87 ignition woes
ehrichweiss
10-21-2004, 05:01 PM
I'm having some extreme trouble and I need some insight.
Sunday my Towncar died. After getting someone to help me, I discovered it was the ignition system(no spark) so I got the usual suspects, pickup coil, ignition module, etc. Well, as has been noted here once before, you need a special tool to get the ignition module off so we did the best we could and cut the plastic away until we could get a socket to those tiny screws and we discovered that it required a machine shop to replace the pickup coil so I decided to delay for a couple days till I had time. I got the old one off and managed to get a new one on and it worked fine.(you know the story ain't gonna end here but the suspense is killing ya, huh)
Yesterday, Weds, it died while trying to tune it up a bit(new plug wires, etc.). Discovered it was the same thing(of course)...no spark. Figuring that it must be the pickup coil, I tried to do as my manual said and take it apart with a gear puller and in the process, somehow, bent the distributor shaft so that it wouldn't turn inside the distributor. Soo..I went to a junkyard to get another, plugged it in and it doesn't seem to work at all...maybe it was already dead or maybe a short or something in the car's electrical system took it out..I dunno yet. I tested the coil, and while my manual said that it should have measured 16-20kohm for the secondary, I only ever got 7kohm for the one inside the car AND a new one that I bought so I'm guessing the manual was wrong. The primary read fine.
I'm looking for some telltale signs if anyone knows what I should look for. I have a multimeter and an oscilloscope at my disposal so I'm not hurting too badly for diagnostic tools.
If the pickup coil is bad, will it tend to take out the ignition module?
If I need to replace the pickup coil, then should I just take it to a machine shop..especially considering my gear puller mangled the last one?
Can anyone think of anything(even the most basic of ideas) that I might be missing?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Eric
Sunday my Towncar died. After getting someone to help me, I discovered it was the ignition system(no spark) so I got the usual suspects, pickup coil, ignition module, etc. Well, as has been noted here once before, you need a special tool to get the ignition module off so we did the best we could and cut the plastic away until we could get a socket to those tiny screws and we discovered that it required a machine shop to replace the pickup coil so I decided to delay for a couple days till I had time. I got the old one off and managed to get a new one on and it worked fine.(you know the story ain't gonna end here but the suspense is killing ya, huh)
Yesterday, Weds, it died while trying to tune it up a bit(new plug wires, etc.). Discovered it was the same thing(of course)...no spark. Figuring that it must be the pickup coil, I tried to do as my manual said and take it apart with a gear puller and in the process, somehow, bent the distributor shaft so that it wouldn't turn inside the distributor. Soo..I went to a junkyard to get another, plugged it in and it doesn't seem to work at all...maybe it was already dead or maybe a short or something in the car's electrical system took it out..I dunno yet. I tested the coil, and while my manual said that it should have measured 16-20kohm for the secondary, I only ever got 7kohm for the one inside the car AND a new one that I bought so I'm guessing the manual was wrong. The primary read fine.
I'm looking for some telltale signs if anyone knows what I should look for. I have a multimeter and an oscilloscope at my disposal so I'm not hurting too badly for diagnostic tools.
If the pickup coil is bad, will it tend to take out the ignition module?
If I need to replace the pickup coil, then should I just take it to a machine shop..especially considering my gear puller mangled the last one?
Can anyone think of anything(even the most basic of ideas) that I might be missing?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Eric
Automotive Network, Inc., Copyright ©2024