Diagnosing a no-spark situation

[cp[mike]]

alright heres the deal people. my car isnt getting spark, and ive tried replacing most of the parts related to the ignition system.

im getting fuel and good compression, and the starter is cranking... those arent an issue.

the external OEM coil is getting +12v at its connector, but its not generating a spark.

ive tried a new coil, ignitor, ECU, grounds, and main relay. checked every fuse and connector, and when i was retaping the engine harness, all wires appeared to be intact and unhurt. short of testing each wire (which im going to be doing the next chance i get with some daylight) what else can i check? im out of ideas. i did not change around any of the wiring related to the ignition.

throw out any ideas of items related to the ignition system, and chances are i have an extra one to test.

[ceelooboob]

u named it all ...check those wires like you said

[accordaffair]

Do you have another dizzy lying around you could swap?

[smokeeey420]

does it have factory alarm?? cuz mine mess up and won't let the car start
just a guess

[cp[mike]]

not an external h22 one. tdc/ckp are fine, sometimes ppl suggest a new dizzy when not getting spark due to the ignitor, which isnt the problem...

dizzy is freshly grounded to the head, as well as everything else.

its something stupid, and its probably a grounding issue... ill check and recheck all of the wires on wednesday \...


edit: actually yerah it does have an alarm, but not factory;... i had one of the connectors pulled out and the siren/horn disconnected, but i hooked that one connector back up and still no go. im doubting it has a kill switch based on if the horn is connected or not though. and the alarm is of course disabled anyway.

[phatdoughnut]

im gona have to say a ground, if you dont have one run a random ground from the head to the body somewhere just to test. Or if you have one, run another.

Was your car running after the wire tuck? and then you wouldnt get spark? or didnt run at all after the wire tuck?

[HondaFan81]

I'm assuming you mean that it has 12v at coil with ignition switch on? Throwing ignition switch as a possibility or related wiring, but maybe you've tested this already...just an idea.

[cp[mike]]

im gona have to say a ground, if you dont have one run a random ground from the head to the body somewhere just to test. Or if you have one, run another.

Was your car running after the wire tuck? and then you wouldnt get spark? or didnt run at all after the wire tuck?

im guessing its a ground as well... the v/c, thermostat housing, distributor, starter and tranny all have fresh solid grounds (dremeled it clean, used lock washers)... so its probably something stupid, like the ignitor not grounding properly to the dizzy housing. i havent gotten a chance to test any of the wiring, all ive tried is replacing most of the components. i DID paint the head and tstat housing, and i didnt clean the paint off of where the housing itself meets the head.. but i ran a new extra ground wire directly from the tstat screw to the tranny, which has a thick ground to the body.

now that you got me thinking, the distributor is grounded to the head, but the head doesnt have a solid ground, besides being bolted to the block, as the head is insulated from the tstat housing by paint. but having checked it with a meter, the head appears to be grounded. perhaps not well enough for the dizzy/ignitor to have a good enough ground?

I'm assuming you mean that it has 12v at coil with ignition switch on? Throwing ignition switch as a possibility or related wiring, but maybe you've tested this already...just an idea.

yes, thats what i meant. havent tested the ignition switch, but its giving 12v to the coil (at ign) and its cranking the starter... and it worked when i parked the car. i have an extra ign switch to throw in if that ends up being the problem though.

even though im getting full power to everything else, im going to take the battery out of the trunk and hook it back up in the front with the stock battery cables, and ill see if that makes a difference...

[phatdoughnut]

im guessing its a ground as well... the v/c, thermostat housing, distributor, starter and tranny all have fresh solid grounds (dremeled it clean, used lock washers)... so its probably something stupid, like the ignitor not grounding properly to the dizzy housing. i havent gotten a chance to test any of the wiring, all ive tried is replacing most of the components. i DID paint the head and tstat housing, and i didnt clean the paint off of where the housing itself meets the head.. but i ran a new extra ground wire directly from the tstat screw to the tranny, which has a thick ground to the body.

now that you got me thinking, the distributor is grounded to the head, but the head doesnt have a solid ground, besides being bolted to the block, as the head is insulated from the tstat housing by paint. but having checked it with a meter, the head appears to be grounded. perhaps not well enough for the dizzy/ignitor to have a good enough ground?

I believe the head still needs a ground

[d112crzy]

it should start even without the vc ground. i sometimes forget to hook it back up when im working on the vc or the head. it starts right up.

[cp[mike]]

it should start even without the vc ground. i sometimes forget to hook it back up when im working on the vc or the head. it starts right up.

yeah... but the v/c is isolated from the head via the v/c gasket... juan may be right, i may need to make a better ground for the head... going to try that when i get home

[cp[mike]]

i followed the OEM helms test procedures step by step. every wire is getting power when its supposed to. every resistance checks out.

i regrounded everything thats supposed to be grounded. following the diagram of the entire ignition system, i used a meter and checked every wire connecting between the distributor, ignitor, coil, and ECU. i tried another coil that i KNOW is good. i tried a known good ECU. i tried hooking the battery back up in the front. i tried jumping the car from the front from my moms car, which is good.

everything is powering up, yet no spark is being put out by the coil. i tested with a spark tester connected directly from the output of the coil to a ground. NOTHING.

i am SO stumped, SO aggrivated, and SO discouraged.

[The G-Man]

I assume you checked the distributor cap for clear continuity between the coil wire connector and the rotor?

[cp[mike]]

hehe... yep. and the spark isnt even making it that far... tracing as far back as the actual round connector on the end of the ignition coil, theres no spark... so no spark makes it to the wire, cap, rotor, wires or plugs...

but the coil is getting power from the harnes...

which would lead you to believe it was the ignitor, the piece of the puzzle just before the coil. until you replace that, and test each wire leading to it. the ignitor gets signal from the ECU... well the wire isnt shorted, so i replaced the ECU, still no go... so perhaps its the sensors that the ECU uses as inputs. all of THEIR wiring checks out.

tomorrow im going to swap all of the guts out of one of my good f22 dizzys and throw it all into my h22 dizzy.

if THAT doesnt work, then i dont even know...

[phatdoughnut]

Yeah i would try a new dizzy