So i have the worst luck in the world....

[nmcgrawj]

Well, as some of u know my car has been through pretty rough times the last couple years. Never running continuously. So the last 2 weeks i got it running. And had been ironing out the wrinkles from it sitting for so long. I get most of it smooth. Get the exhaust put on. And start driving it home......


All seems well. Im driving, the gas tank is low but i figured it had enough to get to my "usual" gas station. then all of a sudden...the motor shuts off like someone hit the key. No stutter. Just shut down power. So i pull it over. Try to start it. No luck. Went to get 2 gallons of gas. Filled her up. Tries to start. Stop. Try again. She tries again. Try one more time and bam.....she fires up. so it idles. I rev it....rev...rev.....back fire...shut down again. No start. Wont even try to start. Just turns over. Look under the hood, one plug wire popped off the spark plug, i plug it back up. No dice. I got fuel pressure. There's ATLEAST 2 gallons of gas in the tank....thats if it was bone dry(which it wasnt).

After 3 years of bull ****, im ready to toss the keys to someone and tell them im reporting it stolen in 3 days. Im guessing its spark since i clearly have pressure at the gauge in the rails. But what would just go out like that. can i hook up a plug wire to the coil and the other end to a spark plug, ground the threads, and see if its sparks? Will that rule out the coil? Then can i do the same with the coil hooked up to the dizzy cap and each cylinder's plug wire to test the dizzy?

I dont know where i find the persistance to keep trying with this thing....if i had the money i'd probably just go buy a 03 cobra or mach 1.

 

[WhiteDevil]

Judging by the back fire. Im guessing the timing is messed up. Check the timing. Maybe your dizzy came loose or moved slightly and that could be why your plug came off. It happend to me once.

 

[Bosko5.0]

maybe the pip.

 

[vp6799]

check the dizzy man. It could have come loose and completely screwed up the timing. It happened to me.

 

[nmcgrawj]

Well i had whiteout marked on the dizzy for where it was on the block....i checked that....same position.

Would my spark plug idea work if there was no spark at the dizzy but at the coil if the PIP is out?

 

[HISSIN50]

If you have spark, you have PIP. If you have injector pulsing, you have PIP (meanin it's good).

If I read ya right, your idea works. Pull the coil wire from the dizzy cap and put a spark plug in it. Ground the threads and see if you have spark. You can simply do this with a plug wire (going to a given cylinder) too.

If you find you do not have spark from the coil:
Put your test light across the two coil terminals. Have someone crank the car and look for a flashing test light. If it does not flash, look for key-on constant 12 volts to the coil. If you dont have that, chase the 12 volts.
If you do have 12 volts to the coil but the test light was not flashing (most likely possibility), pull the TFI and have it bench tested repeatedly. If it tests ok but the above tests failed, check the continuity of the coil ground wire (from the wire at TFI terminal #2 to the ground wire for the ignition coil).

That should kinda get ya going in the right direction. It took me longer to type than it takes to do (other than the outing to the store for a TFI test, if needed).

Do be sure to consider other system failures before diving in too hard - it's easy to get tunnel vision and miss obvious clues (I speak from experience).

Good luck.

 

[nmcgrawj]

If you have spark, you have PIP. If you have injector pulsing, you have PIP (meanin it's good).

If I read ya right, your idea works. Pull the coil wire from the dizzy cap and put a spark plug in it. Ground the threads and see if you have spark. You can simply do this with a plug wire (going to a given cylinder) too.

If you find you do not have spark from the coil:
Put your test light across the two coil terminals. Have someone crank the car and look for a flashing test light. If it does not flash, look for key-on constant 12 volts to the coil. If you dont have that, chase the 12 volts.
If you do have 12 volts to the coil but the test light was not flashing (most likely possibility), pull the TFI and have it bench tested repeatedly. If it tests ok but the above tests failed, check the continuity of the coil ground wire (from the wire at TFI terminal #2 to the ground wire for the ignition coil).

That should kinda get ya going in the right direction. It took me longer to type than it takes to do (other than the outing to the store for a TFI test, if needed).

Do be sure to consider other system failures before diving in too hard - it's easy to get tunnel vision and miss obvious clues (I speak from experience).

Good luck.

Sounds good, when u say test light, which style are u referring to?

 

[nmcgrawj]

Hissin, this is what u're talkin about right?

And anyone else got any ideas? Im gonna try to mess around with it today....

 

[HISSIN50]

WTF?
Nate, my apologies for a reply not posting last night. I was having bad ISP connection issues [last night] and had replied but it must have been one of the ones that got lost (I'd hit send and get booted at the same time. I have dial-up).

Your pictured item would work fine. I get test lights at Harbor Freight for 99 cents (grab a handful of 'em). Parts stores sell them in the section with electrical wire and switches. 5 bucks or so.

Or you can make one from a small light bulb (a 194 works fine), some wire, an alligator clip and an old DMM test lead.

Good luck.

 

[nmcgrawj]

sweet, thanks man. I'll keep ya updated.

 

[BlackVert]

Well i had whiteout marked on the dizzy for where it was on the block....i checked that....same position.

lol ... the old whiteout trick ... i thought i was the only one who did that.



if you have one of those inductive timing lights, you might be able to use that to see if it is trying to send a spark ... ?

fwiw, it's good to have you back. i'm rooting for ya and hope you get it sorted out quickly and inexpensively

 

[nmcgrawj]

Oh and how can u test if the injectors are actually firing. Just cause i have pressure dont mean its actually gettin into the cylinder lol

 

[nmcgrawj]

lol ... the old whiteout trick ... i thought i was the only one who did that.



if you have one of those inductive timing lights, you might be able to use that to see if it is trying to send a spark ... ?

fwiw, it's good to have you back. i'm rooting for ya and hope you get it sorted out quickly and inexpensively

haha yea man, white out comes in handy

Good point with the timing light. I do have one, and i can just rotate it from wire to wire to test if it is sending spark through right?

Thanks for the support!:SNSign:

 

[HISSIN50]

if you have one of those inductive timing lights, you might be able to use that to see if it is trying to send a spark ... ?

Absolutely correct.

Oh and how can u test if the injectors are actually firing. Just cause i have pressure dont mean its actually gettin into the cylinder lol

You can use a test light but it's real hillbilly (unless you have an LED testlight). The correct way to do it is with a noid light. They're great to have. Some better parts stores sell them for a few bucks each (get the correct one for your EEC IV Ford) or you can get a kit with 10 lights or so (if you work on many cars) for about 22 bucks shipped.

Good luck.

 

[BlackVert]

if you hook one to a 12v source, or even a 9v battery, it will start squirting

 

[nmcgrawj]

if you hook one to a 12v source, or even a 9v battery, it will start squirting

Well that will test an individual injector right? I was thinking it'd be something else like the PIP that wont even send signal to the injector.....but if its not sending signal to the injector will it also not send signal for spark?

 

[nmcgrawj]

Hissin u replied too fast, i just now saw your reply lol.

So with a noid light, how do u actually hook it up. I've never messed with one of those before.

 

[HISSIN50]

The noid light just sits on top of the injector connector (it's just a mini test light that can flash really really fast - think pulsar star).

 

[Redsnk95]

tfi module

 

[fox racer]

Check the Dizzy Gear. I recently just stripped mine and it was the last thing I checked.