QuestionQUESTION: my 72 tr6 wont start. it was runnig great, then i re-fueled, drove about a mile and it cut out and i can't get it to turn over. it comes close. i checked the fuel pump and fuel is getting to the carbs. next i checked for spark and the result was not good. no spark. how can i check the ignition coil. there is an electronic ingition on the car, could this be the problem? any help would be greatly appreciated. i hate seeing the car sit and not being able to drive it.
thanks
ANSWER: The car came with a pointed ignition system, however there were aftermarket electronic ignitions systems. So take the dist. cap off and look to see if it has points.
If so just remove the rotor and rotate the engine slowly and watch to see if the points open and close as the cam operates them. If it does, then rotate the engine until you see the points open and remove the coil wire from the cap. (if it is not the plug in type wire and cap remove the coil wire from the coil and get any wire and put it in the top of the coil and put the other end close to an engine part like the head. (Close meaning the end must be about an eighth of an inch) Then turn on the ignition and with a screw driver blade short out the two contacts of the points and watch the wire close to the head. You should see a bright thick blue spark jump each time you make and brake the contact with the screw driver blade. If the coil is good that is what you will see. If the spark is thin and yellow or orange then the coil may be bad. This is a preliminary and rough test but effective.
If the points were not opening and closings when you rotate the engine than you need to reset the points gap on a point of the cam at .015 in. and you should get a points file (a finger nail sanding board works) and file the contacts. (be sure to clean them afterwards with a small piece of card board like a match book cover or such)
Closely inspect the rotor and inside of the cap for carbon tracks.
If you have carbon core plug wires you need to test each of them especially the coil wire. You need an ohm meter for that. If you don't have an ohm meter sometimes the auto parts store may have one and will test your wires for you.
let me know,
Howard
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QUESTION: no pints, so i replaced the spark plug wires and the spark plugs. still no spark, and no luck starting. i think next i'll order a distributor cap and rotor and try replacing them. if that doesn't work, i'll try the electronic ignition. does this sound reasonable?
ANSWER: Jeff, check to see if you have spark from the coil first. If there is no spark there, you don't need a cap an rotor just something in the electronic ignition (If you have power to the coil)
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QUESTION: hello again howard,
got back to it. there is power to the coil and spark from it. bad cap and rotor or do you think the problem is deeper than that?
AnswerIf you have a spark from the coil wire, then the ignition system is OK and the coil is OK, You then take the coil wire and try to jump a spark to the center of the rotor. If it will jump to the rotor then it is a bad rotor if not the rotor is good. Then examine the inside of the dist. cap to see if there are any carbon tracks from the center carbon brush tower or any of the pins for each spark plug.
If there are no carbon tracks then check each plug wire with an ohm meter.
