88 Ford ranger no spark off distributor
#26
12-01-2021
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From: Heber city
With the spark tester coming off the coil and the jumper wire to the coil, It will spark one time as I hook the jumper wire to the positive terminal. Is this sounding like a ground problem?? It's sparking every once in a while when I turn the key with or without the jumper wire connected.
#27
12-01-2021
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From: Heber city
Ring gear is on a Flywheel(manual trans) or Flexplate(automatic)
Its the gear the starter motor turns to crank the engine over
An ignition coil sparks when it's GROUND is cut off, "-" terminal
In the bad ol' days the distributor had a shaft with bumps(lobes) on it, 6 lobes for a 6 cylinder
And it had POINTS mounted inside the distributor next to the spinning lobes
The points were hooked to vehicle ground and to Coil "-"
Each time a lobe PUSHED OPEN the points the coil would spark, then between lobes, points are closed and coil is grounded so POWERS UP again for the next spark
So removing power(ground) from the coil causes it to spark, one time
You can do that manually to test any coil
Electronic ignitions took the points out of the picture since they always needed adjusting, points were a PITA
Yours(TFI electronic ignition) uses vane/window setup and a hall effect sensor instead of the points
6 cylinder will have 6 vanes and 6 windows that spin on the distributor shift, the Hall effect sensor will send a signal to the TFI module each time a vane passes by it, so its like the points
TFI module CUTS the ground to the coil at each signal, causing coil to spark, assuming it had 12volt on "+" terminal, then TFI module grounds the coil again
(this is what a tachometer signal is, tach was hooked to coil "-" terminal and "counted" the times coil's ground was cut, then divide that by number of cylinders....and you have the RPM)
Timing the distributor to the engine doesn't have anything to do with the spark pluses, if distributor is turning then you should have steady/consistent spark from the coil
Timing engine spark has to do with #1 getting spark at the right time, so firing order can be used
Its the gear the starter motor turns to crank the engine over
An ignition coil sparks when it's GROUND is cut off, "-" terminal
In the bad ol' days the distributor had a shaft with bumps(lobes) on it, 6 lobes for a 6 cylinder
And it had POINTS mounted inside the distributor next to the spinning lobes
The points were hooked to vehicle ground and to Coil "-"
Each time a lobe PUSHED OPEN the points the coil would spark, then between lobes, points are closed and coil is grounded so POWERS UP again for the next spark
So removing power(ground) from the coil causes it to spark, one time
You can do that manually to test any coil
Electronic ignitions took the points out of the picture since they always needed adjusting, points were a PITA
Yours(TFI electronic ignition) uses vane/window setup and a hall effect sensor instead of the points
6 cylinder will have 6 vanes and 6 windows that spin on the distributor shift, the Hall effect sensor will send a signal to the TFI module each time a vane passes by it, so its like the points
TFI module CUTS the ground to the coil at each signal, causing coil to spark, assuming it had 12volt on "+" terminal, then TFI module grounds the coil again
(this is what a tachometer signal is, tach was hooked to coil "-" terminal and "counted" the times coil's ground was cut, then divide that by number of cylinders....and you have the RPM)
Timing the distributor to the engine doesn't have anything to do with the spark pluses, if distributor is turning then you should have steady/consistent spark from the coil
Timing engine spark has to do with #1 getting spark at the right time, so firing order can be used
The tfi module is that the grey thing plugged into the base of my distributor??
#29
12-02-2021
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From: Heber city
Okay, I've replaced it twice since getting the truck a little more than a year ago lol. It probably wasn't causing my problem either time.
I had occasional spark this morning when I'd turn the key between off and on, with out cranking the motor.
. When I did crank it the coil sparked every now and then.
jumper wire to the coil primary. Coil sparked every time connected to battery positive. then it just stopped sparking, I had a multimeter on the primary Which said that it had 12 volts , so why no spark.
I would like to add additional ground connections how should I do that?
also I have a few spare "coils", could I do an out of vehicle test by giving it 12 volts and ground?? Or will the resistance testing be sufficient to verify that it is working properly???
I had occasional spark this morning when I'd turn the key between off and on, with out cranking the motor.
. When I did crank it the coil sparked every now and then.
jumper wire to the coil primary. Coil sparked every time connected to battery positive. then it just stopped sparking, I had a multimeter on the primary Which said that it had 12 volts , so why no spark.
I would like to add additional ground connections how should I do that?
also I have a few spare "coils", could I do an out of vehicle test by giving it 12 volts and ground?? Or will the resistance testing be sufficient to verify that it is working properly???
#30
12-02-2021
You don't seem to be moving in a direction here
If you had any spark then the Coil works, so tested and done
If its unreliable spark then TFI or its wiring
If you think TFI is not the issue then Hall effect sensor in distributor, or the vane/window it reads
There is TFI info here: https://www.therangerstation.com/tec...agnostic.shtml
Good to download and print, the test sheet from first link, then go thru the tests one at a time: https://www.therangerstation.com/tec..._worksheet.jpg
If you had any spark then the Coil works, so tested and done
If its unreliable spark then TFI or its wiring
If you think TFI is not the issue then Hall effect sensor in distributor, or the vane/window it reads
There is TFI info here: https://www.therangerstation.com/tec...agnostic.shtml
Good to download and print, the test sheet from first link, then go thru the tests one at a time: https://www.therangerstation.com/tec..._worksheet.jpg
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