absolutely frustrating distributor

[4x4cowboy]

ok so check this out...i have a 1981 chev c10 350. driving down the road one day blew a head gasket and warped a head....so i use it as an excuse to build a hot rod motor so i did. well low and behold i get down to the last little bit of putting the truck back together and d-day to fire it up and guess what... no spark!

but this is the funny thing.... i never touched the distributor!!!!! i unplugged it, took it off, set it on the bench, picked it up, installed it, and plugged it back in!!!!!! literally!!!! why am i not getting a spark?????!!!!!!!! it worked just fine before why not now??


so this is where im at with everything... i have a 12 gauge wire pushing 12 volts to the BAT side of the distributor but the only thing im not sure of is does the distributor only have one hot wire that powers the whole thing???? or should i be getting another hot from the four prong hook up coming out of the fire wall?.......rotor and cap look fine...plug wires and spark plugs are brand new....now i heard some things about an ecm but dont really understand it? can someone explain? but honestly any advice will help at all! im just a dumb redneck stuck between a rock and a hard place hahah!

thanks all!

[silicon212]

The "four prong hookup coming from the firewall" is your EST harness - this is computer only.

You should have a 10 gauge wire hookup to the coil, not a 12 gauge, but the only thing that will happen in this case is the coil running out of overhead at a lower RPM. Verify that you have the 3-wire cable coming from the pickup hooked up to the cap at the interface, and that there is nothing on the connector marked "TACH". Also, verify your power hookup is on the proper connector - one marked "BAT".

[Shelcamino]

Are you sure that you reconnected the ground strap from the engine block to the body?
Had the same problem on an 81 Chevrolet Caprice, and that fixed it ...

[4x4cowboy]

where does the ground strap run from the block to the body usually? because right now i dont have anything hooked to the distributor besides the four prong hook up...the three prong hook up that runs from the base of the dis to the cap...and the 12 volt power going to the bat side of the cap. there is no tach so i have no tach wire hooked up.

how do i attach a ground to it for the distributor?

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by 4x4cowboy

where does the ground strap run from the block to the body usually? because right now i dont have anything hooked to the distributor besides the four prong hook up...the three prong hook up that runs from the base of the dis to the cap...and the 12 volt power going to the bat side of the cap. there is no tach so i have no tach wire hooked up.

how do i attach a ground to it for the distributor?

You should not need to worry about a body ground in order for the distributor to get juice - your battery negative cable should attach directly to the engine (usually via the alternator bracket), thereby providing all of the ground the engine should need. The body ground comes into play with things like headlights, taillights, other electrical goodies, as the engine is the primary ground point in the vehicle.

Having said that, I run a 2 gauge ground cable from the alternator bracket directly to the radiator core support. It takes the place of both the engine ground strap, and the 10 gauge wire from the negative terminal to the fender.

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by cheapcaar

We buy All type of cars specially chevrolet link removed by Moderator

what would they want for a 79 malibu 2-door coupe.

[Tony Silva]

Hot wire the dizzy, If the motor fires up, recheck the wiring. The engine DOES need a ground to the chassis. originally it would be bolted at the back of the head to the firewall. Look at the cruise control bracket (if equiped). thats where it goes.