85 duraspark'd...no spark

[H311RzR]

I read and followed the tech page on the duraspark conversion and everything worked great. it fired right up and i ran it around the block. Then after noticing a lack of power I was gonna mess with the timing. Now it has no spark, I did notice the coil and the control box were almost too hot to touch. I am using the stock coil. I spliced in new wires and just put connectors on the ends of the two that go to the coil, did I cut something out by not using the old plug into the coil? I dont want to burn up anymore coils, and possible duraspark controlers. What am i missing here?....Thanks

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Did you check the battery voltage and if it is charging correct. Make sure the ground is good to the module, coil and voltage regulator. It sounds like you running over voltage and a bad ground is the normal culprit.

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/chargingsystem.htm

Read this all the way through and make sure you pass both the noload and load tests.

 

[H311RzR]

ok so now ive replaced the duraspark, she started right up n purred....then like 3-4 minutes later it died again, didnt have time to do the load/no load test cause I was just runnin off the battery I took the alternator out and all the wiring for it. The duraspark was slightly warm, though not enough to be over normal operating temp. The module and coil are now grounded to a frame. I have a multi meter and can shoot wires using the hanes manual.....any other ideas? Im lost at this point. Thanks for the help.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

You need to check the battery voltage say 12.8 volts as soon as you start it run it around 1500 rpm and check the voltage it should not be more than 2 volts over batt voltage or 14.8 volts. Pull all the ground wires apart you can find and sand them metal to metal if you havent already done so. Also just disconnect the white wire on the module and just run key on hot to the coil pos and red on the module and see if that has something to do with it.

 

[dangerranger83]

Does it have ignition now after the 3-4 min of running? If not then something is fgrounding itself and/or burning itself up. Had the samething happen to mine, ran good backed out of my driveway and it died. Turns out that my durabox shorted itself after only a few months. Before that my coil had went out, but seeing as it was the original one to the truck, it was its time anyways, and it too burned up just idling in my driveway but it was warning me of it going out when my truck was getting hard to start a few days before that.

 

[H311RzR]

yeah the new duraspark controller is burned up again. Im thinkin now that the pigtale I got out of the donor may not have the wires in it correctly gonna check it out tonight. and check the voltage well if I can get it runnin again. It kinda looks like someone has already rigged the wires before me...I may just have to shoot all the wires and make sure the right colors go to the right places. Thanks for yalls replies though, Ill let ya know how it went when I get it runnin again.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

yeah the new duraspark controller is burned up again. Im thinkin now that the pigtale I got out of the donor may not have the wires in it correctly gonna check it out tonight. and check the voltage well if I can get it runnin again. It kinda looks like someone has already rigged the wires before me...I may just have to shoot all the wires and make sure the right colors go to the right places. Thanks for yalls replies though, Ill let ya know how it went when I get it runnin again.

Just remember key on hot to red on the module and pos on the coil (thru a resistor if necessary for the coil) green from the module to neg on the coil, black from the dizzy to black on the module and the other two dont really matter. If your gonna hook the white on the module you want the start circuit only hot with the key on start. The orange and purple go to the pickup coil in the dizzy and they can be either way. Check for a good ground from the dizzy and there are no shorts in the pickup wires.

 

[H311RzR]

Is there supposed to be an external ground from the duraspark controller body to the frame?

 

[kimcrwbr1]

I dont have one just make sure the ground from the dizzy is good. You can always add one I was gonna I just never got around to it.

 

[H311RzR]

OK So i installed the new module. Reinstalled the alternator and wiring...apparently i hadnt plugged the ground on the alternator in the first time! :-( I did the 1500 rpm check and its around 13 volts...it jumps around quite a bit though, from about 10 to 16. though the extremes are very brief and it settles back to an average of 13 while running. I had the alternator tested at advanced and was told it was good. The module was somewhat warm after about 5 minutes of mostly idling and some revving/ volt check rev. Ill go out and start it up here in a little while again and hopefully it will be good this time! Thanks for all the suggestions.

Edit:
OK started it up again and did the volt check and it was a steady 13V at the battery. Though the module, coil and alternator seemed warm, though maybe thats normal cant remember ever really paring attention to the alternator temp.

 

[dangerranger83]

Mine get warm but its still running good.

 

[H311RzR]

Yeah, so I got it warmed up and bam...it died and the alternator, module, coil, and regulator were all smokin hot. When I tried it again after some cooling it sounded like the ignition coil was clicking/buzzing....Im just gonna do an msd setup and get an alternator with a internal regulator. Apparently either my 85 wiring harness is messed up and therefore not gonna work or im just too dumb to figure this out HAHA.


UPDATE: Disregard my last rant Its Alive...again. I let the thing cool down for about three hours, everything was cool to the touch. cranked it and it started right up! I guess now my question is why would it have overheated all the components like that but not actually fry anything?

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Keep an eye on the amp guage if it is working it should show charge for a min or two after starting then stay in the center. If it stays on the charge side with the lights on you need to diagnose it further. Is your battery fully charged put it on a slow charge overnite to fully charge it then run the voltage checks again. It gots to be a charging issue since more than one component is getting warm. Pull all the fuses out and disconnect the pos cable on the battery test the pos cable to ground with a multimeter on ohms and look for shorts by putting the fuses back in one at a time checking for continuity between the pos cable and a good ground. Without the computer only a clock/radio would be full time hot.

 

[H311RzR]

OK so I fried my volt meter... accidentally grounded it out, now I need a new instrument cluster circuit board. But the truck will start and run great for a little while...i can rev it , drive it around, but it then just dies..and will start back up after a minute or two. When I turn the key to start my brake light comes on. Oh the other weird thing is if i mess with the ignition key and turn it from off to run repeatedly, sometimes the engine will turn over, its just the coil pack trying to fire. Before I burned up the volt meter is was reading a small charge for a minute after starting, and would adjust down when I turned the headlights on. So i will keep lookin around checking wires until I find my gremlin.

 

[kimcrwbr1]

It could be the ignition switch itself or sombody has been hacking on the wiring.

http://cgi.ebay.com/IGNITION-SWITCH...84|Make:Ford|Model:Ranger&hash=item56432a0c39