75ohm

Have you checked for spark yet?

PeteL

Haven't had time. Did a little work to get to the DME, but it was tight with the car being next to the wall.
Will have time to check spark today. Just read kevin's note above about the coil....maybe something to consider. AFAIK it is the original. I certainly have not changed it since I have had the car...11 years.

75ohm

Come by and get the spare coil I have... time permitting, I can swing by with the coil and another DME to test.

PeteL

I can do that tonight. Call when you are home. I have no kids/responsibilities today, so I can spend the evening in the garage with the game on.

75ohm

Do you have any beer?

PeteL

Yep

Papamurphdog

PeteL, if the tach does not move then it is still likely the "speed" sensor, or it's connector, or the wiring from it to the DME unit. Something in that food chain is not happy. The sensors are interchangable -- but still need to be plugged in correctly -- and be sure the spacer is installed properly.

You did not say if you tested the plugs from the harness to the sensor -- which was one of the problems with my car -- or if you tested the DME unit at the pins. The tach must bounce, if not there is no signal from the "SPEED" sensor. Without that fixed you can not trace and other issues...

I finally discovered that the wiring at the injector boots was frayed and shorting inside the boots themselves. The tach bounced the whole time, so while my ref/speed sensor harness fix was timley, as the connectors were crapola, it was not actualy causing the no start.

Can't remember if no speed sensor signal would prevent spark though...

PeteL

Thanks...will look at all the above tonight.
Need to get this sucker running.

roman944

hey when you do let me know, mine won't start, but I know I'm not getting spark, but who knows what else it could be

PeteL

I know you all are starving for an update.
So here it is.
75ohm and I spent a good part of the evening chasing our tails...err I mean troubleshooting.
Findings: My coil and coil wire were disgustingly corroded. I could not get continuity through that wire.
So we thought that was the cause of the no-start. Put a known good coil and coil wire on the car. No change.
Beginning to suspect fuel delivery, but ran out of time to check that. Diagnosis will continue Thursday when I can check for fuel.

MooreBoost

are you getting spark?

75ohm

Not that I've seen... but there's more to the mystery to intrigue all the troubleshooters...

We started off by ensuring all the sensors are connected. Check. I even tapped the AFM... just for good measure.

Pulled the wire off the coil and gasped in horror.

75ohm "My God man, what the !@#$ is this!?"
PeteL "Holy $%(*, that's bad"
75ohm "Beer me"

Next 30 minutes were spent yelling at the TV on MNF while complaining the whole time as to what I was thinking picking the Broncos over the Patriots at the last minute. * this continued all night.

From there, we tested voltage to the coil, check.

We tested the coil for resistance, check.

Pulled a plug and checked for spark, no dice.

75ohm "Bro, these plugs need help"
PeteL "Yeah, I know"
75ohm "Come to think of it, so do these wires"
PeteL "Yeah, I know that too"
75ohm "Damned Broncos... for the love of Christ why did I pick you guys"

I attempted to repair the corroded coil wire to no apparent avail, even though we ended up getting limited continuity through it.

In a brazen move, I held a piece of wire in the coil to see if I could get spark across the distributor... NO DICE.

75ohm "Pete... we're going to yank the coil and wire off my car, enough of this crap already..."
PeteL "Plan"

So Pete heads home, throws my coil and wire on the car... NO DICE.

At this point, I'd say, NO SPARK...

However, this is not a DD car and we're going to limit throwing money at the beast until we know exactly what's needed: plugs and wires are a definite. I'm putting his coil on my car tonight to double check it.

We're planning on checking fuel delivery next... we did manage to loosen the fuel line and got gas, but never checked if it was pressurized... this was more of a shoot the breeze session with beer and football with a half-hearted attempt at a quick fix...

And before I forget, my coil and wire didn't help...

Now we're getting serious because we're both mildly irritated at the car.

Oh yes, something else that's on the list is to shoot some starter fluid in the throttle body to see if we can't get a stumble out of it.

That's my 2 cents worth thus far!

MooreBoost

i have an 83 here at the shop that has the same problem. no spark. i checked the sensors and they test good. when the car first came in there was a relay wired into the ignition switch and the customer wanted it out. so we pulled it and car is not starting now. the guy said he cut the alarm system out and looking at the diagrams the alarm is wired into the ignition circuit. ive tried changing dme's and still the same problem.


edit: oh the tach is not bouncing

75ohm

Interesting point... Pete... your cooling fan relays...

PeteL

Cooling fan relays don't exist.
Dumbass PO butchered the hell out of that circuit. I have a homemade cooling fan circuit that replicates the cooling fan relay operation.


By the way.....75ohm has the summary about right.