Trouble shooting ignition troubles

[Bill.Oakes]

Hi Gang,

I posted a message to the list but thought I'd post here too so it's documented. Couple things;

Car runs great then dies immediately - no sputtering, just dead, making me think ignition. Had this problem before, replace entire electronic distributor (from a ZX) and it's run great for almost two years. The PO converted it from points to electronic.

Think the PO cut some corners on the conversion, it still had the ballaster resistor so I followed Kyle's instruction on putting in a GM module (http://www.sonic.net/~kyle/gmhei.html).

Hooked it up, everything looked right, but still no spark.

Sooo....what's the best way to troubleshoot? I just bought a voltmeter but what other good ways are there? I've seen some guys pull wires and hold them close to plugs or contacts to watch for a spark. Good idea??

-Bill

[2ManyZs]

Holding on to a plug wire isn't too wise in my opinion, how do I know? I've been zapped a couple times by faulty plug wires and believe me it doesn't feel the greatest.

From what you say I think I'd be looking at the coil or wiring to or from the coil. Never had any experience with the GM conversion so I'll leave that to someone who has done that.