Whats the best and easiest way to find out if my coils are sparking or not? I don't want to take the plugs out if I don't have to. Also I tried the hole thing with taking the leading plug wire off and putting it around the strut towers but I didn't see a spark. Also if I put like a screw driver in there while cranking it should it spark of the screwdriver? Thanks.

 

I just umpluged the plug wire and held it about 1/4" away from the coil opening, the spark arches out to the tip of the cable

 

Unplug one of the wires then plug another sparkplug onto the wire and lay it on the intake, should be grounded my that and you should see a spark. If you cant see it off the screwdriver, you probally are not getting a spark.

 

so you unglugged it from the coil or the spark plug? THanks.

 

I just tried putting a spark plug in it and trying that and I got a spark the first time but none after that? What does that mean? Also I have an msd. Thanks. probably what I should do is try taking it off of the msd first and seeing if it will fire if so it would be the msd and if it still didn't the coils went bad. right? Thanks.

 

Use an Inexpensive Spark Plug Tester...plug It Into the wire leading to the Plug, ground It and watch for a safely contained fireworks show.

 

anyone know ^

 

grab one end and crank it. if you get shocked then you have spark

 

We actually did this after the Microtech LT8 Install to verify both the Leadings and Trailings were doing their job.

It was kinda Interesting to see the Leadings, which are amplified via Crane Cams HI-6, display a significant variance to the Trailings.

The tester Is cheap and recommended for a fast and safe way to confirm you have spark.

 

unplug it from the spark plug in your engine and plug it to another one.

 

Make sure car is off. Unplug the wire from the spark plug. Plug a screwdriver into the wire. Set ontop of intake, leaving the metal part of the screwdriver 1/4 of an inch from any other metal surface. If its touching, than your not going to see it. You want the spark to jump from the screwdriver to the intake manifold.

 

this is the most sure fire way you can have: take the cas out and lay a plug wire plug side not coil side on the shock tower with the biggest screw driver you can find stuck in the boot. spin the gear on the cas. if it sparks, there ya go. its also a good idea to mark the cas rotor thing under the cover, and the adjustment screw, so you can keep pretty close timing.
this sounds tough, but its like a 30min process.

 

If you want to be reeeaaaal fancy, you can get a screwdriver with a light bulb in the handle. You just jam it in the end of the spark plug wire and crank it up. Light on, spark. No light, no spark

 

I have one of those test lights that you plug one end to the ground and one to a hot wire could I use this? THanks.

 

What voltage is it rated at? You might blow it up if it cant handle it. either way I guess youll find out if you have spark or not.

 

Yeah, that's alot of voltage. The tried and true way has already been stated, and the worst that can happen is you shock the **** out of yourself

 

lol, ok. But like I said before I tried taking one of the plug wires from the leading spark plugs and putting another spark plug in it and the first time I carnked it it sparked but after that no spark at all. What would this mean?

 

****this is the most sure fire way you can have: take the cas out and lay a plug wire plug side not coil side on the shock tower with the biggest screw driver you can find stuck in the boot. spin the gear on the cas. if it sparks, there ya go. its also a good idea to mark the cas rotor thing under the cover, and the adjustment ****

Personally I like that method because it saves wear and tear on the starter. You just have to know what your doing when you put the cas back in. I can put mine back in after doing the above and not be off even five degrees when checking it with a timing light later.

The device that goes on the sparkwire plug, mentioned in an above post sounds just dandy also.

The very best one mentioned was grabbing the bare sparkplug wire with your hand. Be sure to touch the frame of the car while doing that one so you can make a circuit. humor

 

anyone? spark once then none.

 

u prolly killed the ecu or the ignitor.

 

the coil? the msd? hum.....Strange thing is I'm not getting any fire to the trailing either. any Ideas.

 

Two fuses to look at. The ENGINE fuse in the crew compartment and the EGI fuse in the engine bay. I forget if its the 30 or 40amp fuse. One of the last two.

 

yeah checked both of those, both are fine. Probably blew the cpu.

 

holy ****! just checked again and the damn egi fuse is bad. Strange.

 

thats what it was thanks hailer