Ok..this will be my first post about my 87 SE (which now "runs"...sorta)

Ok.. Well, it starts, it runs, but it won't idle.. I adjust my TPS, that helps a tad, but it still won't hold idle.. it doesn't much like going below ~1.3k in fact.. I suspect perhaps the timing is off..

Long story short...the L1 plug wire does NOT activate my timing light.. all others do.. I swap on a known good wire, still nothing.. I pull it off the plug, and it sparks FINE against bare metal (and DOES activate the light, mind you).. I put in a known good spark plug, it won't activate the light.. I put the plug I just took out in the wire, lay it against bare metal, and it DOES spark (and activate the light)..

Sounded to me like a grounding issue, so i run another ground from the engine to the negative post..

Now, it only sparraticly activates the timing light.. which leads me to believe that it only sparradically sparks.. The L2 wire is better, but a lil sparradic itself.. Both trailing wires seem to light 100% of the time..

Tho...I have to say that my leading coil DOES work, since i pulled BOTH trailing wires, and the car ran.. I also tried pulling BOTH leading wires, and the car ran also.. I can't even detect it running any differently (tho, i'm not driving it...just idling..)

anyone have any ideas? I suppose I could borrow the coil from my 88, but i figure i'd try here first..

-Tesla

 

ping

 

I think its a timing lite issue, not a coil/plug problem. I think most people see this irregular blinking of the timing lite on the lead coil assy. Sometimes I'll see nothing or an erratic lite pattern that I can correct by twisting the clamp that is around the wire, at a different angle or moving that clamp closer to the plug or the where it comes out of the coil assy. You said it yourself when you said you took the trail plugs off and the engine ran. If one of the lead plugs was not really firing the engine would shake and bake. It didn't, did it? Its a timing light problem. I don't know the complete answer.

 

Ah well... at least that's one good subsystem of my car.. Back to the drawing board..

-Tesla

 

I had the same problem with my 86 and my mechanic replaced allthe ignition and fuel wiring and if fixed the problem.