No-start woes... QA my troubleshooting

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have you got access to a KNOWN GOOD dizzy? The next step from ignitor/coil would be dizzy. it HAS to be within those combo of components if you have correct voltage in the harness otherwise...BTDT. keep at it; you got time now, with that fresh new ride...
 
Replaced cap and rotor in the dizzy. Same woes continue.

I don't know of anyone in the area with a good dizzy... I need more friends who own old rusty trucks I guess. Any other ideas besides the "rip everything out of the truck and bench test it" idea?
 
Good chance I didn't follow all you have done all that well but....

How about the ignition switch and or the wiring from starter to coil?

Recheck fuseable link or buy a new one, they are not much and still available.

Do your headlight, dash lights and other stuff work correctly? Anything else wacky?

Do you smell fuel when you crank it over? pumping the pedal?

Hard parts don't fail suddenly all that often on these things, look at the simple stuff again.
 
do as the pimp suggests...IIRC, the OP stated he had 12 volts and grounds at the coil/ignitor, but WELL WORTH double checking...and for the record, when my ignitor went, it was almost out of nowhere, and when my dizzy went, it was all of a sudden...sure, they are hardy parts and have lasted 30 years, but, hey, 30 years in and I started to feel worn out and I don't light sparks under a 550 degree hood 9000 times per minute....
 
Check the dissy sig generator with ohmmeter. Should see something reasonable, like 140ohm.
When they die, they either break the hair fine wire and read OC, or they short internally and read 0 ohms.

Probably not the ignitor, I've never seen one fail on a Cruiser.

Is the distributor actually spinning? Crank the engine with dissy cap off and verify that dissy is turning.

On the ignitor there are 2 plugs connecting to body harness. One is +12V from IGN, the other is tach output. If the tach wire is grounded in the harness it will ground out the ignition. Disconnect tach wire and try spark testing again.

HTH
 
Landpimp said:
Good chance I didn't follow all you have done all that well but....

How about the ignition switch and or the wiring from starter to coil?
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Starter to coil checks out. 12V at the appropriate terminals per the FSM. I have not checked the ignition switch. Do you mean the ignition switch starting at the key? The starter turns fine (as does the engine and all the belts) but I haven't looked at that component yet.

Landpimp said:
Recheck fuseable link or buy a new one, they are not much and still available.
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Fusible link is good. ~12V from each of the three pins.

Landpimp said:
Do your headlight, dash lights and other stuff work correctly? Anything else wacky?
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Everything else works. All fuses look good as well.

Landpimp said:
Do you smell fuel when you crank it over? pumping the pedal?
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Plenty of gas in the truck. Fuel is visable in the filter. When I turn it for the first time each day, the carb sight glass fills from empty to just over half full. Smells of gas like I think it should.

FJ40Jim said:
Check the dissy sig generator with ohmmeter. Should see something reasonable, like 140ohm.

When they die, they either break the hair fine wire and read OC, or they short internally and read 0 ohms.

Is the distributor actually spinning? Crank the engine with dissy cap off and verify that dissy is turning.

On the ignitor there are 2 plugs connecting to body harness. One is +12V from IGN, the other is tach output. If the tach wire is grounded in the harness it will ground out the ignition. Disconnect tach wire and try spark testing again.

HTH
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JimC, This is (embarrassingly) the last thing I need to do. The sig generator gap is good; verified per FSM. I didn't check to see if the rotor was spinning when I had the extra hand to turn it while my head was under the hood. I'll try both that and the tach piece when I get back to the truck in a few days.

Thanks again for the continued help with the issue gents. More to follow.
 
From your initial post on the coil;
"Ohm meter gets nothing between the + and - posts nor does it get anything between + and high tension posts."

This would certainly cause a no-start situation.

Have you checked your replacement coil? If they sold you one that didn't have the internal resistor, it may have blown as well.
 
Yeah, the replacement checks good.... I also checked the one I ripped out (after cleaning it a bit) and it checked out fine; must have been a user error in the initial measurement combined with a little 31 year old dirt.
 
As if I needed another shining example of my sub par mechanic skills...

I did what I should've done on day one and turned the truck with the cap off the dizzy. Low and behold, the rotor is not spinning.

I'm assuming the only thing to fix this would be to yank out the dizzy and put in a new one? Alternatively, is this something that can be taken apart, cleaned, etc. and should be good as new?
 
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Pull the rotor and see if the shaft is spinning. Could be a bad rotor i suppose. Either that or the drive is bad.
 
I have had a rotor loose it's keyway notch- ONCE. follow suggestion above and make certain the dizzy shaft spins. It isn't as much an issue with OEM diz, but the DUIs were sheering off the roll pins and the cam was not turning the diz, just the diz gear...make certain diz is seated all the way. Also, heads up, if the diz isn't spinning, neither is the oil pump...good luck and report back
 
Any trick for getting these things out after 31 years? After some PB Blaster did the heavy lifting I was able to coax out the 12mm bolt on the clamp (real slick design putting it there..) but the dizzy won't budge. It won't rotate or come out.

Is this just a game of PB Blaster, a brass drift, little taps, and lots of patience or is there something else I'm missing?
 
the oring likes to stick in the bore...if you can get it to rotate, you should be able to get it to budge. don't hit it with anything or try to drive a prise between the boss and the clamp flange...
 
The dissy body right above the clamp is roughly squarish. Put a big crescent wrench on there to twist back & forth, while keeping the area saturated w/ solvent, while also tapping on the dissy and block w/ a hammer. If it can be persuaded to turn, then it can be persuaded to come on up.
 
:censor:

Oh, this is less than ideal...

IMG_2011.webp


So I suppose even if the dizzy isn't the problem, I'm buying a new one.

IMG_2012.webp


In somewhat related news, if anyone wants to set my truck on fire there will be little push back from me at this point. I have full coverage and would gladly buy another 60 with the claim check...

Can the dizzy be taken apart from the top or is it just the one way in and out?
 
oh no...drop pan and pound it out from the bottom? I had to do it when I tried to jam a dizzy into a misaligned oil pump mounting boss and got it stuck...all of my efforts at whacking the housing to get it to dislodge failed/aka; destroyed it, then had to remove it from below a veil of oil...good luck
 
The dissy body right above the clamp is roughly squarish. Put a big crescent wrench on there to twist back & forth, while keeping the area saturated w/ solvent, while also tapping on the dissy and block w/ a hammer. If it can be persuaded to turn, then it can be persuaded to come on up.

Be patient and follow Jim's advice, and keep soaking with a solvent/WD40 type solution. Many 2F distributors are stuck, because you're not in there jacking with them all the time. Not such a problem on older Fords and Chevys.
 
hey, before you get any dirtier, have someone crank the engine while you look to see if the shaft is spinning. if it is NOT, pull the valve cover and crank the engine to watch the rockers moving. If they do NOT, your problem is in the timing cover. You'll have to remove and replace the diz anyway, but you should keep trying to find out why you aren't getting any fire, and you should check these things before any more disassembly
 
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