no spark issue

bholmes

Registered User
OK I am having some problems with my car not getting fire. The DIS, coil, crank and cam sensors are new. I just put a motor in it. The previous engine had a rod knock but ran last week when I pulled the motor. My fuel press is OK I think (38psi). When I put a timing light on the car I get no flashing light when I roll it over. The timing light functions fine on my other car. I have checked all my fuses under the hood and under the dash and all are fine. My ground straps to the engine are both firmly attached. All the connections I can find seem good. Any ideas?!!! I feel like I've really covered my bases. Oh and when cranking the check engine light and up shift light are both not lit.
 
Did you paint any of the accy. brackets? Did you check for codes? Did you verify 12v at the upper harness/coil hot feed w/key on? Is the battery charged up?
 
Did you paint any of the accy. brackets? Did you check for codes? Did you verify 12v at the upper harness/coil hot feed w/key on? Is the battery charged up?

The only thing I painted was the block. everything else i left alone. I did not check for codes, I'm not sure what I need to do that on this car, I'll try to look into that (is it just a regular OBD2 scanner?). I have been looking for a wiring diagram so I know what I'm looking for....do you know off hand which wire should be hot w/12v ? The battery is new and charged.
 
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Hot should be R/LG...I think. Just remove the connector, key on, and start testing. Only one wire will be the hot. If none show 12v, work backwards from there, including laying eyes on the ignition switch down on the right side of the steering column, inside the dash.

You should be able to find a year-specific EVTM on eBay for not too much money.

This is a diagram for a '90 as I recall.

attachment.php
 
Thanks alot. I'll run my voltages and such tomorrow and let you know what i find. Do you know how I would read the codes on mine? I don't know if it's OBD1 or OBD2 and alot of the links I find on the forum point me to a site that's no longer functional. I have done the paper clip method on a car i used to have that was OBD1 I believe. Is this valid on these cars?
 
ford-test-light-method.jpg

For anyone that happens across this post and is curious as to the how to check the codes w/o a scanner. Pic was taken from this page http://www.troublecodes.net/Ford/

Also I found a cheap EVTM for my '93, thanks for the tip on that. Even if I have it figured out by the time it gets here, it will be 7 bucks well spent if I ever need it.
 
I checked my voltages. My battery reads 12.8V (it's below freezing here and it's a smidge tired from piddlings) the red/lt green wire is reading 11.88v. I'm not sure if this is common or if it should read the same voltage of the battery. The voltage runs clear to the coil so the coil is powered. The up shift light is not on while cranking nor is the check engine light. My ground terminal to the block(ish) area is 5 ohms... is that enough to make an issue?
 
I threw several codes, most of which are just in the memory i think because it says TPS is out of range etc but I replaced the TPS not long ago. But of interest and pertinence to my problem (i think) are codes 212 (Loss of TACH input to ECA; SPOUT circuit grounded) and 214 (Distributorless Ignition System (DIS) cylinder identification circuit failure) Any ideas what would cause this?

EDIT: are those valid since they are continuous errors and not Key On Engine Off errors?
 
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Also possibly notable is my tach doesn't bounce when i try to start the car. It will twitch when I power on the car, but it doesn't bounce like most cars I have had in the past when I crank the engine. Is that normal?
 
I appreciate that link. I'm going to try to start on it tonight. i gotta get the car in the garage tonight from my dad's house it's too cold to be working outside tonight. It's 22 out and that's just no fun when you have worked in a heated garage.
 
SMH This thing is killing me. I have fire on only two cylinders. The middle two wires coming off my coil pack light up reliably. The other four don't do a darn thing. All the sensors seem to be sending the right signals and pulsing like they are supposed to. The wiring harness doesn't seem to have any shorts in it. I am really stumped. I even changed out the DIS and coil pack with good spares I have with no luck. So I guess so far I established my DIS is getting proper signal etc, my crank sensor is working properly and sending signal properly. The only thing I don't have is spark on four of my cylinders for some reason.
 
I threw several codes, most of which are just in the memory i think because it says TPS is out of range etc but I replaced the TPS not long ago. But of interest and pertinence to my problem (i think) are codes 212 (Loss of TACH input to ECA; SPOUT circuit grounded) and 214 (Distributorless Ignition System (DIS) cylinder identification circuit failure) Any ideas what would cause this?

EDIT: are those valid since they are continuous errors and not Key On Engine Off errors?

Those codes are typical for a bad or unplugged cam position sensor.

David
 
Can't you start the car on an unplugged cam sensor? The cam sensor is new, that's not to say that it didn't get damaged in the process of installing the motor. I did notice that the harmonic dampeners were a little different but i don't think that should be an issue since I'm using the damper that went w/ the crank on the motor i built and timed it with. The current damper is off an 89 or 90 model and my old/orig damper is a 93. They look virtually the same other than a difference in the keyway/timing mark orientation. But again, since I kept the dampers with the crank they went to I don't see that causing the issue. of further confusion to me is that the coil pack gets signal on the three separate (non power) wires. When I use an LED test light all three of the wires pulse as the engine cranks. I assume these three wires signal the three different coil packs to fire and so it would be functioning properly ? I duno. My book should be here thurs. But I fear that the procedure in the link posted early is pretty much what I will find in the book and so far it hasn't yielded much more than questions. I have another cam position sensor i will try swapping it out.
 
I tested my pulse at the coil pack and power at the coil a few different ways and it is pulsing and powering right. If I pull the plug wires off and put a plug wire with a plug in it and ground the plug while cranking it will fire on all of my coils. I have a hard time believing i have that many bad plug wires but that's all i can imagine it is. My resistance from my negative terminal to the block is 0.5ohms, so the plugs are properly grounded. They are new plugs. I suppose next order of buisness is to pull my plugs and wires and look for damage and check gaps. They all ohm out about the same from the plug wire where it plugs into the coil to the block. It's a very high level of resistance though. Looking at about 4megaohms.
 
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