Received the MSD tach/EFI adapter today...nothing. Should've expected that with my luck.

Tried a couple of different configurations, including removing the ballast resistor from the circuit. This caused the fuse to the ignition circuit to blow. Also, the Pertronix smelled mighty toasted as well, so I decide to pull it. Thought to myself, maybe I should put the stock reluctor back in.

Put the reluctor/magnetic pick-up and ignition amplifier back in. Test wire it up to the MSD and behold, A SPARK!!! :confused: Reinstall the distributor, crank the engine over with the HT lead where I can see it and I'm getting a nice strong spark. Reconnect the HT lead and fail to start the truck for a good 10 minutes (wants to kick over...) while the Disco is opposite to it giving it a jump (tired battery). Gonna try again later after my battery recharges. Right now I am completely perplexed...

Anyway, here is the timeline to this story:


- truck fails to restart after parking it one evening. Added gas to the tank...nothing. Checked HT lead for a spark...NOTHING!!!

- tow truck home.

- Check ignition system. I've got voltage where I'm supposed to have voltage. No spark.

- Swap coils. No spark.

- Pull distributor. Pull ignition amplifier and check continuity across the magnetic pick-up leads. There is an electrical field generated when the reluctor wheel passes the pick-up. I "suspect" the reluctor/magnetic pick-up is good.

- Slade gives me his tired ICM. No spark.

- I perform the CB GM ICM swap. No spark.

- I suspect the reluctor/magnetic pick-up is toast, despite what my cheap Radio Shack voltmeter suggests...possibly thinking that even though the magnetic field is producing a current, possibly it is not sufficient for the ICM to amplify.

- I order a Pertronix points-replacement module. Pertronix has a direct part-number for this distributor to replace the reluctor/magnetic-pick up.

- I install the Pertronix module. The truck runs (albeit crappy) for about 5 minutes while I set the timing. Turn the truck off. Close the hood. Try to restart it but it fails to start.

- Pop the hood. Remove HT lead from distributor and check for spark. Nothing.

- Wire up spare coil. I get a spark. So now it's the coil :confused:

- Order swanky MSD ignition box and coil. Install swanky MSD ignition box and coil, get a strong healthy spark, but truck does not start.

- Read on internet of problem with MSD ignition box and EFI injector trigger. Order MSD tach/EFI adapter. Wire it up. Engine does not start.

- Thinking the signal for the EFI is still too weak, I remove the ballast resistor from the circuit to put more current through the Pertronix. Blow fuse. Possibly toast the Pertronix.

- Pull distributor, remove Pertronix, reinstall reluctor/magnetic pickup, and ICM.

- Rewire the set-up, check for spark. Finally got a spark! Engine tries to kick-over but ultimately will not start.


So here I am. My POS still doesn't run. I've reached a zen-like state of tranquility, that, while pleasant in experience, is leading up to the point of me "losing it." The whole neighborhood will probably witness this...

So at this point, I'm either not getting enough of a signal to trigger the ECU, or the ECU is toast. I'm gonna swap ECUs with the Disco this weekend to determine if this is the case.

Ultimately, I'm still perplexed as to why I had absolutely no spark with the stock reluctor/magnet pick-up/ICM and Mallory coil, then had a spark with the Pertronix and Mallory coil, killed the coil, killed the Pertronix, reinstall the stock reluctor/magnetic pick-up and ICM, then finally get a spark. I truely believe my truck is cursed. Lucas is drinking a nice warm Guiness as we speak...

WOW.......:eek:


Now THAT'S a vent!!!!

Originally posted by TyziskBen



Now THAT'S a vent!!!!


:confused: None of those work, either.

http://images.orgill.com/200x200/0213181.jpg
http://aarp.foremost.com/images/matches.jpg

Adam, have you been talking to my wife?

Adam I think that's the funniest thing you've ever not said.

:laughing:

don't forget the marshmallows.

Update:

No spark.


Didn't touch anything. Came out to start it. Nothing. Pulled HT lead again, no spark.

Just like that. It goes from having a spark...to absolutely no spark. Reluctor/magnet pick-up/ICM no longer working.

I'm tired of this sh!t.

Are you by any chance getting an intermittent 12 volts to the coil? have you tried a direct jumper to the coil from the batt? maybe a screwed up rotor?

