iowabucks Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Hey everyone, i'm trying to help my son get his 95 Legacy running. It will crank all day, just no spark. Battery does not dim when cranking. I'm hoping its not the ignition module as they are not cheap. I did unhook the coil harness and find 11.84 volts on pin 2. So the coil is getting it's power, but no power is getting to the plugs. I'm hoping it's just needing a coil replacement. My question is, because this engine has no distributor, what tells the coil when to fire? Some kind of crank trigger or something like that? I didn't get a chance to test the coil while I was there. But for some reason nothing is leaving the coil. Could the coil be good but not getting whatever signal it needs to send the juice to the proper plug? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Do a little test to see if you are getting spark, while someone is in the car and cranking it over, have another person lightly pull up on the spark plug wire, not enough to dislodge it from the spark plug, but just enough to lift it upwards a little, you should hear a light popping, if you don't hear anything then you aren't getting spark. The car will need to be turning over the whole time this test is being done. This test can also be done with a spark plug tester if you happen to have one around. Also pull the upper of the 3 fuel lines off with an empty container at the ready, just to make sure it's getting fuel, bump the key a few times once the hose is put into the empty container. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iowabucks Posted February 18, 2017 Author Share Posted February 18, 2017 Also pull the upper of the 3 fuel lines off with an empty container at the ready, just to make sure it's getting fuel, bump the key a few times once the hose is put into the empty container. He did tell me there were gas fumes he could smell when working on it before, but I didn't notice any the short time I was there. I will check on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublechaz Posted February 18, 2017 Share Posted February 18, 2017 There are crank and cam position sensors that tell the computer where things are. Then the computer signals the ignitor to trigger the coil. I had a coil blow once while driving. Car just shut off. I had tools so I pulled a plug and found fuel, and no spark. Pulled a tail light and used a couple bits of wire to check for blinking coming from the ignitor to the coil. Blinking. So I walked over a few blocks and bought a coil. Fixed. If your ignitor really is dead you should go to a junk yard and pull one. Should be a handful of dollars there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iowabucks Posted February 18, 2017 Author Share Posted February 18, 2017 Hey doublechaz. Can you explain a little more about which pins to test for flashing on the ignitor? Or maybe point me in the direction of an article explaining? I know I did this same test on an older Bronco I used to have trying to figure out its ignition problems. It had the very same symptoms and ended up being the ignition module. I'm guessing if you get flashing, it's the coil that's faulty, or if no flashing it could be the cam or crank sensor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublechaz Posted February 19, 2017 Share Posted February 19, 2017 On my 1995 FSM it looks like the ignitor fire signal should be on two wires at the coil connector. It uses 2 wires to fire the four sparks where it's actually sending the spark to 2 plugs at once, but only the one with fuel/air around it actually sparks. The other can't jump the plug gap as easily because only air surrounds it. (Our coil is really two coils together, one for each pair of plugs) The two wires in question are the blue and the red with green. Power comes to the coil on the yellow. So if you connect a bulb to the yellow at the coil connector and also to the blue you should get blinking. It does take a few rotations to get the bulb filament hot enough. Then also connect from yellow to red/green and see more blinking. Then you know the signal to fire is reaching the coil. This is probably it. There is a set of tests you can do at the coil. I'm searching for them now... ... Primary coil resistance should be .69 ohm +- 10% secondary coil resistance should be 21 K ohm +- 15% primary coil to unit case should be more than 10 Meg ohm Primary side is between plug 1 and plug 2 which are across from each other. Also between plug 3 and plug 4. Secondary side is between connector pin 1 and pin 2, and also between connector pin 2 and pin 3. Primary to case should be from plug 1 to case and plug 3 to case. I hope that makes sense without the pictures from the FSM. (BTW I think there is a sticky that leads to a download link for the FSM in pdf format.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iowabucks Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 No signal from the ignitor, so I just ordered a used ignitor for it. But we found a loose wire that we cant figure where the other end belongs. It's a 7 inch long red/black wire connected at one end right below the ignitor. Looks to be a ground for something. In the picture I bent the wire so you could see it all. The right side is where its bolted up but the left end of it is loose, even though it looks to be attached to another bolt. But it is not. The loose end had a blade or round terminal that is now broken. Does anyone have any idea where this goes? We looked for awhile but couldn't find any place. One other question. Is the ignitor grounded to it's bracket? My son stripped the bolts to the ignitor so we might just leave the replacement loose unless it needs grounded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doublechaz Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 I think that ground goes to the transmission. I'm not sure about the ignitor ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brighton96 Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 I can't tell what gauge that mystery wire is but I think it's either the spade connector for the starter solenoid or the ground located by the starter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iowabucks Posted February 25, 2017 Author Share Posted February 25, 2017 It was the ignitor. Fixed with just a $15 used part off of Ebay. Hope it lasts. lol. The broken wire doesn't seem to be affecting anything at the moment. Will have to look into it a little closer when it warms up. Thanks everyone for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.