No spark

[ryanprins13]

If I read everything correctly, you have changed the coil and the igniter, you have 12v to the coil, process of elimination says you have a bad pickup coil in the distributor or a broken wire. Does anyone know how to test the pickup coil? Can he crank the engine and look for an ac signal from it?

Its the pickup coil in the distributor that i meant when i said icm. I thought there was a different name for it, so i havent searched. There is a test procedure on the forum somewhere for it, is pickup coil the only name?
Thats why i asked how it had been running beforehand, because when the pickup coil starts to go it almost always gives you warning, but he doesnt know that so itl have to be tested or replaced to check. Do you have a spare distributor logan?

EFI has an external ICM (located on the driver's side strut tower) and a pickup trigger in the dizzy. You won't see any voltage across the coil if there's no ground or current flow so that's the first place to look (continuity to ground after the ICM). You also need to verify the coil has continuity through the primary wire.

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[logan]

Its the pickup coil in the distributor that i meant when i said icm. I thought there was a different name for it, so i havent searched. There is a test procedure on the forum somewhere for it, is pickup coil the only name?
Thats why i asked how it had been running beforehand, because when the pickup coil starts to go it almost always gives you warning, but he doesnt know that so itl have to be tested or replaced to check. Do you have a spare distributor logan?





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No I do not. I bought this car from a guy that had bought it as a parts car. Was told it had a blown head gasket. So while I replaced the gasket I figured I'd just rebuild the whole motor. So now it's all back in and I can't get spark.

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[ryanprins13]

No I do not. I bought this car from a guy that had bought it as a parts car. Was told it had a blown head gasket. So while I replaced the gasket I figured I'd just rebuild the whole motor. So now it's all back in and I can't get spark.

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Ok, where do you live? Maybe there is a nearby member that would lend you a distributor to try? Is there a junkyard nearby with a festiva?
I dont know how to test them, when mine went bad i didnt know what happened and was working on my car. My neighbour who had never worked on festivas before asked what was wrong, i told him what happened, he knew it was something inside the distributor, tested it and confirmed it was bad. I replaced the distributor and it was good ever since.
So you could try googling how to test it as its not just festivas that are like this. Or try searching this site, i would but it sucks to do on my phone and im sure there was a different name other than distributor pickup.
Check the plug by the distributor to make sure there are no bent or broken pins inside it.


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[logan]

Ok, where do you live? Maybe there is a nearby member that would lend you a distributor to try? Is there a junkyard nearby with a festiva?
I dont know how to test them, when mine went bad i didnt know what happened and was working on my car. My neighbour who had never worked on festivas before asked what was wrong, i told him what happened, he knew it was something inside the distributor, tested it and confirmed it was bad. I replaced the distributor and it was good ever since.
So you could try googling how to test it as its not just festivas that are like this. Or try searching this site, i would but it sucks to do on my phone and im sure there was a different name other than distributor pickup.
Check the plug by the distributor to make sure there are no bent or broken pins inside it.


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I'm in western ky. No yards with festys around.

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[Green Bean]

Try to find an aspire as.long as its a 1.3 there the same

[WmWatt]

Re: testing ignition control module. The test machine is called distester and can be found at www.distester.com. Some parts stores have them and will test for free. The last time I had mine tested we couldn't figure out which wires go to which connectors and the new guy at distester didn't know so they all failed. Finally we got it hooked up right thanks to a guy at Standard Auto Parts and the bad one failed and the good one passed. There is a thread in this forum dating back to March 2016. I have a hand drawn diagram of the conections if you should need the info and can't find the thread using the search feature.

[ricko1966]

Re: testing ignition control module. The test machine is called distester and can be found at www.distester.com. Some parts stores have them and will test for free. The last time I had mine tested we couldn't figure out which wires go to which connectors and the new guy at distester didn't know so they all failed. Finally we got it hooked up right thanks to a guy at Standard Auto Parts and the bad one failed and the good one passed. There is a thread in this forum dating back to March 2016. I have a hand drawn diagram of the conections if you should need the info and can't find the thread using the search feature.

I would love to see that diagram tried searching for post marck 2016 but no luck, I really don't know the best way to search I typed 03 2016 in search and got millions of threads, searched you buy name got millions of threads. I want to see what the module is looking for. This may be a real simple on car test IDK yet.

[ryanprins13]

I would love to see that diagram tried searching for post marck 2016 but no luck, I really don't know the best way to search I typed 03 2016 in search and got millions of threads, searched you buy name got millions of threads. I want to see what the module is looking for. This may be a real simple on car test IDK yet.

