ej1995

Main relay will cut fuel, not spark. If you can hear your pump prime, main relay is working.

cardana24

Just an update, it's still not running.

I pulled the main relay, and re soldered the joints, then I put it back in and verified it was clicking and I could hear the fuel pump prime. I checked all of the fuses again, and I also check a ground that is on the thermostat housing that seems to be critical to the car running. Anyway, I am still getting the same weak orange spark. I think it's time to punt and order a distributor, plugs and wires and see what that does. I will post back once I get the parts in. Any more additional advice is welcome.

Fabrik8

I think the distributor is a good idea. You've bought yourself some time by reflowing the relay though, that's always a failure waiting to happen with those cars.
The plugs and wires won't be the problem, but this is the best time to replace them and know that everything is in good working order.

cardana24

I ordered the distributor from rock auto since it was $100 cheaper than getting it a local chain store and it should be here in 2-3 days. I good the plugs and wires just because the distributor will be new and I figured why not. Plus the wires and plugs that are in the car are off brand stuff, and I bought NGK wires and plugs since that is what I have always had the best luck with in Japanese stuff.

89 cRiX Si

Im confident that the distributor will solve your problem. Good luck

cardana24

replaced the distributor, plugs and wires....same problem What now? Where is the ground for the distributor wiring?

89 cRiX Si

Shit man... thats odd. Sorry to give you false advice. have you checked all your fuses?

cardana24

I have not checked the fuses since I installed the distributor (also when I checked them before I only checked them visually, I did not check for continuity or anything like that) . I put everything in, in about 10 minutes just before it got dark yesterday. Once it did not start I did not feel like setting up lights and working on it any longer. The only thing I know I did not do by the book was disconnect the battery before replacing the distributor, so during the whole process of removing the old one and hooking up the new one the battery was connected. Could I have blown a fuse in the process, if so which one/s is likely?

When I installed the distributor this is how I did it, please correct me if I did something wrong. Before I removed the old one I turned the engine until cylinder 1 was a tdc and the rotor button was pointing towards #1 on the dis. cap. Then I removed it. The Cardone replacement distributor that I got looked like it was already set in the same position, but I took the dis. cap off to verify and the rotor button was pointing towards the #1 position on the cap...so I put the cap back on and installed it. I had already changed the plugs and wires before I did the dis., so after the dis. change I tried to start the car...it would just crank over and not attempt to start. So I put my inline spark tester on it again and I was getting a red/orange spark in the viewing window.

Any advice? I'm open to ideas.

cardana24

searching on google

I found a thread about a guy with an old Camaro that replaced a distributor because of weak spark, and he was still getting weak spark and the car would not start. It turned out his starter was the cause, it seemed to be loosing too much voltage when trying to crank and it was affecting the spark.

I did replace my starter about six months ago with a cheapo advance auto one, and when I first installed it I spun the engine much faster than my old starter, but as the months have passed it has slowed down considerably. I thought that maybe my battery was going so I had it tested and it passed with flying colors along with the alternator. So that was probably 2 months ago now. The car has always started for me, it would just turn over much slower. But then again the day the car died it died after the car started for a second or two...so maybe the starter is fine....just thinking out loud

ej1995

See how much voltage you have AT the coil