No Spark

[James-Westfield]

Hello,

I'm having a problem with my '95 Griffith 500, and hope that someone may be able to help.

A few weeks ago I started the car and moved it out of the garage, then left it running, suddenly it died as if the ignition had been turned off, then would not restart.

Last week I had some time to tinker so go out and had a look around the coil and ignition module, with a view to swapping the coil with a spare I had at home. Some of the wiring looked a bit tired so I tidied some of this up. The car then started, problem solved i thought...

Car ran fine for a few days until it died on the M4 again there was no coughing or anything just suddenly had no spark. I had a fiddle under the bonnet to no avail, had to resort to the AA.

The AA mechanic had a play around and tested a few bits, power to both sides of coil etc, suggested it's probably the ignition module.

I fitted a new ignition module yesterday, no such luck, I managed to get a spark for about 3 seconds then nothing. With the ignition turned on I have power at both sides of the coil, both sides of the ignition module, and all the way down to the last connector at the distributor.

The distributor is turning when the starter is turning the engine over.

Any ideas on what to check next?! Could this be anything to do with the ECU, does anyone have an ignition wiring diagram?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

[Penelope Stopit]

Have you checked the distributor pick-up cables inside the distributor?

Don't know what engine and ignition system you have, hence just a thought

[Belle427]

Not the same problem but some good advice regarding testing in the below thread.
Start by testing at the coil positive terminal and a known good engine ground with ignition on and see what value you have.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[James-Westfield]

Thanks for the suggestions, will have a play when I get a chance and reply with results!

[blitzracing]

Penelope Stopit said:

Have you checked the distributor pick-up cables inside the distributor?

Don't know what engine and ignition system you have, hence just a thought

As the man says- the pickup is just a coil of wire, and if you unplug the amp to expose the two connectors and test across them with a test meter you should get an ohms reading from memory of about 2k. Now the important bit- the pickup is on a plate that moves back and forth with the vacuum advance- so some times the wires make and break depending on what the vacuum is doing. To test this, unplug the vacuum pipe from the plenum and suck on it to make the plate move as you ohms test. If it goes open circuit at any point you have found your problem.


Ive done a bit here on the system:

http://www.g33.co.uk/pages/technical-ignition-syst...

As for wiring- its dead simple, the amp is just like a set of points- you have the negative side of the coil going to the switch side of the amp, The positive side of the coil also goes to the amp to supply it with 12v. Earth to the amp is ether by the amp case (2 pin unit) or via a separate earth wire on the three pin unit.

Edited by blitzracing on Wednesday 11th December 17:43

[James-Westfield]

Evening all, I had some time to have a bit of a play this evening, checked everything suggested and all seemed good.

I removed the alternator & bracket the check nothing was crushed and or damaged behind it, nothing obvious.

When I fitted the new ignition amp I didn't fit the new amp to coil connector and cable, decided to do this and re wire ignition amp to dizzy as well.

Finished this and it fired up immediately, inspecting some of the older wires there are areas where its clear they could crossover or earth so I think I've solved my problem!

Thanks for the help all.