Help no spark!!!!!!!!
Discussion
i don't know what i've done but i've got no spark! i had the car running but was still a little rough so came to the conclusion that i had the timing 180 degrees out, so took distributor out and moved it around put everything back together and now it won't spark properly!!! i can get the odd spark now and then and if i suck on the vacuum advance its a little better but still weak and random. from the coil seems fine, laid king lead on block and getting good spark, it seems to be losing it some where in distributor. i've got a 2 brand new caps, 1 x new rotor, 1 x used but good rotor, 2 x new HT leads, 1 new amplifier but nothing seems to work. even if the timing was totally out would i not at least still get sparks??? i can't work out why its not going through the cap and down the leads!
now to be honest i've messed about with everything so much that the timing is totally fudged, when it was running it was ticking over at 1300rpm and the timing marks weren't even close to the markings on bottom pulley! after reading about how to set timing, i removed left hand rocker cover and turned pulley to 4 degrees BTDC, both valves closed so should be on compression stroke no.1 piston, set distributor to point at no.1 piston. this is the confusing bit...... pointing at no.1 piston to me would be rotor arm at 5 o'clock if i'm standing at the passenger wing looking at the left hand bank and distributor to my left, i say confusing because looking at pictures of people engine bays and it looks like most have their no.1 plug at 7 o'clock if viewed from same vantage point.
i've read everything i can, consulted the manual and looked at pics but for the life of me i can't work out where i'm going wrong? is my distributor knackered, have i got the timing miles out?
now to be honest i've messed about with everything so much that the timing is totally fudged, when it was running it was ticking over at 1300rpm and the timing marks weren't even close to the markings on bottom pulley! after reading about how to set timing, i removed left hand rocker cover and turned pulley to 4 degrees BTDC, both valves closed so should be on compression stroke no.1 piston, set distributor to point at no.1 piston. this is the confusing bit...... pointing at no.1 piston to me would be rotor arm at 5 o'clock if i'm standing at the passenger wing looking at the left hand bank and distributor to my left, i say confusing because looking at pictures of people engine bays and it looks like most have their no.1 plug at 7 o'clock if viewed from same vantage point.
i've read everything i can, consulted the manual and looked at pics but for the life of me i can't work out where i'm going wrong? is my distributor knackered, have i got the timing miles out?
Either it's arcing over inside the dizzy cap or across the rotor arm, or the contact from centre dizzy cap to the centre rotor arm wiper is shot, or the timing is out so that the arm is in between the two contacts when the spark goes through.
Try cleaning out the inside of the dizzy cap - I use WD40 and kitchen roll to get all the crud out. Make sure the rotor arm isn't cracked and clean that too with WD40. Make sure the centre contact and spring all works fine.
Try cleaning out the inside of the dizzy cap - I use WD40 and kitchen roll to get all the crud out. Make sure the rotor arm isn't cracked and clean that too with WD40. Make sure the centre contact and spring all works fine.
al 350i said:
laid king lead on block and getting good spark,
What do you mean by that, the king lead on the block to see if sparks jump from it to the block? I had problems with my distributor cap being just a little too loose before, had to mess with the clips a bit to get it on just a few millimeters tighter.adam quantrill said:
Either it's arcing over inside the dizzy cap or across the rotor arm, or the contact from centre dizzy cap to the centre rotor arm wiper is shot, or the timing is out so that the arm is in between the two contacts when the spark goes through.
Try cleaning out the inside of the dizzy cap - I use WD40 and kitchen roll to get all the crud out. Make sure the rotor arm isn't cracked and clean that too with WD40. Make sure the centre contact and spring all works fine.
cap and rotor are new, if the arm is in between the two contacts what would be the best way to adjust it? underneath the rotor arm is a cog that passes a small metal piece, should these touch because mine don'tTry cleaning out the inside of the dizzy cap - I use WD40 and kitchen roll to get all the crud out. Make sure the rotor arm isn't cracked and clean that too with WD40. Make sure the centre contact and spring all works fine.
Sorry you are still spark-less. I was the ex-Wedge owner who stopped by for a chat yesterday with my little girl - I would have stayed for a bit more practical help had she not been so adamant on going to the park!
