'84 Flat-Four

I'm not sure if this will help you, but I had to go the other way around... shopping for an ignition coil, parts-guy told me I needed to match the ign coil to the disty, brand yes, but more importantly specs... since my disty is hitachi, went with hitachi coil... no probs... til my ecm fried, but thats another story... FSM filled in the gaps for me in terms of specs to match-up...

No ecm(s) at JY... hmmmm. I guess these don't last too long at the JY. I saw online that a rebuilt ecm will set me back 300 big ones... wow:eek: The funny thing is it seems like my ecm IS working. I brought it overnight to get it some dry hot air... must have done the trick. Didn't think of the contact cleaner though... good idea! Would it be an electronic contact cleaner? What about brake cleaner - since it leaves no residue (its what i got on-hand)... would you use this on electronics? Grabbed all the FLs I could find, bout six... enough to throw extras in the glove box. I did read that red, green and black FLs are all different in terms of melting points (voltage resistance), so I was careful to find the correct match-ups.

YOU GUYS ROCK!!! My Soob is alive! FL was the culprit. did exactly what you said, but funny thing was nothing was evident at first inspection. Contacts looked good, but I cleaned them anyway since I was in there; When I looked at the FL for white wire from battery, there was a very slight discoloration on the underside of the loop portion of the FL. It wasn't melted or burned out, just discolored-whitish, where it should hae been red... Had to take it out and inspect by itself to find this. So I switched FLs (white FL put in black FL spot) and she woke up. Are FLs easy to come by? Should I replace my ECM? Could the ECM still be working, even after marinating in pine barren stew? I am off to JY to pull a ECM just in case. There's an 84 GL wagon and I'm pretty sure its ECM is still there. Might as well pull its FLs if still there too... Once again, thanks a ton guys! USMB saved my Soob! I was really doubting myself and second-guessing my decision to revive this girl. I owe it to you guys for keeping me looking and troubleshooting. Good learning experience for me in terms of persistence and frustration. I know,... blah, blah, blah, just another FL story,... but seriously,... I never would have inspected as thoroughly as I did were it not for USMB... Off to the JY

Thanks for the advice guys... it started to rain last nite. I'm back at it this morning... will check below FL for corrosion & test for juice...

i don't have juice at the ignition switch or the female terminal for the ignition switch (engine-side); i don't have juice at Fl (in fact voltmeter went into negative-wrong way); but i have 12V on the starter & solenoid... ignition switch shot & ecm shot?

I zero volts at my switch Pink connector looks good. Get this... water comes pouring out of the ECM... I mean pouring out... I unplugged it and the middle terminals were corroded as heck. I am presuming that it is shot. But does this explain it, or is this cascading of pine barren tea unrelated, i just happen to find it...? (goobaroo... you got me! I think theres video of when this may have happened...)

i'm on it! wrastling with the column panel. Thanks naru & TomRhere. I'll let you know what i discover...

so i have juice,... key on,... voltmeter read zero at + & - at coil. ?????? At the risk of sounding like a total moron,... how do i test the switch? aside from exposing the column, where do i put my leads?

will do

I did check the links, but not sure what i'm lookin for. When they blow is it obvious? Burn-marks, melting...? They seem ok, and i wiggled them around to make sure the connections were good. Low end of the specs for primary, and zero resistance on the secondary. I did not have juice flowing when i tested the resistance. In terms of sparks after hotwiring,... no i did not. I'm in there now checking for anything loose or disconnected going to the switch (steering column); I have a weird feeling its the ign switch... but not sure how to test this...

Awesome Brat! Looks like it rolled out of the factory this morning!

I wanted to post this and see what everyone has to say... I think I may be overthinking/overlooking things... So I bought the 84 GL from Brown_Muscle (apparently GooBaroo's old Soob)... ran fine for a few weeks. Yesterday, I went to turn the key, and nothing happened. No dash lights, no starter clicking, no cranking... zippo, zilch... Put a full charge on the battery... still nothing. I jumped the terminals on the starter solenoid and got it to turn; then went straight 12V to the solenoid and got it to turn... so then I take a ohm-meter to the coil, way off specs... so I need a new coil, right? I just feel like I'm missing something... could the above symptoms be caused by a bad ignition switch and here I am about to buy a new coil for no reason? Electricity is not my thing, so all this metering is new to me...