[kllntyme]

OK, so I buttoned up the engine and tried to start her... fuel started dumping out of the injector rail. A quick trip to NAPA and all the fuel gets to the pistons. I've got fuel and compression, but no spark. I know this car was running when the previous owner started tearing it down to put in a head gasket. It looks to me like all the connections are complete and that everything is together. What do I check? What am I missing? How do I test the coil to see if the winter has killed it?

I'd like this poor car to see the road again now that the weather has warmed up.

All I need to do is rebuild the driver's side suspension, and find this spark issue. Please help.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Racefiend]

What exactly do you mean by no spark? Did you check for spark at end of plug wire? how bout at the coil wire? More info would be needed for better analysis here.
Christian

 

[kllntyme]

Sorry about that. I only tested at the plugs. The distributor has no missing teeth, but I admittedly don't know how to test it or the coil.

 

[Racefiend]

I assume, then, that you checked spark from plug wire to a ground. Next would be to pop off the coil wire off of the cap and check it's spark against a ground. Take notice of how long the spark is. It should be about .5 inch. If it's considerably less or not there at all, check the coil. Make sure your connections are right and also check resistancec across primary and secondary points. Unfortunately I don't have the specs for it, as my TSRM is at home and I'm not.

Christian

 

[kllntyme]

Thanks Racefiend.

The coil has spark. So I guess my distributor is the problem. How do I test it?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the timing were off on the distributor it would still fire just not at the right time, right? Since I'm not getting any spark, is there a contact I can check or some other simple (cheap) way to just get her running?

 

[kllntyme]

I guess what I really need to know now is:

How do I know if I need to replace the distributor, or just a bad rotor?

 

[kllntyme]

OK,

The rotor spins, so can I assume that the distributor is OK?

The cap and rotor both look to be the newest parts under the hood and the plugs are still not fowled or worn out.

I'm lost.

 

[MWebber]

I assume you have double checked the timing? and that the distributer button is pointed to the correct possition?

here's is the relevant section of the TSRM, keep hitting "next Page" until you find what you need.
http://www.cygnusx1.net/supra/library/TSRM_MKII/em/EM_007.html

I was a bit confused by the way it was described at first, but once I bought a clue it was all gravy.

With both cam sprockets in the correct place, crank of TDC, the distributor button should be directly under the #1 spark plug wire on the distributor cap.

Mike (I learned a LOT that day)

 

[kllntyme]

IT RUNS!!!!!!*

*(for seconds at a time)

1st problem: I was missing an engine ground... I know, I know

2nd problem: timing is still slightly off. As long as I know what the problem is, I can deal with it.

3rd, and new, problem: during the course of getting it to run, the positive battery cable got hotter than hell and melted part of the rubber cover. I think I'm missing another ground somewhere. Anyone know where I should look?

 

[Racefiend]

Check that the ground from the neg bat post to the chassy is good. One recommendation I can make is to add grounds. The more grounds the better, especially on an old car like that. I've done 3 "daisy chain" ground setups. They cured a dimming light at idle problem and on the ae86 it actually cured a low rpm hesitation. On a car this old wires get old.
By daisychanining, what i mean is running a ground from the neg battery to the manifold somewhere (preferrably a nice 8 guage or bigger..available at kragen pre made) and then daisy chaining consecutive 10 guage wires from point to point. Like from the manifold to head, head to block, then block to chassy on other side of engine. Works great.

Christian

 

[SupraDOHC]

Theres a ground on the transmission, the back of the cylinder head, and one on the lower, drivers side, towards the front of the block. There maybe more but I know of those 3 for sure.

 

[kllntyme]

I'll just use my next day off to replace the positive terminal and wire and all the grounds. After that I just add more 8 guage grounds? How many grounds should I add?

 

[SupraDOHC]

Just make sure they all make good connections and are good quality wire. Maybe add one to the intake manifold right where that black bar braces it upand attach it to the wheel well?

 

[Racefiend]

Well, what I did was I ran a premade ground wire with beefy terminals (from kragen, think it was a little bigger than 8 guage) from the negative battery post to the intake manifold. From that same bolt on the manifold, I ran 10 gauge wire to the head. From that same bolt I ran another 10 guage to the pass side engine mount. From that I ran an 8 guage to the chassy. Makes a good ground loop. Whats funny is, I was recently looking at a turbo or scc mag, and some company came out with a "daisy chain" grounding kit, and actually patented it. I have no idea how you would patent that, especially when its wire that you mount as ground. Oh well. Hope that helps.

Christian

 

[SupraWes]

There is a nice long stud on the side of the block that is for grounding. Run a new cable from the battery to there then branch out from there. I also added one from exhaust manifold to firewall.