Ignition HELP! [solved]

And I do have 12v at the B+ terminal in run. Thats why I am loosing my mind, and what little hair I have left. And thanks @chengny That is what I needed. So this is all internal to the distributor as long as I have 12v to the coil in run...... ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Im going to try to rotate the dist while I have my helper start the vehicle. But I dont think thats the issue. Im also going to grab a coil from AZ. Maybe this company has some really **** coils.

Ok.... So I took some time and looked at the wiring diagrams (thank god for whoever got them on this board, b/c the chilton manual is a mess). And it looks like, as told, that the power to the dist is just the #3 circuit. It goes from the fuse block to the bulk head, to the dist. And that's it. No connectors, no splices, no bs.

I used PicPick to highlight the diagram.

spanky55amg said:

I used PicPick to highlight the diagram.

Click to expand...

What is PickPick???

Free screen shot and editing tool. It's pretty bad ass. Shhhh, I use it for work even thought they ask for $25 for enterprise work. Think of it as an MS paint on steroids. Like big bulking your dick and nuts are shriveled up steroids.

spanky55amg said:

Free screen shot and editing tool. It's pretty bad ass. Shhhh, I use it for work even thought they ask for $25 for enterprise work. Think of it as an MS paint on steroids. Like big bulking your dick and nuts are shriveled up steroids.

Click to expand...

LOL, thanks I'll have to try it..

I probably should have used some commas. haha.

spanky55amg said:

Free screen shot and editing tool. It's pretty bad ass. Shhhh, I use it for work even thought they ask for $25 for enterprise work. Think of it as an MS paint on steroids. Like big bulking, your dick and nuts are shriveled, up steroids.

Click to expand...

/fixed/

Ok... so I havent worked on the truck in a few days. I have settled down and thought about it, I havent tested the voltage while starting. Im wondering if while starting I am getting a voltage drop in the wiring. I saw that some of the sheathing has been stripped or worn off the pink wire. I assume that in the diagram that .3 is .3 mm wiring which is close to 10 gauge. If I ohm this wire and its is bad, how do I pull a wire from the bulk head to rewire. I do have the green and red wire depinning tools but I have read that the bulk head needs to come off the firewall and do it from the firewall side, not the wire side... true or false? I might just go do this anyways to make sure I have good power to the wire, but like I have side, I have 12v+, I dont think that I would have an ohm or load increase in the wire, but Im checking that first.

Ok Spanky,
Here my bit to see if I can help. I have read your post from start to finish and do feel for ya.
Go back to absolute basics with a tick list and check stuff off. You only need fuel/air in the right ratio, compression and spark at the right time. We can pretty much rule out compression as we have 8 to play with. Have you got fuel? Does the carb squirt from the accel pump when moved. I know it sounds stupid but do check. Its also possible that so much messing around has fouled the plugs with fuel and got itself to a point where even with good ignition you will have trouble starting. You must have a good battery, if the voltage is low from cranking then you will be into volt drop issues.
Go through this list
Fuel check
Clean plugs, heat with a torch if wet.
Verify your base No1 cylinder timing position on compression. The rotor arm should pretty much point at number one cylinder when its correct. 10 to 15 deg either way should still fire.
Measure batt voltage and stick on charge overnight and start fresh for the next test. Should be about 12.5 with nothing on, anything under 12v is *****d or flat.
Verfiy your lead position on the cap and plugs.
Assuming you have fuel, try this, with coil lead removed from the distributor cap, switch on the ignition, flick the points with a small insulated screwdriver. You should get a spark from the coil lead. If you dont, you have duff or dirty points doesnt take more than a speck, bad connections to or from the coil, or a faulty capacitor/condensor. This item is a common failure item which short circuits the points preventing energy from charging the coil. Intermittent breakdown is common. It is there to prevent the points from arcing and burning by absorbing the flash. The engine should run with it disconnected but you will have bad arcing at the points and they wont last 5 mins.
If you have spark at the coil lead I would go back over other stuff like carb and fuel, vac leaks, etc. Its the damn obvious that always catches us out because we dismiss it. I once serviced an old V8 english car over here that was running fine. I replaced all the ignition components with new thinking it would run great. Wouldnt start. WTF? Long story short turned out the contact on the points was totally open circuit to the spring even though its a welded connection!! Stuck the old points back and it ran beautiful after a few days of grief and expense.
Good luck Jon

Long story short:
Carb, just replaced with rebuild q-jet
Dist, just replaced with rebuilt HEI dist, with new wires and spark plugs
And the battery is good.

