lamb chops

Well im putting my car back together but she won’t start, ive had various problems so far but won’t go in them now but I now have a problem as I have no spark at the plugs.

I have tested with a friend that I have power to the coil from the engine loom (grp A coil) but when I turn the car over there is no spark at the plug (plugs out and earthed on the engine).

If I push the spark plug on the end of the ignition feed to the distributor I can a week random spark..

What can cause the engine not to spark, I have tried my standard coil back on and it’s no better.

Should the engine spark if there are problems with the crack position sensor or phase sensor? I not sure if the ECU is stopping it sparking due to a sensor problem. I have a secs monitor and that’s not showing any engine sensor problems..

Need some help find the cause here.. Thanks people

lamb chops

Forgot to say that i have a new distributor cap and rotor arm but have also tried my old ones whcih were working.

IANS2RST

iTrader: (1)

try the crank position sensor connection.
also does it have a 4wd loom? if so you could could have got tthe cps & knock sensor plugs mixed up like I did

lamb chops

Thanks for the reply Ian, So do you know if the ecu doesnt see a signal from the crank sensor it wont sent the spark signal to the coil? Its on a 2wd pectal loom. Im trying to work out how the ecu controls it.

lamb chops

I should also add im using an alloy bottom pulley but it does have steel inserts for the sensor pickups. Does the crank sensor look for an earth when these points pass by? Quesions question..

IANS2RST

iTrader: (1)

if there is a problem with it you would normally get a single spark when you turn ignition on then nothing. if there isn't a signal from the cps the ecu does fuck all
also worth checking the phase sensor, if you've changed it it is possible to plug it in the wrong way which causes random sparking iirc

lamb chops

ah thats very interesting Ian as i have only seen 1 spark..

Hmm will go and check those two now then. cheers

tabetha

The easy way to tell if the CPS is giving a clean signal is to listen for the fuel pump prime, if there is no clean signal this will not initiate priming.
They do break down and operate sometimes intermittantly, but have more trouble formthe connector than the sensor itself, as the pins inside the male/female housing get old and lose thier grip.
New housings are available form POLEVOLT.CO.UK, if this is the problem.
On the phase sensor the top wire(RED) must be on the terminal nearest to it.
So long as the alloy pully has metal in the ends(lugs) it will work fine.
tabetha

lamb chops

Thanks Tabetha,

Ive just had a quick look at it again and ive been a fool, the phase and CPS were plugged in to the wrong connectors

But after studying the manual it seems my rotor arm is out by 180 degrees when at TDC, I guess that’s why I just had a huge back fire when I tried to start it I didn’t check this when timing the engine but the TDC marks on the distributor pulley are correct is the pulley geared 2:1 to the arm or something odd?

Anyway I will remove the distributor tomorrow and rotate it and hopefully job done..

lamb chops

Oh and I can’t hear my fuel pump priming, normally quite loud isn’t it, could this be because the ECU has realised my distributor is out?

lamb chops

Yippee shes running now!! The distributor was in incorrect so before the dizzy pulley must have been 180 degrees out but when i re-timed it i set it correctly on the marks so thats why the dizzy was out.

Anyway thanks for all the help guys!!