So I've been scratching my head on this for the better part of a 2 weeks and I'm stumped. I also don't wanna keep throwing money at testing parts out so I'm hoping someone has the obvious answer that I'm missing

My friend (who's a tenured tech) and I tested the resistance of both the coil and the ignitor and everything seemed to be good. Then we just decided to do the 'ol test the coil and your manhood' by cranking it and holding a insulated screw driver over the end of ignition coil wire. The spark was yellow and weak and barely gave me a jolt (reluctantly thankful).

The battery voltage drops to only 10.9-11.2 and its brand new (second battery to try as well).

My thoughts are I either missed a ground somewhere or my ignitor is bad. Could either or both be it or am I missing something?

Thanks in advance for any help

 

My dad tried one of those aftermarket coils. It was just crap, for some random reason it didn't work. OEM worked fine.

 

There is a tool for this test and its not you holding a screwdriver. The power needs somewhere to go, thus a good ground. The spark gap needs to remain steady, not easy to-do if you're getting shocked nor consistent for the several arcs you want to average.. Get the right tool!

There are detailed (sticky) threads that cover grounding your 22r series engine.

Do not over look the ignitor/coil ground via the mount, so if you've been fiddling with it make sure it's cleaned to bare shinie metal and firmly attached. The test it with the correct measuring device.

 

@ev13wt yeah I've returned the cheap rock auto Coil and am ordering an NGK one so we'll see on that

@Co_94_PU I agree that we could have used a more sophisticated form of testing but had to use what I had in the moment. But even still testing it with the screw driver showed me for certain there's weak spark. When everything is plugged up- I have fuel and only a little bit more than static electricity arc at both the spark plug and ignition coil.

I've also removed the mount and filed on the body and every other ground located near it, so that portion should be clear. I'm gonna take a look at that ground sticky- i did forget to mention mine is a 3.0 though

I'm more wondering are these symptoms of a bad coil or igniter? I pulled the motor due a thrown rod and reinstalled a reman, however my rig would still fire up with blown motor.

 

Yes, connections!!!
Pls see my signature.

Also, verify that you have below and as Co and I say, it has bare, shiny metal to bare shiny metal. That's how anything on the engine block gets RELIABLE, AND HEAVY-DUTY GROUND. Earlier trucks did not have that. If you have 84 4runner, it may not have it.

 

Right now I know the battery is grounded well. Got a ground on that goes straight to the side of the block and a body ground as well.

Could I get someone to post a picture of their grounds near the coil and ignitor on a 3vze? It seems like the grounds and plastic connectors are pretty straight forward but I'd like to make sure that I have it correct...

 

22R-E Ignitor Grounds to Body

 

Ok you have not really given any details on your screwdriver testing method. For this to be a vaguely quantitative test the screw shaft needs to have a reliable ground path (I put the shaft on a known Good ground) and put the coil (primary) wire 1cm away from the screwdriver shaft and for a weak yellow spark.. This is what the spark tester tool does, you clip the tester lead to the battery negative and the coil output attaches to the other end and there is an adjustable alarm gap that tells you the KV/energy based upon the distance and spark color.

Ok so that covered. Let's assume your spark tester method is reliable. If you have appropriate ground on the ignitor (icm/coil), and the coil output/target, and power input you have an issue with the ignitor (the ICM MOSFET that charges the coil).. You want to make sure you have a good ground path from the ICM to the body mount and from the body mount to the battery. There is a a decent YouTube video from Alex something (southern hemisphere person) that details how to bench test a Toyota ICM. It goes through connecting the ICM to a battery +/- and strobing the trigger line, it doesn't detail the spark "quality" to relate it to a KV value persay but will illustrate the inputs and outputs. The short version is supply a good ground and power and flick the trigger wire, if it looks bad verify your connections and I'd it continues to look bad it probably is, find a donor and try again or do the GM ignitor mod since that GM ignitor probably wo t go out of production untill they ban ICE.

 

So many typo GL