No spark "STILL NEED HELP"

[Gforcefd]

OKay so I was driving my festiva the other night and it died.

The only sign of anything was wrong about a minute before it died it studdered for a second and the check engine light flickered. It didn't even light all the way. Then about a minute later the car just died. THe power was still on, and I know I had gas about 1/3rd of a tank.

There seems to be no spark now when we checked it, and I changed the coil pack with two others (one I know for sure works) and still no spark coming from the coil pack. What could it be? My dad thinks maybe the ignition switch could have something wrong.

How can I diagnose the issue?

Logan

[packrat427]

The last time mine done that , and it would not restart , I wiggled the wires in the box where the fusible wires go , and it started ??
I replaced them with the Fuses after that . No problems since .

[Gforcefd]

Oh dang I didn't even think of that! Any thing else it could be? I will see about that.

[69shelby]

The ground wires in the eng compartment probably are correded, pull the fuse box and make sure you have power and ground on both sides. My lights quit working, I pulled the wire and it literally fell aprt in my hands.

[FestYboy]

also look for signal from the pickup coil, if the ign modual doean't see a signal from the pickup it won't trigger the coil to fire.

[williamthompson]

The last time mine done that , and it would not restart , I wiggled the wires in the box where the fusible wires go , and it started ??
I replaced them with the Fuses after that . No problems since .

I agree with packrat427 on this my car had the same problem about two months ago I just put straight wires to replace the links that were already there and after 3 6" peices of wire and 6 connectors the prob was solved.

[Gforcefd]

what does the IGN modual look like, and how do I check the signal from the pickup coil? I have never really had to deal with a festiva problem like this.

I changed out the main fusable link but that wasn't the problem, I tried wiggling the other two but still no start. What do the other two do, the one that is marked "head" and the other is marked with 3 letters. HELP! please!

[FestYboy]

first remove the cap and rotor and the rotor cover, then you'll see the ign mod and coil. take a DVOM (digital volt-ohm meter) and touch the two prongs that are on the coil, it should read continuity (less than 900 ohms). the ign mod plugs into the coil (small black box w/ 3 wires attached) you can test the coil for signal by having someone crank the engine and looking for voltage (very small) swings with a standard VOM (volt-ohm meter) if you have continuity and a voltage swing, then its the ign mod, but that's a $250 part so test it first w/ a circuit tester. you'll need one that attaches to a power source and look for flashes on the ground side of the coil. also make sure you have voltage on either side of the coil.

easiest thing to do is find a working distro and swap it in with the known good coil and knowint that hte coil is getting power.

[Gforcefd]

Okay I need more help on this subject. We know the coil is good, that little black box behind the coil that I believe is the ignition module according to the service manual is good, I check it with another known good one.

When you say take the distributor car off and rotor cover to check the ign coil, do you mean that there are prongs inside of the distributor? And the coil needs the signal from the distro to fire a spark to the distro correct?

We have tried everything we can think of and I need so much fricken help! Never had a problem like this.

I don't believe the coil is getting power. When we check the plug (with 3 wires) that goes into the top of the distributor we read continuity on the 1st to 3rd prong but nothing on the second.

[williamthompson]

Check the wire that are locted on the strut mount on the drivers side that is probabley your problem there are 3 wires there and the loose connection really quickly.

[Gforcefd]

those three wires are the fusable links, and we have already gone over those in this post, they are all fine

[Gforcefd]

Someone mentioned to me that the coil gets its power from the computer, and that my computer ECU isnt getting power. Also this may be the reason that I am not seeing fuel under my car (I have a really small leak under the drivers door) Its been botehring me that I when I turn it over I wasn't seeing it drip or anything.

[FestYboy]

Okay I need more help on this subject. We know the coil is good, that little black box behind the coil that I believe is the ignition module according to the service manual is good, I check it with another known good one.

When you say take the distributor car off and rotor cover to check the ign coil, do you mean that there are prongs inside of the distributor? And the coil needs the signal from the distro to fire a spark to the distro correct?

We have tried everything we can think of and I need so much fricken help! Never had a problem like this.

I don't believe the coil is getting power. When we check the plug (with 3 wires) that goes into the top of the distributor we read continuity on the 1st to 3rd prong but nothing on the second.

the ign modual on festies and aspires are located IN the distributor itself, as well as the pick-up coil. the dust cap under the rotor has to be removed to see those two parts. there should be 3 wires going into the distro, those attach to the ign modual, make sure those wires have continuity first. then on the other side of the center shaft, you should see 2 prongs, those are the testing points for the pick-up coil. you should read less than 700 ohms. to test the ign coil for power, pick one of the outer poles and find a good ground, you should see battery voltage. then pick the other pole and you should see the SAME voltage +- .1V. the center tower of the coil won't show any voltage untill the magnetic field on the primary windings (the 2 outer poles) has collapsed. there is no way to test the center tower as all of the powre that travels from it comes from induction (wireless power transfer, kinda)

if you need further clarification, i think it'd be best to schedual a phone call. if that's the case i'll give you my # through a PM.

[RJfestiva]

Parts house should be able to test the Ignition Control module for free.
My Festy is a '92 an it's Ignition Control module is located on a bracket near the Ignition Coil.

Signal produced by the pickup coil while cranking the engine will be an AC signal, set your meter to read AC voltage.

There should be 12v on one side (positive) of the Ignition Coil with the ignition swtch in the KeyOn/EngineOff (KO/EOFF) position, the negative side of the coil completes the circuit to ground through the Ignition Control module.

BTW you should hear relays energizing with the KO, specifically the Main Power Relay on the fender near the battery's negative post.

Remove Distributor Cap check for rotation of shaft while cranking.

Keep us informed - RJ

[Gforcefd]

I replace the whole distributor today with another KNOW WORKING one out of the blue car, not the problem, and since the IGN module is housed in it I guess that counts that out?

Im trying to see if I have lost power to my computer because there doesn't seem to be any gas coming up to the engine while I am cranking it over.

Does anyone have the pin layout of the two plugs that go into the ECU? I unplugged the ecu and even tried another computer, so I know the actual ECU its self is fine, because that didn't work either.

HELP :-) I am driving a Ford 4x4 Explorer to and from work (my dads) and its using more gas in 2 days then my festiva uses in a week!