pimpinstang1

have a problem. no spark! i have to turn the car on whrough the ignition coil! for some reason it wont turn over with flipping the key and having the clutch pushed in! well this is from the beggining.... well it aint an 87 its an 86 now i gotta change my name! (that aint the problem i just wanted to throw that out ) the car turned over but wouldnt start. at first i knew it was the fuel pump because i didnt hear the buzz in the back (the previous owner dropped a used fuel pump in when the stock one went out with no filter bag, idiot...) so i bought one from the local auto parts with all the necessary hardware for 80 bucks. i went to change it out and nope it aint that so i looked here online and found out of a relay that was located under the drivers seat. come to find out that was the problem too. i changed it out and wow i hear humming from the fuel pump! now i turn it over and still no start so i tried 10 times and nothing!. i went to the back of the car and i smelt crude gas! well i unplug a wire off the cap, set it beside the plug i unhooked it off of and crank it. no SPARK! im pi$$ed!! is it the ignition module? thats what a local mechanic told me. what else can it be?

ponyboy88

clutch saftey switch, or the ignition module possible, good luck man

pimpinstang1

wheres this clutch safety switch located at?

87Stallion

Under the dash

mjr46

guys if it cranks but wont start it's not a clutch switch........and the test you performed may not of given you the desired result...you need to have the wire close enough and the rubber boot slid back some.. a inline spark checker is the best bet to test for spark out of the coil and spark from dizzy cap to wire ends......possible probs....coil, tfi module, stator in dizzy...ect ect...

Liquid_02

Spark Checkers are a waste of money IMO. You could just as easily put a spark plug in the wire and hold it against the block, or jam a screwdriver in the wire and put the close to the block to see if a spark will jump. Anyway though, check it for spark. It's not the clutch switch as mjr46 said, that just stops the starter from engaging. Think about it, if it were the clutch switch, how would you ever be able to push start it. If there is spark, check for fuel pressure.

mjr46

mine cost less than 15 bucks.......your only as good of a tech as the equipment you work with to diagnosis with.......plus with a spark checker mine has a ground clip on it and looks like a spark plug with an aligator clip..your methood may work..after playing with the screwdriver a bit to make sure you get it to ground out and try holding the sparg plug against the block and cranking all at once....spark checkers make it a one man job......but what ever floats your boat do it...just make sure the results you got were accurate..cause I've seen many do the screwdriver trick and not pick up a ground and therefore they thought they had a no spark issue and alot of times it was a fuel issue when I went over to look at their car

Liquid_02

Well if it doesn't start, we always check both (at our shop), easy to do, just gotta press in the bleeder with a screwdriver to check for pressure. But, when all else fails, jam your finger in the boot, you'll know if it has spark or not then

AdderMk2

simply pressing the valve on the fuel rail doesnt tell you ****.. If you were a real tech you would know that. the fact that you have pressure at the rail doesnt tell you if its 10 psi or 40psi

nor does it give you an indication of the fuel VOLUME

What shop do you work at... I wanna make sure everybody I know NEVER goes to your shop!

Liquid_02

Actually, you can tell if it's got pressure by pressing that valve, if it just dribbles out, then it's got low pressure, or the check valve is gone. If it sprays everywhere, it'll be good. Also, how do you plan on measuring volume? Putting a bucket at the end of the gauge and opening up the valve on the gauge, start a stop watch, let it fill for a minute, and then measure how much fuel is in the bucket? Fuel volume does not matter for a stock setup. If you have 44psi in car A, and 44psi in car B, they're both the same car, you're going to have the exact same volume. Fuel volume only matters when extensive modifications have been done and larger fuel rails need to be put in.

Also, if you really truely knew about car problems, you would know that's it's almost never an issue of fuel pressure. 99% of the time the pump just doesn't work. Fuel pressure gauges are only needed when the car actually starts and runs so you can see how much pressure it has throughout the range, or if there's a problem with the car stalling. As any gasoline vehicle will still run with your "10psi" but it won't run well, or may stall when you give it throttle.