1978 bay wont start no spark

[stubb1986]

Yesterday I was out test driving my bay after doing some front end work and it died and won't start now. The coil came loose from the mount but nothing came unplugged. Checked fuses and all were good
Put new cap and rotor on and cleaned up the points. Tested with new spark plug held to ground and no spark. Put new wires on I had as well. Unplugged condenser and tested coil with coil output grounded and jumper on negative and it sparks there. Not sure what else to try. Have power to coil. Coil reads 3.5 ohms from pos to negative. From coil output to positive I'm getting 7.73K ohms. What you guys think?


Ps. Motor is a 2.0 fuel injected

[Spike0180]

So:
You have power to the coil.
But no spark.
Do you have power at the rotor? see if the coil plug has power from the coil to the rotor.
If you have that, keep tracing the power, where does it stop? replace the part that loses the power.

(You should be able to test the coil-to-rotor wire just like you would a spark plug wire.)
_________________
Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp

Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic"

[SGKent]

possibly a bad condenser. Put your vote meter at the coil on 15 and see if you have voltage with the key on. With your dwell meter see what the dwell is. Report back what you find.
_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[stubb1986]

[SGKent]

put the meter on 1 and rotate the engine by hand. See if the voltage goes from 12V to 0 every time the points open. don't leave the ignition on for a long time to avoid overheating the coil. Make 100% sure that your hands, clothing and hair are away from the belt and that the car is in neutral with the parking brake on in case it decides to fire.
_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[stubb1986]

[SGKent]

you should have 12V on pin 1 of the coil when the points are open if you have 12V on pin 15. Remove the green wire from 1 and see if you have 12 V now. If you do, then look for a bad condenser or chaffed green wire etc.
_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[stubb1986]

[stubb1986]

[Wildthings]

[stubb1986]

[SGKent]

your points needed adjusting. When they are closed they ground 1 so there is no voltage there. When they are open the 12V thru the coil is there. Sounds like you are having issues setting your point gap. It should be .016 inch when it is on the lobe. Make sure you put a little distributor lobe grease on the lobes.
_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[timvw7476]

'cleaning up the points' will bring you misery & confusion.
When point sets are new, a feeler gauge is all that's needed.
Once they have operated they swap material from one contact
surface to the other. At that point, a feeler gauge is now useless,
it does not have the new, flat contact surfaces to deal with, it rides
on the crater & dimple left by normal ignition operation & you wind up
with .016" + the marred contact surface. : (
The points of today don't take well to filing, the metals used are for long
life then disposal not re-gapping/cleaning.