One more no-spark thread.

[Ceramiccactus]

OkTry a little more. Otherwise i got nothing...
Can you please describe how were you checking for spark at the coil wire and spark plugs?
Also welcome to the forum! I see this is your first thread. Thanks for searching and trying to solve your problem that way first and for making a super detailed first post

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Hey thanks!
I checked for spark at coil by unplugging it from the cap and holding 1/4" away from metal. Had wife try to start and saw strong blue spark.
I checked for spark at plug by pulling #1 cylinder plug, attaching to boot and touching spark tip to engine. No spark at all. I also tried with cylinder #3 plug.

[ryanprins13]

Hey thanks!
I checked for spark at coil by unplugging it from the cap and holding 1/4" away from metal. Had wife try to start and saw strong blue spark.
I checked for spark at plug by pulling #1 cylinder plug, attaching to boot and touching spark tip to engine. No spark at all. I also tried with cylinder #3 plug.

Ok!
If you dont mind could you try something different? Weak spark can be very difficult to see when its lighter out. Do you have somewhere darkish to try it?
So take a spark plug out, take some booster cables or jumper wire and carefully connect the ground electrode of the spark plug to the neg terminal on the battery. That way you can both get it closer to your face while your checking and your sure the ground is good.
Then depending on what you see- no spark, weak spark or strong spark-we can go from there.


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[Ceramiccactus]

Ok!
If you dont mind could you try something different? Weak spark can be very difficult to see when its lighter out. Do you have somewhere darkish to try it?
So take a spark plug out, take some booster cables or jumper wire and carefully connect the ground electrode of the spark plug to the neg terminal on the battery. That way you can both get it closer to your face while your checking and your sure the ground is good.
Then depending on what you see- no spark, weak spark or strong spark-we can go from there.


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Simply attach ground of plug to negative terminal on battery with jumper cable? should I have spark plug connected to boot? Test while cranking? sorry I am not 100% sure of what that is I need to do.

[ryanprins13]

Simply attach ground of plug to negative terminal on battery with jumper cable? should I have spark plug connected to boot? Test while cranking? sorry I am not 100% sure of what that is I need to do.

Sorry. Instead of putting the ground electrode on the block like last time do it connected to the neg battery terminal in case your ground connection to the block is bad or simply where you were holding it wasnt a great connection.

So, plug wire connected to it, wire from cap to dist connected, ground electrode grounded to the neg battery terminal, have someone crank engine while your staring at the plug.

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[Ceramiccactus]

Sorry. Instead of putting the ground electrode on the block like last time do it connected to the neg battery terminal in case your ground connection to the block is bad or simply where you were holding it wasnt a great connection.

So, plug wire connected to it, wire from cap to dist connected, ground electrode grounded to the neg battery terminal, have someone crank engine while your staring at the plug.

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OK I gave this a shot just a minute ago. I put a black screwdriver behind to help with brightness outside.
no spark at all.
Also I cleaned 2 ground connections that go to engine. No luck yet.

[ryanprins13]

OK I gave this a shot just a minute ago. I put a black screwdriver behind to help with brightness outside.
no spark at all.
Also I cleaned 2 ground connections that go to engine. No luck yet.

I have no idea at the moment. Ill keep thibking about it while i work, but hopefully someone else will read this and be able to help you.
In the meantime your engine is interesting since its a mixture of carbed engine parts and efi parts. Could you post a couple more photos of the engine bay? Just curious to see if anything else is different too

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[Ceramiccactus]

I have no idea at the moment. Ill keep thibking about it while i work, but hopefully someone else will read this and be able to help you.
In the meantime your engine is interesting since its a mixture of carbed engine parts and efi parts. Could you post a couple more photos of the engine bay? Just curious to see if anything else is different too

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20180320_154053.jpg
How can you tell that it has parts from both?
*Also..my pics on here are sized down significantly. I can provide full res if necessary.

[WmWatt]

Do you still have the old distributor cap? If so try that and see if anything changes. The other thing could be the ignition control module. Again, try the old one if you still have it but try the cap and ICM separately so you can tell if one of the new ones is the problem. Does this model have the ICM under the cap? If so when it was replaced it shoul dhave been bedded in dielectric heat transfer paste to protect it from engine heat and prolong it's life. Not saying engine heat killed the new one, just they last longer.

[ryanprins13]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]21950[/ATTACH]
How can you tell that it has parts from both?
*Also..my pics on here are sized down significantly. I can provide full res if necessary.

See how on one rocker shaft the valve lash is manually adjusted and on the other its hydraulic? The carbed cars had manual adjustment and the efi cars had hydraulic. Except perhaps for the 89 automatic? But everything else i see in your photo looks normal...


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[Ceramiccactus]

Do you still have the old distributor cap? If so try that and see if anything changes. The other thing could be the ignition control module. Again, try the old one if you still have it but try the cap and ICM separately so you can tell if one of the new ones is the problem. Does this model have the ICM under the cap? If so when it was replaced it shoul dhave been bedded in dielectric heat transfer paste to protect it from engine heat and prolong it's life. Not saying engine heat killed the new one, just they last longer.

I don't have the old cap.
On this model the ICM is separate; not on distributor.
I replaced the coil and ICM after the car broke down. I still have old ICM but no luck with it.

[Ceramiccactus]

See how on one rocker shaft the valve lash is manually adjusted and on the other its hydraulic? The carbed cars had manual adjustment and the efi cars had hydraulic. Except perhaps for the 89 automatic? But everything else i see in your photo looks normal...


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This had all adjustable rocker arms. I pulled the bottom shaft and arms from a 1995 Aspire. Festivas are never in junkyards where I live.

[Ceramiccactus]

See how on one rocker shaft the valve lash is manually adjusted and on the other its hydraulic? The carbed cars had manual adjustment and the efi cars had hydraulic. Except perhaps for the 89 automatic? But everything else i see in your photo looks normal...


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This had all adjustable rocker arms. I pulled the bottom shaft and arms from a 1995 Aspire. Festivas are never in junkyards where I live.
Does this mean someone replaced the head at some point?

[ryanprins13]

I don't have the old cap.
On this model the ICM is separate; not on distributor.
I replaced the coil and ICM after the car broke down. I still have old ICM but no luck with it.

Could you take a picture of your icm and your distributor for me please?

This had all adjustable rocker arms. I pulled the bottom shaft and arms from a 1995 Aspire. Festivas are never in junkyards where I live.
Does this mean someone replaced the head at some point?

Oh! Lol. Did the aspire rockers have rollers that run on the camshaft?
I have no idea if the head was replaced. There is probably a stamp on the head that would tell you but im not sure where it is. Possibly someone just swapped the rocker arms, although i dont know why. Maybe the whole motor came out of a carb car and they just put efi stuff on it?

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[Ceramiccactus]

Could you take a picture of your icm and your distributor for me please? Oh! Lol. Did the aspire rockers have rollers that run on the camshaft?
I have no idea if the head was replaced. There is probably a stamp on the head that would tell you but im not sure where it is. Possibly someone just swapped the rocker arms, although i dont know why. Maybe the whole motor came out of a carb car and they just put efi stuff on it?

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20180320_165406.jpg
20180320_165500.jpg
20180320_165355.jpg

Yes, the Aspire rockers had ball bearings that roll on camshaft. The arms that came with had "paddle"? style.

[ryanprins13]

I think i know whats wrong but like an hour before i can explain. Do you have a spare distributor to try? And what city and state are you in if you dont?

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