Please help! Engine turns over but no spark!

[livtyler206]

Hi, my Camry hasn't been starting since we tested the Cooling Fan Relay last week. We took out the relay and put in a wire to see if the fans would go on with that (and they did). When we took the wire out, I turned the car off and we put the old relay in and I was gonna get a new one from Toyota the next day. Tried to turn the car on afterwards and it would turn over but wasn't getting any spark. Checked all the fuses and they were all working. Replaced the coil and distributor, and the ignitor box with no luck. Any other suggestions before I try to tow it to Toyota to do a diaognostics test??

Here are the specs of my car:
-89, Automatic 4 cylinder
-2.0
-Has an anti theft device (locktronics chip)
-Coil is getting spark but the plugs aren't

[RIP]

Have you looked through the FAQs and factory manuals at the top of the forum. There's gobs of info. There's sections on starting problems in the FAQs and schematics in the manuals.

The rotor is turning while you crank correct?

[livtyler206]

Yes it is turning, so it's not the belt. I am getting power to the coil but no spark on the #1 plug. I've looked through lots of FAQ's but haven't seen anything related. A Toyota of Seattle mechanic told me to replace the coil and if that didn't work, to replace the distributor, and if that didn't work, to replace the ignitor box. None of those have worked so he's a little stumped. I have a feeling it's something simple that I don't know about but I can't seem to figure out what it is. Could it be a bad ground possibly??

[RIP]

Sure. At this point you can't rule anything out. Have you checked the resistance on or replaced the lead from the coil to the distributor?Should be less than 25K ohms. Have you checked any other plugs for spark? I use a timing light and watch for a flash. Have you considered the ugly little box called the ECU? Everybodys last resort. Don't recall where it lies in the circuit but, it's there. Or were you leaving that to Toyota to figure out? Have you got a manual? Heres a schematic of sorts: http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...3d80140920.jsp Looks like Fig 7 is what you need.

[somick]

Rip is right. You never mentioned wires.
Besides wires have your replaced part been known good?

Sam

[gator2764]

Take the Dist. cap off and see if there is ANY oil in there. These dist. on the camrys will leak internally after a lot of miles. There is only one way to stop this and that is to replace the dist.

[gworthey]

hello. My wife's car (93 camry) wouldn't start yesterday, all of sudden. (Worked earlier in the day, no previous problems) There was no spark. Did a lot of research and checks. Her problem was ignition coil. Resistance on secondary should be 11-15k, but hers was 7k. Primary resistance was ok (note: factory says it should 35-55 ohms, but both new parts I tested had same resistance as her old one: 1.0 ohms). Changing the coil (pop out the distributor and remove 4 screws) solved the problem.

In your case, I think you blew a fuse (I did that too, in my experimentations). Check the AM2 fuse in fusebox under the hood, 30 amps. If I'm right, you'll find that the check engine light and the battery icon do NOT light up when you turn ignition to ON position. They Should light up in on position (not cranking). If it's not that fuse, I'm almost certain you blew another one. Check also behind the coil tray, drivers side.

Don't pay the dealer. It's easy.

[livtyler206]

thanks for the replies. it is not the ignitor box or the ignition switch, all lights come on when I turn the key on. I had a friend of a friend come over and look at the car - he works for toyota of kirkland and after testing a few things, he found that the orange and black wire was loosing power and was somehow not powering the main engine relay fuse so we're going to work on that today. hopefully I can get this solved today. thank you all for your ideas