I put in my igniter not too long ago and it grounded on the body(frayed wire) and blew the fusible link. Van had some lights, but would not start and some lights were out. Check the fusible link behind the battery-it's an easy check.
I put in my igniter not too long ago and it grounded on the body(frayed wire) and blew the fusible link. Van had some lights, but would not start and some lights were out. Check the fusible link behind the battery-it's an easy check.
There's very little left it could be. We're now getting into the "unusual" area. Perhaps a pick-up coil in the distributor? A broken wire somewhere? I think it's time to swap in another distributor........maybe an ECU? Tim
Re: No Spark!
My wife will be glad to see the toaster go. The van not me. lol I doubt shipping is cheap so maybe we could look into other options. Here's a thought. I've already decided that my next van will be an 87-89 4wd manual. If there's one that pops up in your neck of the woods I'd buy it if you could take receipt of it for me. I'd pay you for picking it up and going over it. Any work you think it needs would also be covered by me. Whenever you have the time of course. I'm in no hurry. Having just bought a house I see this being more than a year out before I'd be able to get up there. If I get another van before I get the kitchen remodel done I just might be single again. Once the stars align I would pack my wife and some climbing gear in the toaster and take a trip to Squamish or Smith rock. In route I drop off my van to you and pick up the 4wd. I know this is a crazy idea coming through the internet having never met in person. I'm an honest, no BS, kind of guy. All money would be paid upfront on my end. If you would to talk about it more feel free to PM me and I'll give you my email and phone number.Originally Posted by timsrv
Lol, That's more generous than a simple igniter. I can't wait! Of course there's my wife to consider, I doubt free is cheap enough for her blessing on another van. Tim
OP sorry for the thread drift and best of luck tracking down where that failure point is. I like Tim's idea of replacing the entire distributor. Here's another story about those.
Back in the day I owned an 77 F250. It was a beast of a truck. The 400M motor was working really well with the new intake manifold and carb I installed. It worked even better after I "converted" it to straight pipes. It had 6 inches of suspension and 3 inches of body lift added by me as well. That truck could spin it's 38" tires going into 3rd and never got stuck off roading. One day I was puling out of a store and onto a one way street. A semi was about a 1/4 of a mile down the road. No worries for this truck. I pulled out and romped through first and second. Shifted into third hard and the motor shut off. Yep it shut the hell off. Oh Crap. I darted over the curb back into the parking lot as a really pissed off truck driver flipped me off as he passed. I deserved every bit of that bird.
Any way, with a failure like that it surely means a snapped the timing chain. So I call a buddy who lives a few miles away and happens to be a mechanic. He picks up his tools and some beer and heads my way. We do some testing and realize it's not the chain. After removing the distributor cap and cranking we both watched something very odd. The engine was turning but the distributor shaft was not moving. Problem solved. We pulled the shaft and it removed effortlessly. However the gear that mates it to the crankshaft wasn't at the end of the distributor shaft. lol We both saw where the scroll pin that holds it in place had sheared. Removing that thing was like playing the kids game Operation. What a PIA. Three beers later it finally came out undamaged.
I headed down the road to another friends machine shop. He specializes in racing motors. I told him the story and he knows the cause right away. According to him the factory oil pump couldn't keep up with the driving and pulled in some air causing a slight pause pause in the system. The weak link in that pause was the factory 2mm scroll pin that ford uses in the distributor. He took it to the drill press and bored it out to a 4mm Chevy size. Yep I know had a Chevy part in my Ford truck. We replaced the distributor and my truck roars back to life. The next weekend I replaced the factory oil pump with a high volume one and never had any issues again.
Well today was a good dayI let it sit for a couple weeks and didn't even think about the damn thing, I was actually starting to enjoy my beat up pathfinder haha. But I knew it wasn't right to let her sit anymore. So I go back over everything that has been replaced and find something that looks very odd. That igniter Tim loaned me appeared to be plugged into itself, I can't help but laugh because he actually warned me about plugging it in correctly as it's very easy to do, I feel pretty damn stupid. But I guess I learned a few things and its got a lot of new parts! Tim I'll send out your Igniter this week Thanks again for helping me out! Any BTW she fired right up and help a perfect idle after sitting a month!
Lol, you're not the 1st person to plug an igniter into itself(that's why I warned you about that)
. I gotta give you kudos for admitting it though (I probably would have kept that a secret)
. So was it the igniter after all? If so please don't send me the bad one
. Tim
I pondered the idea but I felt this was dumb enough that I had to share! I am going to test my old one tomorrow I also picked one up at a junk yard the other day! So one way or another you will have a working one back to you!.
Lol, just kidding around with sending me the bad one (I know you wouldn't do that). Glad to hear it's running. How 'bout them dancing bananas
Maybe you guys can help me with a similar problem. I wasn't getting spark so I replaced the distributer, coil, distributer cap, plugs, wires, rotor everything. I exchanged the ignitor. My van was running fine, then died and I am not getting spark again. ideas????
It's looking like I need to replace my igniter as well
I haven’t beenable to find anything at all online and the parts van I have is an‘84 model so the igniter is not compatible. I’m wondering ifanybody has any leads on an igniter that I could buy?! It would be alife saver I’d really hate to have that be the end of the van.
I’m guessing its avery long shot… but is there any reason to expect that anotherigniter could be swapped in as a replacement, or are the specs prettyspecific and another one could cause big trouble? Since its an NLApart and I know I’ not the first person having to search for one,I’m guessing the fact that I haven’t seen anything about it onthis site means it’s a no go.
Thanks everyone!
ive read about the 22re truck guys adapting gm style ignition modules...someone smarter than i should figure this out for our vans...
Hello Newbie -
I just lived through this nightmare on my 88 4x4, and FINALLY figured out the problem. The engine would turn over, but not start due to no spark - uggghhh!!!! I read (can't remember where), to check the ignition switch in the steering column. I purchased a new ignition switch (Rock Auto or Amazon) and removed the plastic cowling around the steering column. And there it was (I did not take pictures - sorry) a few fried wires from the ignition switch. It looked age related (worn out) not from a spontaneous short. I replaced the ignition switch and cleaned up the wires. The thing started right up. Like you, I thought it was my ignitor. I checked my fusable links, I checked fuses, spark plugs, spark plug wires, Dist cap, Dist with pick up coil, Coil, I checked everything I thought might be the problem - it drove me nuts!!! AND replaced all of these parts! I do not regret replacing all of the parts that I did as my ignition system seems pretty healthy now. The ignition switch is cheep too (like $30 on Amazon or Rock Auto). It's also easy to install. Anyway..., check it out. I hope this helps.
That'd be awesome, especially since I'm sure they are only getting rarer. I wish that I was the person smart enough to figure it out, but with my level of experience I'd just be asking for trouble!
good man my toyota van 86 does not have a spark I do not know if it is the dealer or the lighter I would like to do a bench test to rule out that they are not damaged but I do not know how to do it
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