I have been a professional tech for over 15 years, thats professional, and not as necessary or as a hobby. Thats punching a clock and doing ****** flat rate jobs for **** shops with ****** management. This might be a simple problem as in the #3 circuit has a high load. The day before this crap happened, smoke came from a wire, Im guessing maybe this wire. Like I said, I cant tell till I ohm test it, but the sheathing has come off so I might as well replace it.

I'm a firm believer in a good solider joint and heat shrink tubing. If I could save 3-4 hours of misery from my life from fncking with tearing into a bulk head I would do it if the wire didn't get too crispy. Did it get pinched in the bellhousing or something to burn up? Definitely find out what caused the meltdown beforehand.

Just food for thought, is there any silver grease under the ignition module in the distributor? Has the Module been tested?
Lucky to have a wife like that, hmm, maybe ask or let HER figure out the problem (staying silent and out of the way) with her ways and how she wants to do it given the diagrams and info.
I would loooove to watch a wife if I had one, do something so technical, see something I missed besides socks on the floor and fix it.
You luggy fugger, reverse the situation, let her brains help you, stfu and just smile, and when she is done, give her three wishes, or take her to dinner and a slow dance, let the appreciation show.

crazy4offroad said:

I'm a firm believer in a good solider joint and heat shrink tubing. If I could save 3-4 hours of misery from my life from fncking with tearing into a bulk head I would do it if the wire didn't get too crispy. Did it get pinched in the bellhousing or something to burn up? Definitely find out what caused the meltdown beforehand.

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Dont get me wrong, Id rather do that too. But if its not too hard to depin from the bulk head, I have the tool for it. And I dont believe there is enough wire to get pinched down there or that it hangs on to anything. I just noticed the other day there is a pink and purple wire and they both look like at sometime, something wore on both of them or cut the sheathing. So Im going to ohm it out first, If its anything around 1 ohm, I will be fine with it. I mean, it has 12 volts, I dont see how the coil can load up that wire. Thats the only thing on that circuit.

Ohm test. If good, next step. If bad, rewire. Next make fooking sure this damn thing is 100% in time. Im going to make a tape ball with string and slightly wedge it into the #1 spark plug hole, so when it comes TDC, it should pop that out and Ill see the string while turning the crank.

84c10Tony said:

Just food for thought, is there any silver grease under the ignition module in the distributor? Has the Module been tested?

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No. This happened with the original dist with a crank and no start. So I go the 1st reman and that started right up the first time and then I dicked up ever thing... I think. This problem could be intermittent. As in, it fires on a cold start but after cranking or running for a minute, it doesnt fire again. Which would be super weird and why I am wondering if it is the pink wires issue.

84c10Tony said:

Lucky to have a wife like that, hmm, maybe ask or let HER figure out the problem (staying silent and out of the way) with her ways and how she wants to do it given the diagrams and info.
I would loooove to watch a wife if I had one, do something so technical, see something I missed besides socks on the floor and fix it.
You luggy fugger, reverse the situation, let her brains help you, stfu and just smile, and when she is done, give her three wishes, or take her to dinner and a slow dance, let the appreciation show.

Click to expand...

Although she is "always right" she wont figure this out. I cant even have her stick her finger over the spark plug hole and tell me when she feels pressure.

Just read the smokin wire lol, short? fusible link?, my 84 has a few of those broken sheath, dry cracked insl. wires...that could be the culprit and what it affected.
What crazy said, solder and heat shrink for sure, or really do it up with a new harness made by our guy here on the site.