Originally posted by UPOVR
Are you by any chance getting an intermittent 12 volts to the coil?


Nope.

have you tried a direct jumper to the coil from the batt?


Yep.


maybe a screwed up rotor?

Nope. When I check for spark, I pull the HT lead off the distributor and bring the lead near a ground. The spark is going straight from the coil, not to the distributor.

Other times when I was trying to start the engine, I had my timing light hooked up to verify I was still getting a spark (ruling out that problem and suggesting it was a fuel delivery problem).

So your checking for spark directly from the coil.....every time....sometimes thier is a spark, sometimes not. Is that correct?
Both coils have worked off and on, correct?
So its somewhere before the coil.
I had something similar to this happen with my jeep....drove me nuts....sometimes the thing would run, sometimes it would just die....sometimes it wouldn't start at all.
Turned out to be the wiring in between the ignition switch and the ignition module.
By chance I found that one of the wires was so old, that the wire inside the insulation had broken. So vibration from the engine would vibrate it until it seperated the connection. Randomly after fiddling around with the stuff, the wire would connect.
My bet is that you have an old brittle piece of wire some where.....and its getting an intermittant connection.

Originally posted by sachilles

Turned out to be the wiring in between the ignition switch and the ignition module.
By chance I found that one of the wires was so old, that the wire inside the insulation had broken. So vibration from the engine would vibrate it until it seperated the connection. Randomly after fiddling around with the stuff, the wire would connect.


Ding Ding Ding

This is what I told him when he first could not get the truck started. Run a new circuit from battery + to the ignition switch. Then a new circuit from the inspected and tested ignition switch to the coil and amplifier.

Quit throwin money at it and fix it. You can bench test the system with the distributor out. Hook up the distributor and turn it by hand. No cranking, no cranky battery.

*****very important************** Remove spark plugs and clean/replace. You have fouled them with your insolance.


Now extend your worship to me as I take you into my fold. In my fold you will enjoy doing it wrong only to boast about doing it right.

Oh and get a new avator I am tired of the FIAT.
JP

did i not say you were the guinnea pig, eh? more whining!!!

i'm convinced the ECU's on these things have some kind of circuit to detect non lucas parts, and -kill them-

c'mon . . . embrace the prince of darkness . . and get your shizzy running already :cool: :flipoff2:

Well, it ran for a bit today. I pulled the dizzy and was getting intermittent spark, so I readjusted the gap on the reluctor/magnetic pick-up. Truck started up.

For the last time, Pendy...it's not the ignition lead :rolleyes: Every time there was NO SPARK, I would further get NO SPARK when running a direct jumper from the battery to the (+) of the coil :rolleyes:

There looks to be enough play in the base-plate of the distributer where the pick-up mounts (part of the vacuum-advance assembly). This might be the same reason why the Pertronix never worked well (too much variability in the gap)...but then again, it never worked well, blowing the fuse on the ignition circuit twice. It probably was repsonsible for the Mallory coil going dead, too.

Anyway, I don't suspect the reluctor and mag pick-up (or the distributor for that matter) to be the least bit reliable at this point. The play in the base-plate probably has been the source of all the inconsistencies in the "solutions" attempted...and while the play is not "excessive" I'm betting other Lucas distributors are the same. So I doubt this problem is going to end...

BTW, I put the Rover out with the trash cans today, but the garbage men didn't pick it up :(

Originally posted by sachilles
My bet is that you have an old brittle piece of wire some where.....and its getting an intermittant connection.

I was trying to tell you something similar last night, if you recall.

I have a Roer related story that is similar to sachilles.

The heat shield over the center muffler fell off on my '90 RRC. The floor boards got so hot that it melted the carpeting and wiring that ran from the drivers side seat to the passengers seat.

There's some wires that go from the inertia switch to the fuel pump relay. The wire crosses behind the cubby box on the floor. That wire got so hot that it melted and shorted out against the other wires in the loom.

Replaced those wires (and the heat shield), and the truck ran again.

This took me nearly 3 weeks of off-again on-again fiddling, kind of what Jason is going through. I didn't rip into the ignition system, because I knew I wasn't getting anyfuel, so I could at least back-track it from the fuel power source.

Is that the last time or the last, last time? You know I enjoy getting your fur up like a cat. You will figure it out. But not without the whole of the internet second guessing every move you make.

