Troubleshooting help, Please!

[Bruce Dorsi]

I recently bought a used wood chipper which was running well for the past few months.  ....Yesterday when I tried to start it, no spark!

I know my way around point-style ignition, but this thing has electronic ignition, and I don't know what to do.  ....Any help is greatly appreciated!!

The engine is a 1990 Ford Industrial 300ci inline six.  

There only appears to be 3 components involved:  an ignition coil, the pick-up coil in the distributor, and an aluminum "box" (ignition amplifier?).

The secondary side (plug wires, cap, rotor) all appear to be in good condition.

Suggestions or guidance on how to locate the faulty component is what I need.

Thanks in advance for any responses!

[enjenjo]

What is in the distributor? There may or may not be a pickup coil and a reluctor(star wheel) some of them just have a rotor, nothing else. Is the ignition module about 5" by 5"?

[wayne petty]

guess that you missed my how to test a duraspark distributer over in the throne room...

got a digital volt meter.?/  yes...

set it to 2K ohms... (2,000 OHMs)    measure the pick up coil wires...  the left and right should have 500 to 1,500 ohms... orange and purple

before you disconnect from the orange and purple... flip the volt meter over to 20 volt AC scale.. spin the distributer shaft or crank the motor.. you need to see just over 1.0 volts AC....  without that much it will not trip the module to fire the coil...

if the pick up coil tests good resistance.. but fails the voltage test.. replace the reluctor...

the center wire  to the pick up coil is (black)  you need to test with the meter at 200 ohms... should be less than one ohm... as that is the ground wire for the module... it goes to one of the breaker plate hold down screws...  if this wire is not connected... the module will not have a complete circuit and it won't work...

most autozones can test the ignition modules on a machine they have...

the red wire gets switched ignition power...

the white wire gets power only while cranking...  from the starter relay R terminal.. this retards the timing 10 degrees on blue grommet modules..

what color is the strain relief on your motorcraft module???

when you unplug the round connectors.... is the grease white?  or light green... if green.. it might be corroding the wires and terminals...

thats it...    you can also put a non powered test light across the disconnected coil wires...    if it flashes. when you crank the motor.. there is power and module switching and the coil is bad...

i have a test light i modified for this.. with a 212-2 bulb.. but be careful when using it... that bulb puts out a lot of heat and melts the test light body in 30 seconds...

[Bruce Dorsi]

Thank you for your replies!

Frank:   There is a reluctor and pick-up coil in the distributor.

            The module is approx 5" in one dimension, but the other dimension is hidden under some cowling, which I will have to remove to gain access.


Wayne:  I remembered you posted about testing the Duraspark ignitions, but I didn't know if that is what I have.  ....At the time of your posting, I did not own anything with that ignition, so while I read your post at that time, I did not retain any of that info in my limited brain capacity.

I now see that your original post had been moved to the Tech Archives Forum.

I will dig into my ignition and use your test procedures, and get answers to the questions you asked.

Thanks again to the both of you for your help!

[wayne petty]

this is what i really enjoy.....   telling somebody how to fix something long before its broken... or even before they own one...


this is where i get my joy...


thanks to all...  who thanked me...

wayne...

[enjenjo]

Frank: There is a reluctor and pick-up coil in the distributor.

Just wanted to be sure we were dealing with a Duraspark. I was shocked one day to pull a cap, and find the only thing in there was air and the rotor. The color of the strain relief on the module tells you what type Duraspark it is. You can replace the big module with a GM HEI module.