Anyone here good on electrics? (Car)

Got a 1988 Silver Spirit which won’t start. Coil good and working. Ignition module good and working. Base plate and pick up new and working.

Still no spark at the plugs. I guess it can only be the rotor arm or dist cap but welcome any suggestions ( apart from “F off to a car forum!”).

I realise this is a bike site but the guys on the RR site are less than practical;)

id go for the rotor arm I’ve heard a lot about them going on them rollers.

take the lead off the dissy cap and put a plug in the end of the HT lead from the coil , turn the ignition on and take the NEG lead on and off the coil and you sholud get a spark at the plug …

unless you have already done that ,then ignore the previous sentence …lol

or is the centre pin in the dissy cap still there ?

Yeah…all that is as it should be. Rotor arm and cap look fine but just ordered new ones anyway as there is nothing else in the system.P1ssing me off big time… (not that I want to drive it)

Have you measured 12V across the low tension side of the coil? If not check wiring (earth strap on engine?), switch, alarms, immobilisers etc. Pull the high tension lead that goes from the coil to the dizzy cap, hold it near an earth while cranking the engine. Is there a spark there? If so then the problem is with distribution - check leads, plugs, rotor/cap. If not then its to do with generation - check coil, trigger module.

good luck1

If you have a spark,sounds like fuel?

I don’t have a spark at the plugs and I do have fuel. Ordered a new dizzy cap and rotor arm as everything else seems to be ok…

ask giles your butler to push it to a garage? :smiley:

Order a new condenser with it,its cheap and no way of knowing if it has gone,i have had the problem before.

Just remember it’s only an old car and take your bike out.

:smiley: If only I could !

might be a stupid question…but are the sparks plugs dead? Otherwise new dis cap and rotor arm…, also check this out…on top of your dist cap above the rotor arm there should be a graphite chip which sits on a spring…provides a feed link between the lead and dist cap. if the spring is worn, then the graphite wont be touching the rotor arm and you wont have juice. Or so sais my old man :slight_smile:

Still not running BUT fitted new dizzy cap and rotor ,new coil and the ignition module is fine. I now have a spark at the plugs but white and quite weak… I have had the distributer out and replaced in same position but think timing may be out (a “friend” took the dist out before I got involved).

Even if it were well out would it not at least cough or bang ! ???