I posted previously about my EA81 having no spark, but now I’ve got a more specific question: what would cause the coil not to send fire to the distributor? I’m not getting any spark from the wire to the distributor cap, but I’ve got a new coil and a new ignition control module. I am getting voltage to the positive terminal on the coil, but no voltage to the ICM. Does that sound like I just need to replace the wires that connect the ICM to the + and - on the coil, or is there something else I may be missing?

Update: I checked for voltage with my multimeter at the positive and negative sides of the coil with the key in the on position, but got nothing. While cranking, voltage was sort of all over the place: about 8-13 volts at the positive and maybe 3-6 volts at the negative. I’m not sure what to make of that, but I’m also wondering now if there’s any chance it could be a bad ignition switch.

Maybe a bad ignition switch. Could be some bad earths or a dying fusible link. 

Do you have any tips on how to check if it is the ignition switch? I did some searching on that yesterday and couldn’t really find anything. I think I’ll go ahead and replace the fusible links, and I’ll definitely check all the grounds I can find. I might just order the ignition switch too. Even if it’s not the problem, it seems like it might be wise to have a backup.

Ignition switch can be unscrewed from the back of the barrel and unplugged from the loom to bench test it. You’ll have to work out what wire is what though as I can’t remember off the top of my head. 

From memory the white or blue is permanent power and is the one to always reference as you check the other wires. You’ll work it out though. 

Cheers 

Bennie 

I’ve been meaning to get back with an update on this: I finally got the car running again, and of course the problem was simpler than I thought. Turns out the wire from the distributor/ignition control module to the + terminal of the coil had come loose from the ring terminal connector. I don’t know how I missed it because I must have looked that wire over multiple times before, but I reconnected it, and it fired right up!

Great! Thanks for the follow up. I hate it when repair threads have no resolution, good or bad.