battery negative Test light will light on coil + even if you grounded coil negative by mistake. Take that wire off coil negative. The coil should only ground thru the ignition module. Edited October 10, 2014 by naru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twitch de la Brat Posted October 10, 2014 Author Share Posted October 10, 2014 If that's my problem I will bake (buy) a pie and name it humble. Then eat it. Also, realized from my pictures of my BRAT's ignition wiring that there is no ground running there. Although the condenser (noise/static suppressor) runs from my negative on my BRAT and the AM radio worked great. I'll snip that wire when I return home... Twitch 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twitch de la Brat Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 So, I may be buying a pie. Also, weber swap guys, what did you hook your choke power to? I have mine attached to the coil post for power and it seems to be getting extraordinarily hot and opening up all the way even when the car is cold. Does it need to be on a switch or anything? Twitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 I used one of the Blue wires in the harness connection for the Hitachi carb harness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twitch de la Brat Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 I used one of the Blue wires in the harness connection for the Hitachi carb harness. The original choke power wire? Or just a random wire you found to use? Twitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coxy Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Original choke power wire, Carried over from manual choke models which at least in Australia used a power feed at the other end of the choke cable because the choke is held open by an electromagnet at the dash end of the choke cable,Just remember when the ignition is turned off the choke resets to off with that setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Doesn't matter which Blue wire you use, both are powered thru the ignition switch. One feeds choke coil, other feeds the ADS. I believe they actually split off a single feed somewhere back in the harness of the vehicle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Doesn't matter which Blue wire you use, both are powered thru the ignition switch. One feeds choke coil, other feeds the ADS. I believe they actually split off a single feed somewhere back in the harness of the vehicle. They actually are powered through the Fuel Pump control unit (Rev Sensor on some FSM) They don't get powered unless there is a tach pulse recognized.. I do believe you are correct I believe they splice just behind the engine harness to carb connector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twitch de la Brat Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 They actually are powered through the Fuel Pump control unit (Rev Sensor on some FSM) They don't get powered unless there is a tach pulse recognized.. I do believe you are correct I believe they splice just behind the engine harness to carb connector. Even on an EA81? It is a cali car, so it has some weird stuff on it. Current condition, backfiring with a hard kick to try to start, but no continued fire. Tried propping the choke open and results in a no-fire situation at all. Valves are adjusted to spec, timing is on as close as it can be without firing the engine or a helper. Checking spark plugs now. Any suggestions? Twitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twitch de la Brat Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 Found the no fire, the vacuum advance was all wonky, never gave me a proper fire. Also, hooked the choke to the factory wire. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Hope this might help someone in the future, check your vacuum advance if you're running into a no-fire situation. Details of the engine continue in the original thread! Twitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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