My O/T car (87 Monte SS) died on me a while ago while I was driving home. I can't figure out what's causing the no spark condition? When I click the key to accessory the volt meter goes up to about 12. When I turn the key further and roll the engine over it drops down to around 5 volts. The battery is grounded, the engine is grounded (to the firewall) I even got a new + terminal lug for the battery cable. The car sat all winter but I fired it up every week. In January I decided to take it for a spin and it died. The battery is fully charged, I replaced the cap/rotor/module in the HEI. I also checked and there's 12 V at the ignition lead at the HEI. For whatever reason I have no spark. I heard today that it could be a dead cell in the battery. This didn't make sense because the lights/stereo work and the engine rolls freely. Just no spark. So can a dead cell really cause this or should I be looking elsewhere? The battery is about a year old.
Check the ground cable. Actually check all your battery terminations. I think your ground cable is weak. I would replace it and see what happens.
I replaced the old module with a new one and it still didn't work. Something weird happened too. I drove to the carwash, one of those ones you put the vehicle in neutral and they roll you along a track. When I got to the end of the wash I tried to put it back in gear and it jammed. I finally forced it back into park so I could try and start it and the thing barely fired up. Put it back in gear and drove out. About five minutes later it started sputtering and finally died. Might be just coincidence but it was weird that it happened right after that.
Saw that you replaced the module, musta missed that. The coil is the only thing left then. Maybe some water upset it from the car wash? Check for voltage at the terminal and use the dizzy base as the ground or the engine block. If thats good, I'd swap the coil.
I just went out and swapped the cap/coil from the sedan and nothing happened. Tomorrow I might yank out the old distriubutor and install the sedan's, at least I know that one works.
Like a neutral safety switch? It won't start in any other gear but park if that's what you mean. I was wondering about that too, but the engine turns when you hit the key just no spark. If you try and start it in gear nothing happens. The ****** is a 200 4R metric slush box.
Hey lucky, did it run (even if badly) until you swapped the cap then nothing? Is that little ground strap under the coil still there? It goes into the cap wire connection area and under the coil frame. Then there is the wire on top. If that strap isn't there=no spark. If you have 12V to the BAT terminal and have no spark your problem is in that distributor somewhere. Also be sure the little nub under the coil is contacting the rotor. Spring goes toward the coil and the gasket goes over that. I've seen those in upside down and also broken off. I have no idea how much experience you have with these so sorry if I am going over the obvious. And just for fun, the rotor is turning right? Lot of these things had timing chain issues. You can check deflection easy enough by turning the crank by hand and watching the rotor. There shouldn't be much movement back and forth without the rotor moving (like 0 is best). Maybe the cap/wires got wet at the car wash and was sputtering but when you swapped the ign. stuff something went wrong? I've seen lots of dead cells in AC/delco batteries and even more pos. terminal that pull out of the batteries. Check that. Anyone with one of those little Midtronic electronic testers can test for a dead cell. You may have to use a carbon pile tester to load it a bit or shake the battery around to get it to fail. I've seen way too many of those. Usually when it fails the car won''t even turn over though.
All gm's neutral safety switches will kill is the starter. Since it turns over I don't think any of that matters here. And if the trans is shifting ok now I'd think it is out of the mix for now. Is it a column shift or a floor? If it is column there is a chance of the ign. switch and column shifter/cable having gotten together but I think the key would feel ****py if that were the case. Just to add to the mix. Check the wires to the pick-up coil too. Could have knocked them around or pulled them out while you were doing the module. They are real fragile.
Thanks Mike, I should've been more clear. I yanked the stock engine and replaced it with a back up engine from one of my racecars. I then got a 12 V lead and hooked up a regular HEI. The car's been on the road for a few years with this setup with no problems. Afer the carwash I was driving and it stumbled then died. Since then I have had no spark whatsoever. It's a floor shift, but you can see a collar on the steering column move when you put it in gear. Also, the ignition tumbler is pretty worn out. Occasionally I can start it with no key.
Man it just sounds like something got wet and fried. With 12V to the Bat terminal and everything being inside the dist. it has to be in there. You did look at all that stuff right?
You should have more than 5 volts showing when cranking ,min of 10+ . Pull battery and have load checked ,really sounds like a bad cell.
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