OK Mechanic Guru's.... No Spark Problem

Question

1978 Dodge Van, 360 no a/c, has a no spark problem.

History - Bought Van .. while driving it home it died (just quit without any sputter). Tried to start it ... just cranked over, no bite. Got out opened hood scratched head and got back in and tried again... no go. Repeated above and she fired up... drove the rest of the way home shut off and could not start her for the life of me.

Replaced - starter relay, coil, pickup coil (set gap), cap rotor, ballast resistor, ECU, negative cable from bat to engine and had the alternator bench tested... still no spark. Rotor turns when cranking.

Voltage at coil pos with ignition ON is 12v... also 12v at coil neg with ignition ON (not sure if that's right or not). Ballast resistor shows 12v at all four terminals with ignition in ON position.

Other interesting info - My Voltage regulator along with another electronic device mounted to my firewall (not sure what it is..doesn't show it in my book, has three terminals and a Chrysler logo on it) give me voltages (12v) at their grounds. I get sparks from both when unscewing either from the firewall....... is this normal?

I'm tired of buying parts.. lol.... could there be a problem with my ignition switch? My thoughts are something is causing these voltages at the grounds and is stealing my spark. I'm just not that electrically inclined... your thoughts?

Answer 1

What about the distributor itself? Something to do with the base plate.

Answer 2

swap wires on coil, pos goes to neg and pos goes to dist. In other words, red wire goes to neg side of coil, then the pos side of coil goes to dist. could cause all of above problems.

Answer 3

i read your statement twice and the only thing i can come up with is that it might have a bad ignition switch, not on the cranking side, but on the run side of the switch.

Answer 4

on the ground yes its normal to get spark that means its grounding,then on the other parts you replaced did you try a brain box on it,or try grounding it,it to has to be grounded good or it wont run right,and yes a bad ignition switch will cause you to loose fire to it and it will make it not start,i think you have bad brain box on it that the main control unit for the ignition system,they will cause a no start situation like the one your having,id have it checked,auto zone can check those and tell you if its bad,also make sure you have a real good ground from the battery to the body ,that can cause whats happening to it,good luck.