bought a 83 gl wn........looked soooo good i couldnt pass it up. when i grounded the coil, to the frame and cranked it...nothing.....until the last rev......let off the starter......one spark.....new ig.? dont know what disty....only ic.

Hey you're in P-Town. GeneralDisorder (USMB Name) lives there to. He seems like a cool enough guy to personally help you. as far as I know about coils...have you check the connections on the coil? The positive and negative sides. check for corrosion and loose connections. Good luck.

That is a really bizzare problem! If you have a coil handy, I would try a different one. Perhaps when the starter is drawing current there's not enough left over to fire the coil?? That's a guess tho..... the coils do fail - it's not unheard of. Beyond that.... I would test the elect. ignition module in the disty, as they are reputed to fail on occasion as well.

 

GD

I had the same problem on my sedan it was kinda intermittent, but come to find out it was the crank angle sensor located in the disty. swapped a new disty in and have been trouble free

'83 = EA81 = no crank angle sensor. Still - could be the ign. module in the disty.... which basically means find another disty.

 

GD

yeah my sedan was 88. guess I should pay mor attention. thanks gd

 

N E Ways milesfox has been having a similar problem on his ea82, only sparks when you let off the key. I not as familiar with ea81's as I am with 82's, and don't know if this will help but fox has been jumping the Ignitor an the coil wit a piece of wir form the battery to the pos. on the coil to get it started when it acts up but just to get it running. once it starts he has no trouble till he turns it off or stalls it out.

Maybe the ignitor?!?

First check to see if the coil is getting voltage while the engine is cranking by placing a test probe on the plus side of the coil. If that is ok then see if the minus side pulses on and off while cranking. If not, then check the distributor pickup.

if your coil works like the ea82 coil, make sure the ig. amp is grounded too. Its the small cylinder in line with one of the wires coming off the coil. It is supposed to be grounded on the coil bracket. I believe it has two prongs coming out of the cylinder that slide under the bracket bolt...may be a far shot but it would be worth looking at

 

hope this helps