Hope you get sorted soon. The Wedge is looking pretty good now - love the seats and the 'bling' wheels
Best of luck,
Rick
Hope you get sorted soon. The Wedge is looking pretty good now - love the seats and the 'bling' wheels
Best of luck,
Rick
Just a long shot which may not apply to your problem but a good AA mechanic friend pointed my lad in the right direction with his mini which had no spark,there was a small black wire attached to the vaccuum advance thingy which had chaffed on the inside of the distributor body thus causing his problem,hit the nail on the head diagnosing over the phone,worth a look perhaps.
wooly350i said:
Just a long shot which may not apply to your problem but a good AA mechanic friend pointed my lad in the right direction with his mini which had no spark,there was a small black wire attached to the vaccuum advance thingy which had chaffed on the inside of the distributor body thus causing his problem,hit the nail on the head diagnosing over the phone,worth a look perhaps.
the black wire goes from the module and earths the coil to generate spark at coil which all seems to be ok just don't seem to be able to direct it down the HT leads to the plugs!PoleDriver said:
As you've been playing with the timing it does sound like you may have 'parked' the distributor in such a position as to cause the rotor arm between two terminals when the spark occurs.
this is what i'm starting to think but how do i unpark it? if i was fitting a new distributor how would you know its in the right place are there any marks? maybe i should ask the wife she's great at unparking!!!! lol
You need to set number one cylinder at TDC (Take out sparkplug and use something long and thin which can't break off to sense where the piston is, turn engine till it reaches the top of it's cycle) making sure that timing marks are approximately at the correct point, ie you are on the ignition cycle for cylinder number one, then turn the distributor so that the rotor arm lines up with the terminal on the cap for number one cylinder!
I managed to get the Dizzy 180 degrees out on a well-tuned 'A' series engine once. Ended up with flames coming out of the carb!!
I managed to get the Dizzy 180 degrees out on a well-tuned 'A' series engine once. Ended up with flames coming out of the carb!!
al 350i said:
the black wire goes from the module and earths the coil to generate spark at coil which all seems to be ok just don't seem to be able to direct it down the HT leads to the plugs!
That's what I was getting at,the black wire chaffed on the body of the distributor and shorted the circuit,check it out.Are you sure the graphite centre point in the distributor cap is contacting the rotor? I had some issues and had to source several rotors to match the new distributor cap... If no contact, no spark to any of the leads. Also new distributor caps can have a low quality graphite point and wear away very quickly. It is an automotive jungle out there...
Rob
Rob
When you moved the dissy round, you did realign it with the oil pump drive, and the dissy is sat as far into the block as it can go?
In practice it shouldn't matter where no. 1 lead is on the cap as long as the rotor is pointing at it when no. 1 cyl is at (or near) TDC. What usually happens is that the vacuum capsule fouls something adjacent when you try to fine-tune the ignition timing, so having no. 1 at about 7 o'clock as you describe it (I assume when viewing dissy over the left wing) gives the widest range of adjustment before anything fouls.
Other common cockups are fitting the wrong dissy cap (there are a few different heights) and putting the HT leads in the wrong order...
In practice it shouldn't matter where no. 1 lead is on the cap as long as the rotor is pointing at it when no. 1 cyl is at (or near) TDC. What usually happens is that the vacuum capsule fouls something adjacent when you try to fine-tune the ignition timing, so having no. 1 at about 7 o'clock as you describe it (I assume when viewing dissy over the left wing) gives the widest range of adjustment before anything fouls.
Other common cockups are fitting the wrong dissy cap (there are a few different heights) and putting the HT leads in the wrong order...
Wedg1e said:
Other common cockups are fitting the wrong dissy cap (there are a few different heights) and putting the HT leads in the wrong order...
al 350i said:
cap and rotor are new, ...
Right you are - make sure it's the correct cap - it is not too high? When you put the leads back on did you replace them in the correct order? And.. is the rotor arm a proper Lucas one or some remanufactured rubbish?possible! cap and rotor were ordered for a griffith or chimaera and got 2 sets sent by mistake (think they were from racetech direct) but in saying that they were working fine up until a week ago!! the new cap is black but i remember the old one being blue.
not much chance to have a look this weekend, where would be the best place to get a good fitting cap and arm?
not much chance to have a look this weekend, where would be the best place to get a good fitting cap and arm?
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