1991 740 4cyl automatic. Ok I changed my power steering pump because it was screaming at me under the hood. I had to flush the fluid without starting the engine so I disconnected the lead at the cap that connects to the coil. plugged it back in and the thing won't start for life or money. I am getting plenty of gas but no spark at the plugs. I get 12-15K Volts out of the coil. I replaced the wires and get juice going into the cap. I put a new cap and rotor on just in case. Still no spark I checked the resistance through the cap and its all great. Basically I can't get the juice to jump from the rotor over to the pick ups inside the cap? I am loosing my mind over this, its all there but it just won't make the jump. I checked all grounds and they are good. The rotor is spinning.

What gets me is the steering pump and the iginition are not connected from what I can tell! So could I have fried my coil while cranking it over with the wire disconnected and that 12-15K volts isn't enough juice? Is my speed sensor on the fly wheel not working? I also can't find any fuses for the iginition system, they aren't under the radio console. Can someone tell me where they are at.

To top that off I can't shift the darn thing out of park, it is totally stuck. Never happened before, any suggestions?

I love this car but this is challenging.

Thanks

 

Do you have power out of the coil wire?

Fuse blow for the shift lock?

 

Yes I have juice at the coil wire, and I have tested the cap with the wire attached and I even tested juice at the connection to the rotor. Its all good. I even held the rotor in place inside the cap (while removed from the car ofcourse)and tried to see if I could get juice to come out of the leads from the cap to the spark plugs but no luck there either.

All the fuses under the radio console are good but I will check again. Thanks for the speedy reply!

 

That is weird you get good blue spark out of the coil lead to ground when cranking?

If nothing to the wires and power from coil wire then I might suspect bad cap or rotor.

 

Yes I get juice going into the cap. I suspected a bad cap and rotor as well and I replaced them both. But it didn't fix it.

Do you think that the power module is just send the juice at the wrong time when the rotor is passing the pick ups in the coil?

Thanks

 

Maybe but doesn't sound right.
Does it have the pick up in the dist or the sensor on the back of the engine.

 

Mine has the rpm sensor off the flywheel on the bell housing, no leads from the distributor itself.

I checked the amount of juice coming off the coil of my 78 Dodge Pickup and it is pumping out 150K to 250K Volts vs the coil on my volvo which is only pushing 12 to 15K volts. I rigged a spark plug wire directly to the coil and I couldn't get a spark with the plug touching a good ground. I now suspect that even though there is juice consistently coming out the coil it isn't enough to make the jump from the rotor to the pick ups inside the cap. Sound plausible to you?

 

Sounds like a bad coil.
How does the RPM sensor look?
Is the outer sheilding peeling off?
If so replace as soon as you can.

 

Ordering that coil today, expensive! $164. i will pull that rpm sensor and give it a look, from what I can tell it looks OK. We will see, thanks!

Chad

 

Well the coil was one of the problems! It now runs on what I suspect as 2 cylinders. I pulled the rpm sensor and as you suggestedit is cracked and part of the wire insulation is worn through, I pray that is the culprit. Thanks!

 

NO problem let me know how it continues to go.

 

Well is was only the coil, I had the wires mixed up! Brilliant! Also found that the gap on my plugs was .035 instead of .028. Ohh and NAPA brand spark plug wires are crap. Thanks again for all the help.

Chad