I FIXED IT....

[icavdiv4fun]

For all you helpful people following the LONG saga of the 87 GW with no spark. It was a bad wire from the ignition module to the - on the coil. The wire seemed to pass impulses but no spark. Replace the wire and lots of sparking going on. Thank you for everyones help.

Ed

[Bob Barry]

Congratulations! The solutions to most problems like this are usually simple once you know what the problem is, but time consuming to figure out.

Was it a break in the wire itself, or a bad connection at the terminal?

If you ever get a parts-truck, the harness for that four-wire connector off the ignition module is easily extracted from the rest of the harness; three of the wires go to the plug on the distributor and the fourth goes to the (-) terminal on the coil. This is also a ready-made harness for the "Nutter Bypass" that is used on CJ's and XJ's to bypass a faulty ECM when it refuses to send ground the coil at the right time (the former problem with my XJ, which took me a while to diaganose). I think the same would also work for the BBD-equipped 258ci I-6 FSJ setup, if it used the same ECM as the CJ with the same combo.

[Lugnut]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by icavdiv4fun:
For all you helpful people following the LONG saga of the 87 GW with no spark. It was a bad wire from the ignition module to the - on the coil. The wire seemed to pass impulses but no spark. Replace the wire and lots of sparking going on. Thank you for everyones help.

Ed<hr></blockquote>

Was it the wire that plugs onto the top of the coil, by chance...you know, that funny little slide-on contraption on top of the coil?

[icavdiv4fun]

It was the wire going from the control module to the slip on connector on the coil. I tested the coil end and seemed to have pulses. But I just seem to keep coming back to the coil, so I ran a wire from the box to the coil lead and it lit up the tester like july fourth. Everyones help was greatly appreciated. I will watch for a parts jeep and see about replacing the harness. I am glad to know there are places to get this caliber of help. I will look back often. This is to good to pass up.

Ed

[davez26]

This is the hardest type of problem to diagnose, and it always kills me when it happens and thrills me when I finally fix it. Electricity has it's own rules and they piss me off. When I've explained this to techs, they tell me that even though a wire will show voltage, (light up a test light), if it can't pass enough amperage, (the force behind voltage), it essntially gets a trickle and thus no power. I fought my tailgate window for three nights. I had power everywhere no matter what I did. I swapped every part out and then back in. No failed parts and no operation! I finally started to jump everything back along the harness and found that a short and old age had pulled the wire apart inside the harness at the connector in the frame rail. Only 2 of the 20-odd strands were still connected! Sure, I had voltage, but it just could not get enough current through to move the glass. One shrink connector later, I was in business! Don't be to afraid to try jumping things now and again, but be sure to find why the wire failed in the first place so it doesn't happen again, and don't jump a large wire with a smaller one unless you like fire. Use the fat stuff. Congratulations on the find, and good job! --- Dave smile.gif :D smile.gif :D smile.gif :D smile.gif

[Lugnut]

That's the very same bugger that stranded me a few times. The prob. was it only showed up in the summer time when underhood temps can get really hot. So, what comes to mind....vapor lock. It had me looking in a totally wrong area. Apparently, I guess, the contacting of that crimp connector over the wire "expanded" just enough to not allow enough continuity. Dadblasted thing.....I did away with that slide-on thing and just crimped me some new connectors onto the coil wires.
Yeah, it'll take a little longer to disconnect the coil, but, really, how often you gonna take the coil loose anyway.