Where is the worship?
JP
Still longing for Katrina.

Originally posted by DieLucas!
Well, it ran for a bit today. I pulled the dizzy and was getting intermittent spark, so I readjusted the gap on the reluctor/magnetic pick-up. Truck started up.

For the last time, Pendy...it's not the ignition lead :rolleyes: Every time there was NO SPARK, I would further get NO SPARK when running a direct jumper from the battery to the (+) of the coil :rolleyes:

There looks to be enough play in the base-plate of the distributer where the pick-up mounts (part of the vacuum-advance assembly). This might be the same reason why the Pertronix never worked well (too much variability in the gap)...but then again, it never worked well, blowing the fuse on the ignition circuit twice. It probably was repsonsible for the Mallory coil going dead, too.

Anyway, I don't suspect the reluctor and mag pick-up (or the distributor for that matter) to be the least bit reliable at this point. The play in the base-plate probably has been the source of all the inconsistencies in the "solutions" attempted...and while the play is not "excessive" I'm betting other Lucas distributors are the same. So I doubt this problem is going to end...

I'll worship you if the distributor you send me works.

I'll pull out all my swanky MSD ignition novelties and construct an alter in which to worship you.

I will sacrifice live chickens, chill Guiness, and denounce the deity Lucas while performing the sacred, naked dance of Pendy.

As Pendy giveth, Pendy taketh away.

I will chant your name under the timeless lights of the Las Vegas strip. I will hand out fliers, next to the smut-peddlers, proclaiming your excellence above all others.

I will recruit a rag-tag group of followers who will marvel at your wisdom, your knowledge, and your omnipresence throughout all things Rover and beyond.

These same disciples will travel to foreign land proclaiming your name, and converting others who seek your dominion.

I will collect 10 dollars from each disciple, and 5 dollars from each believer each disciple converts. 4 dollars from each believer after that.

I will create a mass e-mail pyramid outlining the "Pay it forward" philosophy and collect many monies in the good name of Pendy. You might just get some of it.

I will do these things in the almighty name of Pendy should the replacement distributor work.

If it doesn't work, you get lots of :rainbow: porn in your e-mail for the next year.

PM me an address to send it to. Do you want the one with or without the ignition amp attached?

Do not pull a Schram or Slade on me and never send me anything back after I go all out for you. Find your best price on one and pay me half that after you get it.

Oh yeah and change your avatar, Slade is really showing you up lately.

JP

Originally posted by DieLucas!
I'll worship you if the distributor you send me works.

I'll pull out all my swanky MSD ignition novelties and construct an alter in which to worship you.

I will sacrifice live chickens, chill Guiness, and denounce the deity Lucas while performing the sacred, naked dance of Pendy.

As Pendy giveth, Pendy taketh away.

I will chant your name under the timeless lights of the Las Vegas strip. I will hand out fliers, next to the smut-peddlers, proclaiming your excellence above all others.

I will recruit a rag-tag group of followers who will marvel at your wisdom, your knowledge, and your omnipresence throughout all things Rover and beyond.

These same disciples will travel to foreign land proclaiming your name, and converting others who seek your dominion.

I will collect 10 dollars from each disciple, and 5 dollars from each believer each disciple converts. 4 dollars from each believer after that.

I will create a mass e-mail pyramid outlining the "Pay it forward" philosophy and collect many monies in the good name of Pendy. You might just get some of it.

I will do these things in the almighty name of Pendy should the replacement distributor work.

If it doesn't work, you get lots of :rainbow: porn in your e-mail for the next year.

Originally posted by pendy
PM me an address to send it to. Do you want the one with or without the ignition amp attached?

Oh yeah and change your avatar, Slade is really showing you up lately.

Me having these 'semi-erotic' avatars is all the payback you need Pendy.

I trip over that damn binnacle every day. Will you please take your berating up a notch so that I am forced into a deep enough guilt trip that I'll actually send it?

Sheeshe, you're getting weak.

:flipoff2:

Originally posted by Serious One

Sheeshe, you're getting weak.

:flipoff2:

He wasting too much energy on my problems to deal with you.

I am going to take a picture for your new avator tomorrow. Slade may have to take notice. Also Get Mike to take pictures of your completed ignition system if/ when completed.

Katrina will you marry me?
JP