doo

Hi,
needing help diagnosing strange issue. this car is a 1980 with CIS injection. recently had engine running for a few minutes then totally quit as if no fire. sure enough no spark. tested areas at the top of coil and low voltage of 6 or so but has to ballast resistors that feeds it. ballast resistors were very hot. seemed to have power going to them. this car has new wires, cap, rotor, coil. put spark indicator on plug 4 and no spark. checked it two days later and spark had returned. car ran about 40 seconds and spark was gone again.... any help would be appreciated.

GlenL

Check the "Green Wire" that connects the distributor to the spark box. Check for abrasions, clean the connectors and route it so it's not touching the block.

jwillman

Went through this recently and unfortunately there are multiple errors / conflicts in the WSM troubleshooting pages (text does not match labeling in photos) that resulted in me thinking I had issues with coil and ballast resistors and replacing them. The ballast resistors are suppose to get hot so in and of itself not a fault.

After changing all those parts and still not having spark the TS steps took me to the green wire. My green wire was relatively new but I had a bad connection inside the car side connector for the green wire at the ignition unit. I would get correct readings if the connector was held in the right place and then no readings if slightly moved. This ought to be the first step in the troubleshooting instead of the last.

Good Luck.

https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...-no-start.html

doo

thank you, all. I will investigate this green wire more closely. it appeared decent shape just from general inspection. I will post back after inspection of such.

doo

guys, it was the green wire indeed. previous owner had a sleeve of shrink wrap over the middle 10 inches of the the green wire. evidently there are multiple cracks in the underlying two small wires. wiggling it makes the spark come back for a little while, but vibration of the engine etc would disrupt it. so I will need to replace the wires all the way to the plug. What is the purpose of the two wires in the green wire? one says coil and one must be ground? is this how the tach knows the RPMs? I am guessing there is a write up on changing out the green wire from the distributor?

Mrmerlin

when you get your new green wire rout it along the top of the engine and behind the large harness,
use a few zip ties, but just make them snug,
this so the insulation of the wire wont get damaged.

To fit the connector into the distributor housing mark the housing to the body then remove the lock down bolt.
twist the body till you can unscrew the locking plate .
NOTE put a rag under the distributor first so you dont lose the screws they are small.

doo

thank you Mrmerlin. can these wires be replaced and then use the current plugs? while using a better gauge and better insulated wire for each? are these wires partially responsible for signal to tach?