#4 plug keeps going bad

[Tempest455]

Also I was questioning the install of the new magnetic PU in the dizzy i made before the car sputtered out. The instructions that came with the new PU wire/magnet warned to be sure to install the new magnet correctly and said to use the white line on the new magnet as a reference but wasn't very clear on what to reference too. I rolled the dice and installed the new magnet with the white line facing up. The car started and ran well for 15-20 the sputtered out. I am assuming this magnet is installed correctly but I figured I better ask since I am getting 12V to the coil but no secondary voltage despite a new coil and new control unit....

here is a link to a photo of the dizzy and the white line on the magnet.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tempest455/3272523705/

B

[kmead]

Any chance your ground wire from the engine block/transmission to the body is missing /bad? I have had odd issues show up when the ground strap has failed. Try running a new heavy gauge wire from a bolt on the engine to a bolt on the body. Just a thought. The factory one is a wire under the car attached to the transmission and can be easily damaged.

[racydave]

I think I would check voltages ( while cranking ) at the coil and module. It will be important to check closely as a wire may show good voltage, and have a bad crimp to the spade. A good trick is to pull each indivual wire hard. A voltage drop could also indicate problems upstrean, such as the connector at the steering colum...

[Tempest455]

Great points - I will certainly recheck grounds (There is a huge green ground wire coming off the tranny bell housing going somewhere.) I will check continuity there for sure. In the mean time i will treat her to some new tires and chrome lug bolts. Maybe that will help!

[rlux4]

While reading through this whole thread I noticed that you had disconnected the condensor on the coil. This is not for radio interference like the older cars were. It acts as a buffer to avoid excessive voltage spikes. It should be left in place.
Ron

[So Cal Mark]

your alternator has nothing to do with starting, it only recharges the battery once the engine is running. Have you checked to see if the pickup unit is sending a signal?

[Tempest455]

How do i test the the pick up signal?

[MikeR]

In an effort to be helpful ...

Have you checked the 'air-gap' between your new pickup an the dizzy rotor vanes? When I changed mine recently I set it too close initially and the car ran briefly before stopping. The 'air-gap' spec. is very tight AND if you have any play the rotor will spin fractionally off-centre and the vanes can contact the pickup causing ignition to fail. I found that I need to set the 'air-gap' slightly larger than spec. in order to accommodate 25 years of wear and play.

I hope this helps.

PS Tiny metallic shards of material in the affected area is a clue that the rotor vanes and the pickup have made contact and are easily cleaned up with one of those magnetic 'antenna' wand things - be sure to have the ignition switched off though.

[Tempest455]

Okay after working the car as far as I could I finally broke down and to it to a specialist. Turns out i had the magnet from the magnetic pickup installed upside down. They flipped it around, reset the timing and the car is now running on all 4. There are still a number of open wiring issues they are working but at least the car is running. The shop also found that the last owner did the timing belt wrong and didn't line something up correctly. This resulted in a busted oil pump shaft and cracked block. Luckily they can fix all of this.

[So Cal Mark]

cracked block? must be a 2L. That's what I would call a major repair

[Tempest455]

yeah its an 80 FI 2.0. The thing that scares me most is the fact that the aux shaft was actually busted and laying in the bottom of the oil pan. I had no idea this was the case and the oil light never came one when the motor was running with zero pressure.

They have a used shaft they call install and will weld that crack from the inside.

http://www.londonautoservices.com/About ... ut_us.html