HELP! - Replaced Coil + ICM = No Spark Now

[TurboJunky]

Recently I was losing cylinders while driving but it was only intermittent. The other day I lost #3 and #6 which indicates a bad Ignition Control Module. I limped home on 4 cylinders and promptly went to Auto Zone and bought a new coil pack and ICM. Now all 6 are dead and I have completely no spark. I double, triple and quadruple checked to make sure I wired up the ICM to the coil pack properly. I even paid a visit to a buddy's to look at his T to make sure mine was wired up exactly like his and it is. I thought I'd put the original coil pack and ICM back on to see if I could at least get spark on 4 cylinders but NOPE....nothing.

I've always been very fortunate with all my turbo Buicks and have rarely had to work on them so I'm not that familiar with the technical aspect of these cars.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Faulty crank sensor=no spark/ start.
Check the sensor to see if it's hitting the reluctor wheel...

 

[83ttypecooled]

Hi,
Crank sensor failure is good advice.I can't help thinking that you have connector issues though. By your description of the issue,it does seem pretty wierd that you lost all spark that way. I think you are doing an admirable job of diagnosis, so keep up the good work! Do you have access to a graphing multimeter? It would help a lot in these circumstances. A picture of the inputs into the module would help. Good luck!

 

[TurboJunky]

I don't even know what a graphing multimeter is let alone getting access to one

I'll snap some digital photos of everything tomorrow and post'em. I'm whipped for the night.

I thought it odd that I lost all spark myself during this minor repair....

 

[83ttypecooled]

Hi,
Sorry that you don't have access to a scope, or a version of one. I use mine regularly to pin down nasty problems like this. You can look at the function of the inputs ,like crank and cam sensors, and really see how they work.All that aside, I know you are dealing with a simple issue. Keep pluggin' at it!

 

[Rodney87GN]

Check to see if the CCCI fuse is blown.

 

[TurboJunky]

Check to see if the CCCI fuse is blown.

I was wondering if a fuse could have popped. Where's this CCCI fuse?

 

[Rodney87GN]

It's in the fuse panel marked 'CCCI' with all the other fuses. When my coil/ign module went bad it blew the fuse first. Put in a new fuse but was misfiring really bad and running on 4 cylinders.

 

[SloGN]

i'm banking on it's a bad ICM i went thru this issue with advance auto.




Magnavox is no longer supporting the build of our stock ignition modules. So meaning that you will have to get a another manufacture to build them. (wells,standard, gp-soreson) My stock ICM has been replaced 2 times with a gm unit. When the last one went out. I tried to get a new one from gm and they told me about that magnavox discontinued making the ICM's .

So i went to Advance auto and bought a GP sorenson unit and it would not even fire up the car. so i swapped it out and it would not work also.

so i had them order 3 more and i proceeded to check all of the in the store with a casper's tester and out of the five only one would spark and it was a weak spark.

So i just done the deed and built a delco type II and the car runs better and the hotter spark allowed me to run the car a tad bit leaner @ cruise speed without any hick-ups/fish nibble.

Also gm used to sells a change over bracket for the gn to have a bolt in swap. i think it was like 15 bucks last time i checked.



87-90 3.8 FWD car use the 3X from 91-up they use the 18x fast start ICM .

 

[TurboJunky]

It's in the fuse panel marked 'CCCI' with all the other fuses. When my coil/ign module went bad it blew the fuse first. Put in a new fuse but was misfiring really bad and running on 4 cylinders.

THAT WAS IT!!!

A stupid 10 amp CCCI (?) fuse in the fuse box. Thanks a MILLION!!

 

[Rodney87GN]

THAT WAS IT!!!

A stupid 10 amp CCCI (?) fuse in the fuse box. Thanks a MILLION!!

Glad to help out...good thing it's a cheap and easy fix!

 

[lt70turbo]

Slo GN what parts and where to find them would be needed to go to a type11 set up thanks. Can you post some pic of what your set up looks like thanks.