Cranks fine, fuel to the cylinders, but no spark?

[quote="electricsteve"]94 Corolla 1.8L about 175,000 miles. I recently replaced the three belts and the alternator locking bolt. The battery was disconnected during this operation. After re-connecting the battery, the car would not start. Cranks fine, fuel to the cylinders, but no spark. Fuses OK, voltage to distributor OK.

In my haste to get the job finished, I re-connected the battery in reverse order which set off the alarm (factory). This is the only thing I can think of that relates to anything electric or electronic. Or am I the victim of an incredibly coincidental failure of the coil or ignitor?

TIA for any suggestions.

Steve K[/quote

The alarm. It is working fine?

Some alarms have a relay that "cut" the ignition.
Some "cut" the starter.

The alarm module has an "all time" current input, thats why receives the inverse polarity.
Check the alarm fuses first.
Let us know.

Hello Steve!

Looks like we are in the right track.

Now I was looking around to find the location of that fuse, but, I don`t have enought privileges to have access to the mitchell books.
By any chance do you have the manual book of your car?
They should said where its that fuse.
Its not on the fuse panel.
Probably its in-line with a wire that goes directly from the fuse panel to the module.
Once that fuse its blown it "cut" the ignition.

I`ll keep looking for the location, meanwhile can you follow the wires and see where they go?

Thanks Steve.

I`ll keep in touch!

Well here we have (Courtesy of Mitchel) and Paul, the location of the security and Keyless entry components:

let me know if that matches with your vehicle..

Hey Steve !
Dont worry!

We can always get back and start over, well then.
How about the fuses?
Did you check all of them? I know you check them but.
(even the Main fuses)?
The ones inside the car and the ones under the hood on top of the left fender.
Could be a fuse.

We are going to start there

(its got a be electrical problem)
let me know and dont call the tow truck yet !

We are going to fix it!

Hello Steve !!

Fuses Ok
Then check the resistance of the pick-up coil in the distributor should be around 140-180 ohms

Used instead of breaker points, the pick-up coil induces voltage in an electronic ignition system. It's a small electric generator that sends low voltage pulses to the ECU (electronic control unit) as the trigger wheel or reluctor teeth pass by. When the trigger wheel tooth approaches the pickup coil, the voltage builds. When the tooth moves away, the voltage decreases. The ECU senses the voltage changes and determines the proper time to switch the primary current to the coil on and off. This allows the coil to build the magnetic field in the primary windings and fire when the ECU cycles the current off.

Then check the igniter..
You can connect a test light to the negative side of the coil and crank the car. The test light should light intermittently. This would indicate the igniter and coil are both Good..

Well let me know to continue with this troubleshooting..

(we are going to make it work... believe me!)

OK Steve.

Check for spark directly from the Coil pack and see if is sending the spark to the distributor.

Let Me Know.

I`ll be around thinking
:)

[quote="electricsteve"]Fisherman,

No spark from the coil contact. I clipped a short test lead to the contact and moved the other end toward a grounded bolt while the engine was being cranked. Started at 1/2" gap and moved in to closer than 1/16" gap. No joy.

Thanks for hanging in here with me.

Steve

[/quote

Hello Steve.
We are getting closer !

You have to check good the Ignition coil. Looks to me like its bad !

OK here are the especifications courtesy of Mitchell1:

IGNITION COIL RESISTANCE
Disconnect wiring from ignition coil so ignition coil is isolated from system. Using ohmmeter, check primary resistance between ignition coil positive (+) and negative (-) terminals. See Fig. 3.
Check secondary resistance between ignition coil positive (+) terminal and high tension terminal (coil wire tower).
Replace ignition coil if resistance is not within specification.

IGNITION COIL RESISTANCE

Primary : 1.11 - 1.75

Secondary : 9000 - 15,700

you just check the primary but not the secondary.

Let me know

OK I thought that you just check the primary. :)

well. If the Igniter its good the pick-up coil is good and the "test light" gave us "pulses" we ran out of options but the ignition coil.

What do you think? :Oops:

Let me check the electric diagram.

Something else you said:
Test lamp glows with key on and blinks off while cranking. That means that the test light blinks "on-off"?

Let me know.

Yes, the test light is connected from the negative terminal of the coil to ground and glows with key on and then blinks while the engine cranks. The off "blinks" are shorter than the on time but I would expect that since the ignitor appears to ground the negative terminal when it wants a spark.

Steve[/quote:7109e39f47]

Hey Steve.
The way I use the test light its with the (+) of the coil on one end and the negative side of the coil on the another.

That way if the igniter and the pick-up coil are both good the test light should be On-Off-On-Off (blinking when cranking but off when not cranked)

Let me Know. :)

[/quote:b2062ac07a]

Hello Steve.

I see that you`re good with the voltmeter.

Hey. Have you tried to "cook the spark"?
I mean disconnecting the negative side of the coil (leave the positive that comes from the ignition) pulse a ground to the negative side of the coil and check for spark. (As you checked).

What can I said?

Just for those &*%& % belts! :) :)

(just kidding)

I bet you a diet coke that the problem its the coil pack.

:)

Quote / Well, fisherman, it is looking like I owe you that diet coke or six. The only spark that was produced when I grounded the (-) terminal (disconnected from the ignitor) were the sparks from the test lead where I touched the (-) terminal.

It finally dawned on me! Since the primary and secondary share a common terminal but have very different resistances they could test OK with an ohmmeter even though they were shorted internally. That appears to be the case here. I put 12V across the primary and it appears on the HV terminal of the secondary.

Let me know if you agree.

Thanks,
Steve quote

Hey Steve !

I saw that before (a couple off times.) The coils tested good but. No spark or weak spark.

Well I`m almost tasting that ice-cold Diet coke ! :D

do you plan to buy that coil pack?

I want a hear that Brooooouummmm!

:)

We are Agree then?