Gremlin...May be easy for some...

[magwakeenercew2jh]

The truck ran fine in the driveway on a new 3-week old build until yesterday.

Started with a "breath" on the key.

This morning, there was =no spark at the plugs. Turned over, and over and over. Plenty of gas in the carb. Not even a "pop"! With the key on, there's constant voltage at the HEI plug.
And there's power at all spots I checked from the fuse box out to the HEI. I didn't measure the voltage.

Yesterday, I had a horn problem....And, with the help of Forum Members, fixed that...It was a problem at the horn ring.
I re-pulled the wheel and checked all the stuff I did yesterday, looking for any possible connection to this problem.

Main question(s), aside from looking for a couple of , "Hey, Magwa, check this....", is if there's power at the distributor plug, and no spark at the plugs,
could it be anything else but the distributor?

Earlier shot:

If no, what if I pull the top part (coil, I guess) and replace that? Does that make any sense. Is there a reason it would fail from perfect to no-go overnight?

[cleszkie]

Pull a spark plug, connect the plug wire to it and touch the plug electrode to a grounded surface while a friend cranks the engine or you crank it with a remore starter switch. If you see a spark, your distributor is likely not the problem unless it rotated and lost the initial timing adjustment. If you don't see a spark, chances are your ignition module has died and needs to be replaced. Make sure you are running a full 12 volts to the HEI. if you are splicing into the original resistor wire that was used to power the points dizzy, you will be getting less than 12 volts and this can cause module failure. Good luck.

[truckster]

X2 on the module. If there's no spark and you have 12v at the distributor, that's likely the cause.

[VA72C10]

X3 on module...this is a reminder for me to buy an extra and keep it in the glovebox...
Posted via Mobile Device

[lowrollin70gmc]

If you have the coil off check for resistance with a multimeter between the positive and negative wires. If there is resistance, you're good. If there is none or infinite, you need a new one.

I've fried two in the last two months, but both were running failures.

The tach also won't read while cranking if the coil's bad.

[magwakeenercew2jh]

Okay. The grandkid gets off the High School bus at 3:30. So, even though the headers make it a PIA to get a plug out (I was going to see if just the the wire with a nice sized bolt making contact
inside the boot shorted against the head, but cleszkie convinced me that the plug had to come out to get a *real* spark-or.... no spark). So, I did.

Set it up, went to the bus and picked him up. Explained the procedure and that he needed to shut down IMMEDIATELY when I raised 4 fngers over the hood. And that hbe was NOT to use the
accelerator during this test. Got a pair of needle nose pliers. Grabbed the plug boot. Put the electrode up against the head. Yelled "Okay, Will!"

F%$#ing thing fired off on seven...like RIGHT NOW. I pulled back. Touched my test rig to the inner fender and my wrist...at the same time. Will was watching for the fingers.
But he saw me go down and made an executive decision to come off of the key....

Never was there a happier fat man laying on the gravel just being wrong. I guess since I had been chasing electrical gremlins in the cab, and the fact that I WAS getting gas to the
carb made this dumb old wrench forget the symptoms of a big, nasty river of flooding.

Thanks, guys for the help.

I'm still going to check to make sure I have a full 12V + at the HEI.
And, I'm going to get an extra module for the glove box.

All's well that ends well.

And, when I was done, I checked at the front door. The UPS Man brought me my M & H Under Dash Wiring Harness....Yay!!!!

[ERASER5]

Glad you didn't get hurt. I must admit, you made me smile.

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by ERASER5

Glad you didn't get hurt. I must admit, you made me smile.

x2

[PanelDeland]

That spark usually wont hurt you.You'll hurt yourself getting away from it though.
Glad you could get up.

[Lemield]

Originally Posted by magwakeenercew2jh

Okay. The grandkid gets off the High School bus at 3:30. So, even though the headers make it a PIA to get a plug out (I was going to see if just the the wire with a nice sized bolt making contact
inside the boot shorted against the head, but cleszkie convinced me that the plug had to come out to get a *real* spark-or.... no spark). So, I did.

Set it up, went to the bus and picked him up. Explained the procedure and that he needed to shut down IMMEDIATELY when I raised 4 fngers over the hood. And that hbe was NOT to use the
accelerator during this test. Got a pair of needle nose pliers. Grabbed the plug boot. Put the electrode up against the head. Yelled "Okay, Will!"

F%$#ing thing fired off on seven...like RIGHT NOW. I pulled back. Touched my test rig to the inner fender and my wrist...at the same time. Will was watching for the fingers.
But he saw me go down and made an executive decision to come off of the key....

Never was there a happier fat man laying on the gravel just being wrong. I guess since I had been chasing electrical gremlins in the cab, and the fact that I WAS getting gas to the
carb made this dumb old wrench forget the symptoms of a big, nasty river of flooding.

Thanks, guys for the help.

I'm still going to check to make sure I have a full 12V + at the HEI.
And, I'm going to get an extra module for the glove box.

All's well that ends well.

And, when I was done, I checked at the front door. The UPS Man brought me my M & H Under Dash Wiring Harness....Yay!!!!

Ok....I want to know how you got a hold of a picture of me and my brother????

My co-worker and I have been using those guy's picture for some time now...I actually had the guy on the right as my picture in our company namefinder (until my boss told me to stop messing around and act like a professional)

[truckster]

HEI definitely lets you know when you've gotten too close!

[Boog]

Originally Posted by magwakeenercew2jh

Okay. The grandkid gets off the High School bus at 3:30. So, even though the headers make it a PIA to get a plug out (I was going to see if just the the wire with a nice sized bolt making contact
inside the boot shorted against the head, but cleszkie convinced me that the plug had to come out to get a *real* spark-or.... no spark). So, I did.

Set it up, went to the bus and picked him up. Explained the procedure and that he needed to shut down IMMEDIATELY when I raised 4 fngers over the hood. And that hbe was NOT to use the
accelerator during this test. Got a pair of needle nose pliers. Grabbed the plug boot. Put the electrode up against the head. Yelled "Okay, Will!"

F%$#ing thing fired off on seven...like RIGHT NOW. I pulled back. Touched my test rig to the inner fender and my wrist...at the same time. Will was watching for the fingers.
But he saw me go down and made an executive decision to come off of the key....

Never was there a happier fat man laying on the gravel just being wrong. I guess since I had been chasing electrical gremlins in the cab, and the fact that I WAS getting gas to the
carb made this dumb old wrench forget the symptoms of a big, nasty river of flooding.

Thanks, guys for the help.

I'm still going to check to make sure I have a full 12V + at the HEI.
And, I'm going to get an extra module for the glove box.

All's well that ends well.

And, when I was done, I checked at the front door. The UPS Man brought me my M & H Under Dash Wiring Harness....Yay!!!!

OMG. Magwa. That is funny shtuff right there. It reminds me of the story of the guy who bought the taser and tried it out on himself. How bad can a little 9 volt battery be, right? So funny!
Not to laugh at your pain but to visualize this happening. Thank you. I've been bit more than a few times by HEI over the years too.