79 4ME no spark

[maximaj30]

so im still at a loss why im not getting spark, close to banging my head against the wall

started earlier this year when the car would jerk when it warmed up, couldnt figure it out. got to the point where the RPM's would fluctuate from 1k to 3k at idle and it was undriveable

took off the distributor cap (put a new one on last year), and it had a crack on the back of it. found a better 70's Japanese cap, fixed the bucking. then found out it was getting weak spark (original ignition coil), put a new one in. went out for a cruise last June, all was good and then all of the sudden at 3500rpm the engine quietly quit. no bangs, nothing. dead silent. so i coasted into a parking lot and thought the distributor went, sat for a couple hours but it wouldnt start and i got it towed. it will crank, but not catch

so i put a new distributor in, still wont start. if i pull a wire and put a plug in it and hold it against the valve cover while the car is cranked, there is 0 spark. ive had no motivation to get it running until now to get it running by spring, since ive bought it ive barely driven it

any guesses as to where to look next? i put a new fuel pump and filter in thinking that was the bucking since it had the original fuel pump still, new plugs/wires/cap/rotor/distributor, etc. tried another ignition coil incase a got a bad one, still wont fire up. stupid question, but is there a crank sensor on 4ME? maybe try a new ECU? i checked and the timing chain isnt broken as well

[Supradad]

The ignitor is the black box looking thing on top of the coil.
That is a one car only part. '79 Supra. After market, maybe a chance.
I haven't heard of one from a different year Toyota that will swap in it's place.
But they will go bad. That's my guess

[maximaj30]

this part?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Standard-Mot...7f3719&vxp=mtr

[AJ]

Negative!!

this part?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Standard-Mot...7f3719&vxp=mtr

[maximaj30]

fudge

im guessing this part is near impossible to get unless its from a '79 parts car right?

[AJ]

Curtis is this the right one for the '79??

The ignitor is the black box looking thing on top of the coil.
That is a one car only part. '79 Supra. After market, maybe a chance.
I haven't heard of one from a different year Toyota that will swap in it's place.
But they will go bad. That's my guess

[maximaj30]

ah i remember seeing that, i put the coil back in this afternoon and was wondering what that part was

next thing to try before a ECU, thanks for the info

[maximaj30]

someone told me that theres also a distributor module, true? wonder if that might have gone bad

i looked up the igniter at work and from Napa its $500, definitely looking for a used one lol

[MikeO]

I had a similar problem with my 81 MK1 and it turned out to be a self induced problem of not hooking up the "green" connectors from the Ignitor to the cars wiring, I had no fire either and once I hooked them up correctly my spark came back not to say this is your problem but at least I was able to figure it out instead of having the car towed to a shop for them to find. Good luck!

[maximaj30]

yeah thats the problem. im stumped, everybody else says its too old to work on, and if i take it to the garage i work at it would have to sit outside overnight.

thats a good point about checking the wiring though. this weekend i'll take everything apart and re-connect it again. im going to try a igniter from someone on here as well. like my fuel pump and ignition coil its the factory igniter so i wouldnt be surprised if its bad