Duraspark, Sans the Spark? What's Going On!?

['84 Bronco II]

So, after reading up on how wonderful and easy the duraspark swap would be on my 1984 Bronco II, I decided I would give it a try.

So, I quickly gathered all the necessary parts for my ignition swap venture; the motocraft 2100, the pinto distributor and coil, and the wonderful blue-grommet ignition module. Then I printed out the step by step information on this here forum to begin my swap. I've wired everything as described, and NO SPARK.

This caused some frustration, and commenced the tedious process of check all the wires for continuity, ground, voltage, etc..
I had my brand new ignition module tested over at Autozone, and it tested good.
Hmmm. Then I decided to whip out my ignition spec book, and maked sure the wires getting voltage are getting the correct voltage and behaving correctly for the different key positions, and everything checks out all right. Next I tested the wires to make sure the correct wire got the correct voltage (or lack there of).

The coil is good and just for giggles I tried a few coils off of running vehicles, and still no luck. I also tested the stator assembly in the distributor, and it is functioning properly. I made sure the engine was grounded, still no luck.


So I have a truck that won't run because it is getting NO SPARK, and I really don't want to have to take my truck to a shop.
So any help would be greatly apprecialted, because quite frankly, I'm stumped.

 

[Original_Ranger84]

Is the the timing off by 180 degrees perhaps? cause the #1 cylinder could be on an exhaust stroke when it needs to be on the comp. stroke.

and did you splice the coil into the coils positive side so it will work in the run and start position? (either a Red/w blue stripe or a brown/w pink stripe if I remember) cause that won't allow the coil to charge or discharge.

Is your battery charged?

 

[Nipplechops]

I had the same issue with mine when I first Durasparked my truck. I couldn't tell you the exact issue because I ended up swapping out the entire cab wiring harness to fix the issue. I had originally swapped out the stock cab harness in favour of one that came from the donor vehicle that the 2.8L originally came out of. Trying to Duraspark that mess didn't go well at all. It was already hacked to death before I installed it and never worked right from the beginning.

I went back to the original harness and only had to cut a couple of wires (truck was a four banger beforehand and the 2.0L's used the Duraspark system) and it was cake.

It sounds to me like there is an issue with either the feed from the pick up coil in the dizzy to the Duraspark module, or from the Duraspark module to the coil. If I remember right, the ground side of the coil goes to the Duraspark module and there should be a three wire harness going from the Duraspark module to the dizzy (orange, purple and black if I remember right). Yes, the dizzy side of the harness is a three wire plug, and the module side is a four wire. The wire going from the coil to the module is also contained in that harness (can't remember the colour).

Let me know if this helps. I can run out and look at my truck if need be.

 

['84 Bronco II]

Is the the timing off by 180 degrees perhaps? cause the #1 cylinder could be on an exhaust stroke when it needs to be on the comp. stroke.

and did you splice the coil into the coils positive side so it will work in the run and start position? (either a Red/w blue stripe or a brown/w pink stripe if I remember) cause that won't allow the coil to charge or discharge.

Is your battery charged?

Before I pulled the old distributor out, I made a mark on the fire wall where the rotor was pointing, and then I put the new distributor in so the rotor was pointing to the same place. Now the truck has not moved at all, so this should be ok, right?

The positive side of the coil is indeed hooked up to the brown wire with pink, and I have checked the voltage of this wire with the key off, the key in run, and with the key in the crank position, and I am getting the correct readings in all three positions.

Yes I know that my battery is charged, because I have been cranking the engine to check for a spark.

It sounds to me like there is an issue with either the feed from the pick up coil in the dizzy to the Duraspark module, or from the Duraspark module to the coil.

I am having a little trouble understanding what you said here, so if you could elaborate that would be greatly appreciated.

Everything you described about the wiring is exactly how my truck is wired.

 

[skippy]

Before I pulled the old distributor out, I made a mark on the fire wall where the rotor was pointing, and then I put the new distributor in so the rotor was pointing to the same place. Now the truck has not moved at all, so this should be ok, right?

The positive side of the coil is indeed hooked up to the brown wire with pink, and I have checked the voltage of this wire with the key off, the key in run, and with the key in the crank position, and I am getting the correct readings in all three positions.

Yes I know that my battery is charged, because I have been cranking the engine to check for a spark.



I am having a little trouble understanding what you said here, so if you could elaborate that would be greatly appreciated.

Everything you described about the wiring is exactly how my truck is wired.

bring timing mark up on 0,see if rotor is pointing to #1,pull #1 plug see if piston is up.

 

[madoublet863]

i had a issue with my spark but i looked into it and my transmission netural safety switch was cause the whole problem i wired without it now just got to make sure its in park everytime i shut the motor off but it fixed my problem just light test the pos wire going to your coil if its not getting power then thats it but i started with light testing the wires just view the wiring diagram and go from there hope i could be some help

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Dunno if it helps any, but I used the stock coil, it cut out a lot of wiring for the swap (the ballast resister, the starting circuit and the running circuit) The distributer doesn't know that it isn't the canister style coil, the coil doesn't know it isn't the feedback distributer. Which route did you go?

