Car lost all sparks

[Motown Junk]

Car: 71 Camaro 355 V8

Ignition System: HEI (coil in distibutor cap) Pertronix Flame Thrower.

Problem: Last week car 3 times cutout, Ist 2 occasions, instantley restarted, 3rd - dead.

AA chap confirmed very week or no spark and said it's either coil or igniter unit.

As I'd had a igniter unit die before and it's not uncommon (tho last time just dropped cylinders rather than nothing at all), fitted new one: still no spark.

Fitted new coil: still no spark

Now the earth through the distributor is fine, coil is earthed fine, there's 12v going to coil, but when you connect the loom that goes to igniter unit in distributor, this drops to 3v!

Should it do this? Any help or suggestion greatfully recieved!

[mdmtechnik]

Hello,

It sounds like a relay problem. see if there is a ignition relay in your car and bridge the relay or just replace. This is just a guess but is very common on alot of other cars.

Good luck.

Mark

Edited by Matt172 on Thursday 2nd July 06:45

[SVTRick]

Hi Keith

Give me a call as I can tackle most auto & system control electrics.
Or get it running and come on over.

Try a direct fused feed from battery to +ve on coil then from coil to distributor.
Unless you have breaker less ignition then forget the above.

[Motown Junk]

Cheers Rick, Petronix have sent me a wiring test procedure so will give that a go tomorrow, if still no joy will give you a buzz.

[eliot]

Sounds like the module may be duff. Is it the 4 pin type? - I have about 3 of them in the shed.

[Motown Junk]

D'oh!

Teach me to trust what the AA say!

Feed wire was a wee bit crispy about a foot back in the loom. 12v with no load, 3 when connected...

FYI if you connect a permanant live to coil just to check spark and the car immediately fires (never did before), turning the ignition off won't stop it...



Ta everyone for the advice, offers of help and bits - much appreciated.

[Pigeon]

Motown Junk said:

D'oh!

Teach me to trust what the AA say!

Feed wire was a wee bit crispy about a foot back in the loom. 12v with no load, 3 when connected...

...Which is why a brake light bulb attached to two flying leads is most of the time a better "tester" than the voltage range on a multimeter

[lenientism]

It looks like wiring system fault. Make sure that starter relay contact still works properly, the indication of a worn-out contact it may sometime work but in another occasion not work before it is totally unusable.

It could be also loosening socket connected to dynamo or connecting two or more wires. Cars aged more than fifteen y/o are likely having such socket and wires brittle problem.

I think any type of cars are the same, I experienced the first case with civic and the second case for mazda...