I've tried several versions of that. 1) Pulled a spark plug and rested it against the block and looked for a spark. 2) Unplugged the coil wire and rested the copper tip on top of the coil and looked for a spark. 3) Ran a jumper wire from the coil to just above the block and looked for a spark. All 3 netted the same results. By the by. Much like your neon tube test, you could hook a timing light up to the coil wire as well. This I did not try. 3 out of 4 failed tests were enough for me. > -----Original Message----- > From: therealdmcvegas [mailto:DMCVegas@xxxx] > Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2003 11:14 AM > To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: [DML] Re: Electrical gremlins... no power to coil > > --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Travis Goodwin <tgoodwin@xxxx> wrote: > > I traced my non-start problem back to the coil. I pulled the coil > wire and > > looked for a spark to jump the gap. Nothing. > <SNIP> > > Be careful! The potential for shock is dangerous as all hell! You can > easily get killed, or maimed! If not by the shock itself, it can be > anything dangerous that you'll hit when you jump back! > > If you need to check for spark, pull a sparkplug wire off, and > connect it to a another sparkplug, and lay it on the intake manifold. > That'll create a ground, and you can SAFELY view the spark jumping > the gap. Otherwise, I found a tool @ Pep Boys that allows you to view > spark on the coil wire by touching the sheilding with it. It looks > like an ink pen, and contains a small tube with neon gas that > illuminates when voltage goes thru the wire. > > > > When I go to start the car I am assuming I should have 12V across > the coil, > > which I do not at the moment. I checked voltage on the right side. > The > > voltage from the resistor is ok and I have continuity and ground to > the > > capacitor. The trouble seems to be on the left side. I've got > nothing coming > > from the White/Slate wire that leads to the ignition control behind > the > > driver's seat. > <SNIP> > > The White/Slate colored wire delivers impulses from the Distributor. > The Distributor rotates, and creates the pulses. These pulses are > then used to trip the RPM relay, drive the Tach, and supply engine > speed info to the Ignition ECU, and the Ignition coil. If the motor > is stopped, you won't recieve any voltage/signal on this line. > > Which reminds me. When you tested for voltage output from the > Ignition Coil, were you cranking the motor, did you have the RPM > relay jumped, or was the motor off? > > -Robert > vin 6585 "X" > > > > To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: > moderators@xxxx > > For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see > www.dmcnews.com > > To search the archives or view files, log in at > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/