Lack Of Spark For An Ae71 Corolla.

[Ben-89]

Okay guys,

 

I hope you can help me out. I tried starting an ae71 automatic that has not been driven between 4-6 months. Now this is not my car so I don't know its history. Anyway, the owner said the car wont start because it had a flat battery so I brought my own as new century battery. I wired the battery up pumped the accelerator a bit and it was turning over as normal but it wouldnt fire..

 

So I pulled off the distributor cap and the contactors and rotor button had that white calcifaction build up on them, so I cleaned them up in the hope it would make the car start, but I was wrong. So one observation I made was that the points inside were closed after I continously hand cranked the motor. So the points were gapped enough to give a bigger spark when the cam was in movement. So I popped the rotor button back on and put the distributor cap on and tried starting the car again to which it didnt fire.

 

The car has half a tank of fuel in it and when the motor cranks petrol can be seen passing the fuel filter toward the carby. So its not fuel starved... So then I pulled off one ignition lead and put it up the motor and it was being cranked there was was the smallest spark that could barely be seen. So I thought it may be the points but the gap appeared to be satisfactory in order to make a spark.

 

So Paul a mate and rollaclub forum member came with me for second time, but this time we brought a coil as we thought the original nippondenso was may have been worn.... still the spark was very little and the motor didnt fire.

 

I am no expert when it comes to electricals so I would greatly appreciate any input from anyone with greater knowledge.

[Evan G]

Okay guys,

 

I hope you can help me out. I tried starting an ae71 automatic that has not been driven between 4-6 months. Now this is not my car so I don't know its history. Anyway, the owner said the car wont start because it had a flat battery so I brought my own as new century battery. I wired the battery up pumped the accelerator a bit and it was turning over as normal but it wouldnt fire..

 

So I pulled off the distributor cap and the contactors and rotor button had that white calcifaction build up on them, so I cleaned them up in the hope it would make the car start, but I was wrong. So one observation I made was that the points inside were closed after I continously hand cranked the motor. So the points were gapped enough to give a bigger spark when the cam was in movement. So I popped the rotor button back on and put the distributor cap on and tried starting the car again to which it didnt fire.

 

The car has half a tank of fuel in it and when the motor cranks petrol can be seen passing the fuel filter toward the carby. So its not fuel starved... So then I pulled off one ignition lead and put it up the motor and it was being cranked there was was the smallest spark that could barely be seen. So I thought it may be the points but the gap appeared to be satisfactory in order to make a spark.

 

So Paul a mate and rollaclub forum member came with me for second time, but this time we brought a coil as we thought the original nippondenso was may have been worn.... still the spark was very little and the motor didnt fire.

 

I am no expert when it comes to electricals so I would greatly appreciate any input from anyone with greater knowledge.

 

try setting the dwell, got a multimeter?

 

also the points gap needs to be set correctly or the coil wont have enough time to energise therefor giving a weak or no spark,

 

also when you change the point breaker gap your ignition timing also is throw out, so this also has to be reset

 

wheres the car? ill come down and have a look but don't wanna travel far with my dodgy fixed ke55

Edited December 3, 2009 by Evan G

[altezzaclub]

...and the condenser has a lot to do with a good spark.

 

If you change the coil swap the condenser as well.

[930LLO]

Yeah I don't know much about electrics but this sounds like the problem I had with a honda accord it ended up being the distributor was stuffed a second hand one fixed it up so maybe give that a go?

[Ben-89]

Thanks for the prompt replys guys, this car is 25km away from my place so I brought the bare essentials - less the multimeter and I didnt consider any other the other points raised by you guys. Now I have some info to work with.