I track the problem down to the distributor cap. The center terminal has corroded into oblivion. New cap and rotor later and still no spark condition. OK, the high resistance of that bad cap took out the coil and/or ignitor. Hmm, GM 4 pin swap
Wire that up and still no spark. Well, probably the coil. External coil mod. Viola! Spark! But, the engine still won't start. At this point I noticed my tach was bouncing around quite a bit (yes, I wired in a resitor). Then, after a few cranks, the tach became unresponsive.
OK, 100% new Cardone distributor arrives yesterday. I solder the wiring back to original, and then make marks to see that new distributor housing and rotor are aligned as original unit. Spark? YES, but still no start
- Tachometer is still unresponsive when cranking.
- Fuel pump is running and I have ~40 psi fuel pressure.
- The engine is getting a few puts here and there, but nothing to get it running.
- Paper clip into diagnostic mode (done a few times throughout this headache) yeilds nothing.
- Car will not start in diagnostic mode.
- Diagnostic mode verified by hitting accelerator and hearing cooling fan come on.
- Wanted to check ignition timing, but can't find any marks down there. The plastic belt covers are missing on this car - is that why I haven't found them? I've moved the dizzy a bit each way, but no luck.
I'm thinking that I screwed something up and fried the tach, and that's somehow keeping the engine from running. Any ideas? Factory shop manual +wiring diagrams are on the way.
John