I could find nothing that would plug in with the duraspark stuff, and the fancy color drawings didn't exist back then so I just made it look like the b/w picture with a twist. I think I only had to make one splice into the harness going to the coil for the tach signal, and added the red and white wires for the module for the Start/Run options. Otherwise everything else was self contained in the donar harness and the new components.

So it is just those three wires and everything else plugs in, if you have power to the coil and to the distributer you should be in business.

One other thing, I had to lightly sand the base of my distributer to get it to fit in the hole in the block all the way, if it isn't seated then your distributer probably wouldn't turn giving the illusion of no fire. Someone else on here had this seating issue too, dunno how they made the bases bigger by rebuilding them...

The typical Duraspark wiring diagram that I started with:

This is what I did with the stock coil:

 

['84 Bronco II]

bring timing mark up on 0,see if rotor is pointing to #1,pull #1 plug see if piston is up.

The way I reinstalled the distributor, with the rotor in the same position, I don't think I need to set my engine at top dead center with my timing at zero, right?

i had a issue with my spark but i looked into it and my transmission netural safety switch was cause the whole problem i wired without it now just got to make sure its in park everytime i shut the motor off but it fixed my problem just light test the pos wire going to your coil if its not getting power then thats it but i started with light testing the wires just view the wiring diagram and go from there hope i could be some help

I have a four speed manual, so it's not going to be related to the transmission.

Dunno if it helps any, but I used the stock coil, it cut out a lot of wiring for the swap (the ballast resister, the starting circuit and the running circuit) The distributer doesn't know that it isn't the canister style coil, the coil doesn't know it isn't the feedback distributer. Which route did you go?

I could find nothing that would plug in with the duraspark stuff, and the fancy color drawings didn't exist back then so I just made it look like the b/w picture with a twist. I think I only had to make one splice into the harness going to the coil for the tach signal, and added the red and white wires for the module for the Start/Run options. Otherwise everything else was self contained in the donar harness and the new components.

So it is just those three wires and everything else plugs in, if you have power to the coil and to the distributer you should be in business.

One other thing, I had to lightly sand the base of my distributer to get it to fit in the hole in the block all the way, if it isn't seated then your distributer probably wouldn't turn giving the illusion of no fire. Someone else on here had this seating issue too, dunno how they made the bases bigger by rebuilding them...

I have tried three different coils on my truck. I have tried the coil that came off of the pinto I took the distributor out of, which tested good with my voltmeter. I have also tried an MSD blaster coil (canister type) off of a running bronco, and after a while I tried it with the stock coil and it did not work either.

I have power to both the distributor and the coil.

The distributor is seated all the way. Just to clarify things, I am not even getting a spark out of the coil.

 

[skippy]

Sounds like you did it right,I was suggesting quick way to rule out timing 180 off.

 

[enginepaul]

A little logic here. If the voltage to the coil is good and the coil tests good, then there is no spark trigger. If the DuraSpark module is good, double check the wiring against a diagram (I know you did this, but do it again) Then take the distributor cap off and double check the connection there; all screws must be snug - but don't over tighten; those screws are the ground connections and are part of the circuit.
I used to use a Motor's manual to troubleshoot these systems, but there may be test specs and steps somewhere on-line.
Good luck - once you have it running, these are pretty much trouble free systems.

 

['84 Bronco II]

A little logic here. If the voltage to the coil is good and the coil tests good, then there is no spark trigger. If the DuraSpark module is good, double check the wiring against a diagram (I know you did this, but do it again) Then take the distributor cap off and double check the connection there; all screws must be snug - but don't over tighten; those screws are the ground connections and are part of the circuit.
I used to use a Motor's manual to troubleshoot these systems, but there may be test specs and steps somewhere on-line.
Good luck - once you have it running, these are pretty much trouble free systems.

Thanks for the advice, I found out that my wires from the harness I built from the module to the distributor were not matching up. This is strange because when I built this harness I was careful to make sure that the two ends of the harness had the colors of the wires corresponding, but the module wires aren't in the same order as the plug ends from the harness that I made (Ex. Orange to green, green to orange, black to purple, purple to black) The weird part is that despite these apparent crisscrosses the wires are still testing correctly.

I guess I will try rebuilding the harness from the module to the distributor so that the colors of the wires match up, and see if this fixes my problem. Thanks for the help!:icon_thumby:

 

['84 Bronco II]

Woooo! My truck is finally running again I found out that the wires on the plug end from the '70's ford truck on my harness from the distributor to the module were not in the same order as the module! I remade the harness and took great care to make sure that the wires matched and it fired right up! Curious that even though the wires were in the wrong order that they were giving correct readings.The thing sounds like it has some cajones now too:icon_cheers:

Thanks to everyone who helped!