yotaboy82

just take the parts from your other truck, also try plugs, wires and cap, just a guess

83

No longer have another truck. I also called Toyota to see what other year/models ignitors would work so I could try a junkyard, but they said that pretty much just '82s and '83s work with my truck. That ignitor is expensive, but I ordered it since I need the truck running soon and if I found one used online, it would be a week or two before finshing the whole process of sending a check, waiting until it clears, then waiting for the part to get shipped to me etc., plus then if it's another 25 year old ignitor...who knows how long it will last.

My spark plugs, wires, distributer cap & rotor (and now ignition coil) are all less than 1,000 miles and 4 or so months old, so I doubt that's it. Plus, by (I think) determining already that I'm not getting spark from the ignition coil, the distributer/plugs etc aren't the problem. I tested for spark coming from the wire that comes out of the ignition coil & didn't see any, so that means no spark before you even get to the distributer, so as far as I know that means coil, ignitor, or? I don't know what else.

I'll be happy if Monday afternoon when I put the ignitor in, it fires up! Otherwise...

brooklee1000

Start simple. Coil not working, check FUSES! If no power to the coil, it won't work anyway. First and always, check fuses. If they are good, check GROUND. 99% of electrical problems start with bad ground(neg cable) on the battery. And check where the ground cables connect to the motor also. Coils rarely fail. Also, I ran a chevy coil on mine for a while. They work ok if you know how to wire it in. Less expensive.

Next, make certain the coil wire is fully inserted into the coil and dist cap. If not fully "clicked" in, they can come loose and fall out, ergo, no spark. Check at both ends.

Is the distributor tight (adjustment bolt for timing). If the timing has changed, no fire.

Good luck.

83

Yeah, checked fuses. As far as I can tell, there's just one "engine" fuse, right? It was fine. I'll double check the grounds but I did check those over pretty well. I've got some loose wires I can't figure out, but I think they're things a PO ran and maybe don't connect to anything anymore, but it's been running fine with those wires disconnected for the last couple months.

I did make sure the plug was in all the way. Thanks for that info, that will help. I'll definitely check everything over once more. The coil wasn't too expensive (aftermarket) at all, it's the ignitor that killed me. I'll make sure all grounds etc are good. If nothing else, I could be driving it this weekend if that's all it was, and I'll have a spare ignitor and ignition coil.

Thanks.

83

Well, I've replaced the ignition coil, distributer, checked all connections and fuses (I hope) and so far nothing. I'm putting in a new ignitor this afternoon...that better do it. Let this be a lesson that spending money on diagnostic tools is money well spent. I saved the most expensive part for last...but still paid a good amount of money and so far none of it has helped. It's good to know my ignition coil, ignitor, and distributer are new, but...if all I needed was the ignitor (and that better be it), it would have been nice to have saved the money I spent on the other stuff.

83

Not sure if anybody cares anymore, but some POS PO must have had the ignitor go out, and they found another at a junkyard. My year truck's ignitor should only work for trucks built from around 6/82-8/83 or something stupid like that, so they probably found a later model one, and had to cut off a plug in my truck and splice a newer one from the junkyard truck in. So my truck works with '84-88 carbed ignitors now, not '83s. Would have been good to know a week ago...maybe I could have hunted one of those down easier, but at this point I'm just returning the one to Toyota and getting the newer one from Napa since they can have it first thing in the morning and Toyota said Friday or possibly not till Monday. Really it's not a big deal and I may have done the same thing but it sucks to find this out the hard way. Makes me wonder how much more of that went on with my truck. I'll have to be more carefull and really look things over before ordering parts next time.

yotaboy82

that sucks man

83

Put in an ignitor that plugs into my truck, and it fired right up. Of course the guy at the parts store said, after checking with this supplier, that the insides of the ignitor are different, so I'll likely end up with the same problem again down the road...well, for now my truck works. Maybe someday I'll splice the right wires/plugs back into my truck and get the right ignitor, but even if I can get 5 years out of this one I guess I'll be happy...

Nice to be driving again! Those walks to work in the morning were getting cold. Thanks for all the help, everybody.