The older stuff is certainly easier to work on..... But, up here in the rust belt, the older stuff has long ago gone the way of the scrapyard......

 

Is there a easy way to test for spark? I know on motorcycles we always just pull the plug put it in the boot and put it to the cylinder and kick it. Picking truck up tomorrow and just trying to troubleshoot it quick to get parts to throw on for the weekend.

 

One trick I learned many, many years ago works, but I don't recommend it. You can pull the plug wire off and stick your tongue into the end and crank the engine. With the advent of electronic ignition though, that will knock you into the next county.

I've got a couple of testers I've picked up over the years. One, you unplug the wire and plug it into the tester and plug the tester onto the plug. Another you hold against the wire while it's running and watch for the flash.

The way I usually test, and I think is both the easiest and what you most likely will have is a timing light. Two clamps for the battery and sensor for the plug wire. You can move it around from wire to wire to see if you have spark and if that spark is even across the cylinders. If you don't already have a timing light, you need to get one. They aren't something you use very often, but when you need one, you need it now.

 

It's a forgotten tool by today's standards but definitely a useful one if you have a distributor. You can usually find one on craigs list for cheap.

 

I will usually just take a spare plug I have layin' about, for just such an occasion, stuff it in the plug wire in question, ground it on the motor, and give it a crank. See what I get.

 

I still like the mental vision of someone testing with their tongue like on a 1920's car, only with electronic ignition. BAM!

On the other hand, I wonder what grounding to the block will do to the computer. Probably nothing, but computers tend to be picky at times.

 

The spark plugs that actually fire the cylinders ground thru the block in any event. So, no real difference there. Firing in air is easier than firing in a cylinder full of compressed gases though. Should see a nice fat, blue spark.

 

You can always pull coil wire from coil and check for spark there first.

Doesn't prove spark is making it thru dist but if there's no spark at coil, no need to go beyond that point anyhow.

The coil couldn't be easier to get to....

 

Not getting fuel to plugs. New pump is in my truck now. Gonna drop the tank and see what happens. It tried to idle a few seconds on a little bit of starting fluid. Gonna drop the tank this afternoon hopefully

 

I'd swap the a/c and fuel pump relays first. It's costs nothing an takes 5 minutes or less.