Wont start

[milehighbear]

Ok, I went out and started the car and it started up and I let it run to warm up. Got in, started going to work and got about ten blocks away and check engine light comes on, car stalls. I pull over, turn key, and it starts again for couple seconds, and check engine light comes on again and now it won't start. So I had call wife to come get me, took her home and took truck to work. After work, we went to get car and tried to start it, wont start. I check coil wire and not getting any spark. Im getting juice to all the little diodes and to coil, but not getting any spark. So I'm thinking coil is bad. Im checking posts to see if I can find answer. Any thoughts would be appreciated while I'm checking.

[FestYboy]

oil in the dizzy causing the pick-up coil to loose signal, OR you have a VAF issue.

[milehighbear]

Ok, now I'm lost. There is no spark coming out of the coil wire. I made sure coil wire was fitting properly into the coil, and I touched the coil wire to a good ground and there is no spark. I pulled the distributor cap off and cleaned all the contacts and checked for any oil and it is clean. I also pulled the connectors going to coil and turned key on to see if it is getting power and both connectors are getting power. So the VAF could cause this? What would I look for on the VAF?

[Flyin4stroke]

Needs a new dizzy.

[FestYboy]

BOTH wires to the coil are getting power!?!?! that's not good. you should have just ONE wire with battery voltage to the coil. check continuity for the primary and secondary windings in the coil. BTW, grounding the coil isn't what makes a spark, it's UNgrounding a coil that makes a spark. you should take the coil and provide power to it and a good ground, then take the tower wire and place it NEAR a good ground. now if the coil is good, when you disconnect the coil ground wire, you should see a spark at the tower wire.

having a bad VAF connection can cause the running issue you're having as well, but you're right, you should still have spark.

[Damkid]

If the VAF is unplugged (IE bad connection, not working etc.) it should fire up for only a few seconds then just die out..... at least thats what always happened to me anytime i ever forgot to plug in the VAF

[milehighbear]

ok, just went out and re-checked. The coil itself has one connector with a black wire with white line, and yellow wire. The black wire has power and the yellow does not. I pulled the connector off and checked continuity between the two prongs on coil and they do have continuity. What I said earlier about both wires having power, I meant to say, one wire on coil has power-black one-and the connector to what I believe is the ignition module on one side of coil has three wires and one of these wires which is yellow also has voltage to it, the middle wire, black, is ground. There is also a small, I believe it to be a diode on the other side of coil, it is a one inch by one inch square, has two wires and one wire has power to it also. So if there is continuity between the two prongs on coil, that means coil is good right? Now, the plug wire coming out of the coil itself, I had my wife starting the car and I held the plug wire close to a good ground on the car and usually I could see a spark between the wire and ground, but there is no spark at this time. I also checked the vaf connector and it is plugged in pretty good.

[Damkid]

^^The yellow wire at the coil actually goes to the cluster for your rpm gauge

[FestYboy]

ok you also need to check between the tower post and the pin that connects to the yellow wire (ground), you should also have continuity to that as well. now if you have a test light, you can test your ICM via the yellow wire at the coil. take your test light and connect to the battery positive and poke the yellow connection. you should have the test light illuminate. crank the engine and the light should blink. if either or neither happen, you have an ICM issue.

[milehighbear]

ok, I have no rpm guage so now I don't have to worry about that wire. But the black wire on that same connector does have voltage to it which goes into the coil and if the coil is good, power should then go to the plug wire of the coil and provide a spark, right? Or am I missing something

[FestYboy]

^^The yellow wire at the coil actually goes to the cluster for your rpm gauge

no, it's your coil ground.... tach signal comes from the ICM (unlike on the carbed festys where tach signal is a seperate yellow wire). and yes i know the tach is a ground based signal. but the EFI coil only has 2 wires to it, SO, the yellow HAS to be coil ground.

[Damkid]

^^Then why would an aftermarket tach get its signal off that yellow wire? i've ran a tach like that before in my old green festiva... the yellow wire has NOTHING to do with how the coil operates.... if you don't believe me, take your volt meter, check for continuity from the yellow coil wire to the back of the cluster where the tach would get its signal

[JoDan]

^^The yellow wire at the coil actually goes to the cluster for your rpm gauge

It is also the wire that give collapsing ground for the coil to ignite. Does the yellow wire have ground at all key on or off?

[JoDan]

^^Then why would an aftermarket tach get its signal off that yellow wire? i've ran a tach like that before in my old green festiva... the yellow wire has NOTHING to do with how the coil operates.... if you don't believe me, take your volt meter, check for continuity from the yellow coil wire to the back of the cluster where the tach would get its signal

All the tach does is measure how many times the ground collapse and converts that into RPMs. The yellow wire is the ground for the coil and is also the tach signal.

[FestYboy]

ok, I have no rpm guage so now I don't have to worry about that wire. But the black wire on that same connector does have voltage to it which goes into the coil and if the coil is good, power should then go to the plug wire of the coil and provide a spark, right? Or am I missing something

spark comes from the coil generating a field (voltage flowing through the primary winding) and then having the field collapse onto the secondary winding (tower wire that feeds the cap/rotor) by way of the ground being broken/disconnected.

in short, get a coil, give it ground and power. take a plug wire and place it near ground and connect it to the coil tower. disconnect the coil ground and you will get a spark at the plug wire. repeat.