I know, I know, there are a ton of threads on this subject. I’m just tired of trudging through them and not finding help. Here’s my situation:

Truck was running fine but leaking oil from around the pan. Things happened and the truck got parked for about 6 months. My son and I finally got around to fixing the leak and everything went well. When we went to start it, it needed to be jumped off. When we jumped it, it started right up and ran until we unhooked the jumper cables. As soon as we unhooked a cable it died (yes, I’m thinking alternator). Hooked the jumper cables back up and started it, let it run for a minute and when I unhooked the jumper cables again, it tried to die. I quickly hooked the cable back up to keep it running. When I did, it stumbled for a second and died. Then wouldn’t crank at all. After attempting to troubleshoot we found the alternator smoking when jumper cables were hooked up. Changed the alternator and still no spark. What could we have burnt up by disconnecting and reconnecting those jumper cables to quickly? Replaced the coil and it didn’t help. Don’t want to just throw money at it, I want to properly troubleshoot it.

 

Check all fuses.
Does the coil have power to it with key on?
Does the check engine light light up with key on, engine off?
Inspect plug at distributor?
I doubt you burned anything up component wise but you never know. The hardest part to test is the igniter, if you know anyone that has a spare with the same part number you could swap for testing purposes to rule this out. DO NOT buy an aftermarket igniter as they are complete junk.

 

All fuses checked good.
yes, coil has power.
no check engine light and haven’t tried to pull any codes.
plug at distributor looks good.

I do have another truck to look into the Ignitor, I’ll try that.

what’s the odds the distributor has taken a dump?

 

Easy to check. Clip your timing light's inductive pickup to each plug wire, including the center one from the coil. If the light flashes while cranking, distributor, ignitor, and coil are good. No flash from the coil wire, coil or ignitor are bad. If there's a good flash on the center wire, but no flash on one or more wires, bad distributor cap and/or rotor.

You might want to check the air gap on the sensor inside the distributor. Pretty important. .008" - .016"

Hope that's some small help.
Pat☺

 

No spark on the coil wire. Changed the coil and that didn’t fix it. Have I narrowed this down to the Ignitor?

 

Either the igniter, or one of it's inputs.



If the igniter, coil, and/or distributor all ohm out good, then it could well be a broken wire, or the ECU is bad.

Did you get the battery load tested? Dead battery, no spark. If the Fusible link between the battery and engine compartment fuse block, or the one between the alternator and battery smoke checked, no spark. The Battery is an integral part of the ignition. The battery input to the system enters at the junction marked E24, through the ignition switch.

When all this started, you had to jumper the battery to get it to start, and when you pulled the jumpers off, it died. To me, that screams dead battery. Or alternator, which you replaced. That leaves the battery, although after you let the magic smoke out of the system, if could be either of the fusible links. I would take the battery to a store,and ask them to load test it. If it's OK, and just needs to be charged, fine, check the two fusible links. They should both have nearly 0 ohms along their entire length. One goes from the battery to fuse block, the other from the heavy bolt, labeled terminal B on the alternator, to the fuse block. They must both check OK, as must the "fusible links" in the fuse block itself. They call them fusible link, but they actually LOOK like fuses, just big ones. You can check them by pulling that portion of the fuse block up to get to the underside.

You may be chasing a problem in the wrong place. It might be the battery or fusible links, not the ignitor. Do you have power to say the head lights? How about the dash panel lights? You see what I mean? Without an input from the battery, there is no spark from the coil.

Hope this is some slight help...
Pat☺

 

yes, all that is helpful. I have checked the fuse links and all are good. I also have power to the headlights, etc. I know the battery is dead, that’s for sure. However, to start it I jump it to another truck that’s running and it turns over great but won’t start (no spark). I’ll pull the battery and get it tested just to make sure.

im really thinking at this point it’s a broken wire or the Ignitor.

 

Definitely check or replace the battery. Sounds like a shorted cell, maybe. Truck may not be getting enough OOMPH from the jumper to crank AND give a spark. Maybe I'm wrong. You may well be right. Check the inputs to the ignitor, though. If it's inputs are good, and no output, well....

Good luck!
Pat☺

 

Well, it is free to get a battery checked so, I’ll start there.

on the Ignitor, should I be getting a certain voltage on the inputs? Outputs?

 

So, my colors don’t match the colors in the pic so it makes it a little harder but…..I have 12 bolts on the yellow wire and the brown wire but nothing on the red or the white. Should I have something on those two wires? Should they be getting a signal from the ECU? How could I test if the signal is coming through?

 

If a new battery doesn't help try pulling your distributor cap and bump the starter to see if the distributor is actually rotating, might have popped the timing belt.
if it does go roundy round check the timing marks to see if it jumped time (not likely if you're sure there is no spark whatsoever).
make sure the #1 cylinder is at top dead center and see if the cam timing marks line up, if they don't turn the crank one full rotation back to TDC and check the cam marks again (TDC on the compression stroke is 180 degrees different from the exhaust stroke)