It has fire from coil to end of coil wire but nothing through the distributor

Tiny
KEVIN8322
  • MEMBER
  • 1997 DODGE RAM
  • 5.9L
  • V8
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 220,000 MILES
My truck listed above is a 1500. I have changed cap, rotor, plug wires, crankshaft sensor, checked grounds. I ran when parked it was my daily. Parked it went to drive it and nothing. Any ideas? Thanks
Thursday, June 3rd, 2021 AT 4:32 AM

3 Replies

Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
Just checking to make sure I understand. You are pulling the wire off the cap from the coil and you have spark at the cap? Take a look at the attached for detail on this.

If this is the case that you have spark at the cap but nothing coming out of the spark plug wires then we need to make sure the spark from the coil is a strong spark and blue in color. If it is not then you don't have a secondary side spark and that is just a 12 volt spark and that is not enough to fire the engine. In other words, a weak spark and the coil is the issue.

if it is blue in color then we need remove the cap and crank the engine and make sure the rotor is spinning when you crank the engine.

If you have blue spark at the cap and nothing at the plug wire then I suspect the the rotor is not spinning or there is an issue with the housing of the distributor. You may have to remove it and try to spin the shaft of the distributor and it should spin easily.

https://youtu.be/dCjmRL3p4Cs

Let's start with this info and go from there. Thanks
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Thursday, June 3rd, 2021 AT 8:15 AM
Tiny
KEVIN8322
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  • 2 POSTS
Yes, that about sums it up. But I will check the strength of the spark from coil wire again to see if it's blue and strong. So far I have replaced crankshaft sensor, distributor cap, rotor button, plug wires and plugs and the distributor pickup module. Could it be my PCM or something in that direction?
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Thursday, June 3rd, 2021 AT 12:37 PM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
Yes. It can be the PCM but that is why we need to confirm the strength of the spark.

If you have a weak spark then the PCM may not commanding the coil to fire which means it is not grounding it for the coil to create the voltage spike which creates the high voltage and makes the spark blue.

Based on everything you have replaced, I would assume that is the direction we are going to go. As long as it is not something crazy like the rotor is not spinning to deliver the spark.
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Thursday, June 3rd, 2021 AT 7:12 PM

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