Huh, i only saw 1 post from him from march 2016. Here it is!!!
This is the thread i was talking about earlier i think.

https://fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58451

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[logan]

Re: testing ignition control module. The test machine is called distester and can be found at www.distester.com. Some parts stores have them and will test for free. The last time I had mine tested we couldn't figure out which wires go to which connectors and the new guy at distester didn't know so they all failed. Finally we got it hooked up right thanks to a guy at Standard Auto Parts and the bad one failed and the good one passed. There is a thread in this forum dating back to March 2016. I have a hand drawn diagram of the conections if you should need the info and can't find the thread using the search feature.

I replaced to ICM just to rule it out.

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[WmWatt]

Ryan gets the search pirze. I'm no good at it. Good work.

[logan]

Does anyone know the difference in the optical ad hall type distributor? Are they interchangeable?

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[ricko1966]

easy on car test backprobe black wire at coil with plain old 12v test light ground 1 side of test light key on engine off your light should light if so,turn off the key move your probe {I used a safety pin] to the yellow/green wire at the coil pull high tension lead from distributor . Now here is the tricky part,car in neutral,key on engine off, alligator clip side of test light clipped to a good ground. With 1 hand hold your coil wire 1/8 inch from ground,with your other hand hold the probe end of your test light so it is contacting your safety pin, with your other other hand reach down and short the starter positive lead to the starter solenoid lead [I use a quarter}s the engine cranks if your test light flashes you know your coil is getting pulse,which would mean your igniter and pickup coil are working. I searced for WmWatt again this time using WmWatt 04/2013 as my search parameter I got 17 pages of posts. I do not know how to search. We keep beating on the ignition system as the problem but something that occurred to me. This happened after an engine rebuild, have you verified that the cam is turning?Are alll engine grounds,sensors,etc, attached. So in this thread I have physically gone to one of my cars and tested for A/C signal from a known good distributor, have come up with a test thatalthough it works will destroy a noid light that has served me well for 15 years if done to a running car. I have taken a spare dist apart to examine how things work in these dizzys, come up with a simple test with a simple 12v test light that just for fun I checked with the vehicle running also it does not go off like a flashbulb,I think I have figured out how to sub a gm 4wire ICM as a test unit. And learned that ryann knows how to search like a boss and Wm and I suck at it.

[logan]

easy on car test backprobe black wire at coil with plain old 12v test light ground 1 side of test light key on engine off your light should light if so,turn off the key move your probe {I used a safety pin] to the yellow/green wire at the coil pull high tension lead from distributor . Now here is the tricky part,car in neutral,key on engine off, alligator clip side of test light clipped to a good ground. With 1 hand hold your coil wire 1/8 inch from ground,with your other hand hold the probe end of your test light so it is contacting your safety pin, with your other other hand reach down and short the starter positive lead to the starter solenoid lead [I use a quarter}s the engine cranks if your test light flashes you know your coil is getting pulse,which would mean your igniter and pickup coil are working. I searced for WmWatt again this time using WmWatt 04/2013 as my search parameter I got 17 pages of posts. I do not know how to search. We keep beating on the ignition system as the problem but something that occurred to me. This happened after an engine rebuild, have you verified that the cam is turning?Are alll engine grounds,sensors,etc, attached. So in this thread I have physically gone to one of my cars and tested for A/C signal from a known good distributor, have come up with a test thatalthough it works will destroy a noid light that has served me well for 15 years if done to a running car. I have taken a spare dist apart to examine how things work in these dizzys, come up with a simple test with a simple 12v test light that just for fun I checked with the vehicle running also it does not go off like a flashbulb,I think I have figured out how to sub a gm 4wire ICM as a test unit. And learned that ryann knows how to search like a boss and Wm and I suck at it.

So your saying across this plug shouldn't be voltage?
Black to battery ground - 12 volts
Green/yellow - should be 12 volts to ground when starting?

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[ricko1966]

No thick wire is 12v+ check it with a test light grounded light should light with key on engine off. Grounded test light to green and yellow wire should flash on and off as the engine is cranking. Pull the coil wire so the engine doesn't start I held my coil wire 1/8 inch from engine ground while cranking to protect my igniter, some vehicles are sensitive to cranking with no coil lead.

[logan]

No thick wire is 12v+ check it with a test light grounded light should light with key on engine off. Grounded test light to green and yellow wire should flash on and off as the engine is cranking. Pull the coil wire so the engine doesn't start I held my coil wire 1/8 inch from engine ground while cranking to protect my igniter, some vehicles are sensitive to cranking with no coil lead.

Let me check and see if I have a test light.

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