1985 toyota pickup suddenly lost spark in parking lot shortly after replacing battery. Spark plugs, wires distributor cap and rotor replaced about 3 years ago and all look ok. Replaced coilpack and pickup sensor today, still no spark. All fuses look good. Should I replace the expensive ignition module next or start somewhere else?

 

Start with a meter and test voltage, just because your fuses "look good" doesn't mean there is power getting where it needs to go. you may have blown a fusible link or a bad ground, or a bad alternator (battery died after running as long as it could without charging).

 

Stop replacing parts that you were not absolutely sure were bad and that as you found out did not fix your problem, and get a multi-meter like akwheeler says ^^^

 

I recently had an issue with the same thing on my 1985 22R I would suggest taking one of your plug wires and disconnecting it from the distributor, making sure that you are getting a good connection at the coil, take an old plug and touch it to the motor, preferably the block, make sure your block is grounded, you'll have to have a friend help you turn the key to see if you have spark, if you don't have a multi meter this is a quick and effective way of testing your coil, if you have spark at your coil then all you need to do is basically chase it down from there, the issue I had was with a brand new set of plugs and wires out of the box they felt like they were making a good connection inside the distributor cap which was new as well but in reality they were not making a good enough connection to transmit spark I ended up having to bend out the tabs on my plug wires a small amount to get a strong enough connection for spark to transfer, However this is just an idea for you to consider.

Thanks,
Nate

 

I ended up putting a Chevy coil and ignition module in the Toyota. It cranked up a couple times, allowing me to drive to the store and back. And now it won't spark again.

 

From the factory the ground is supplied by the body ground next to the battery, start here make sure it is good and clean metal on metal. Do the same at the ignitor.

Manually fire the coil, if you have consistent spark odds are its the pickup coil on the distributor. Or some random wire between the distributor-ignitor-ecu/emission box.

 

I would follow all of the advice above, but here's what happened to me.

I parked my truck at the store and came out and it wouldn't run. I tried everything and couldn't get spark. Crossing my fingers I forked out about $500 at Autozone for a new ignition module and it fired right up. It's a pricey gamble and you wouldn't believe my relief when it payed off, but I don't know of any way to test the module. Maybe you can borrow one from someone and test it out?

 

"toyota ignitor test youtube"

Watch the first two videos, one by Andy mechanic, second is by scanner danner...

There are also some specs you can test in the FSM, but they don't cover manually firing the ignition (ECU bypassing)

 

Sorry for delayed response.

The problem seems to have been both coil/cap and rotor issues. The final fix was using a nonferrous feeler guage to set my gap. That is after replacing most/all other components.

Always use nonferrous when specified lol

 

Distributor Pickup Coil Air Gap Spec: 0.2 mm to 0.4 mm, or .008" to .016 inch. This gap is measured with one of the "points" of the reluctor ring facing the dead center of the pickup col. Gap can be adjusted by loosening the hold-down screws for the pickup coil. Gap should be set so there is a very light drag on the feeler gauge.

A non-ferrous (non-magnetic) feeler gauge is important because of the magnet in the pickup coil. A steel feeler gauge will stick to the magnet & provides a lot of drag when moving the feeler gauge, so it can be hard to tell if the setting is correct. Brass feeler gauge is the way to go.

In a pinch I have used a folded up dollar bill to set the gap. The paper is .004" thick so you can fold it over 2 or 3 times to get a good gauge. I have mine set at .012", which is right in the middle of the spec, and the ignition fires off fine. You can also use a common business card. Most business card stock is .010" to .012" inch thickness.

 

I have an 87 22r that I was driving down the road let off the gas to shift up and it backfired extremely loud, I shifted and went to give it gas and the truck died. Now it wont start and has no spark or power to the coil. Brand new everything on the ignition system. Cranks and cranks but wont turn over. Any ideas? Been trying to figure it out for 48 hrs and not a single clue.

 

does it crank really fast? pull the distributor cap and see if the rotor turns when cranking.