Hi guys. Any advice? I pulled the spark plugs and tested them against the side of the engine. They are old and rusted. They spark though. Warm yellow/orange color. Should they be blue sparks?
I went ahead and replaced plugs and wires (it needed them) and retested. Same color spark.
I have fuel at the fuel rail and the starter seems to be spinning the engine quickly.
I really don’t hear any chugging or attempts to start though. It sounds like no spark-despite the spark test showing spark at ambient conditions.
Weak coil?

 

Are you getting injector pulse? Might put a little gas in the intake, and give it a crank, see if it fires.

 

I opened the air filter housing and I sprayed some starter fluid in there. No difference. Is that the same test as you were thinking?

 

Plugs and plug wires and it started but runs rough.
I’m guessing I should replace ignition coil next?

 

Cap and rotor.

 

Cap and rotor instead of ignition coil? Or both? Any way to test besides throwing parts at it?

 

I would start with cap and rotor. Those are maintenance items anyway. Coils don't fail often..... they do get weaker over time though.... but, these guys were pretty potent when new.

 

I will retract my former statement. They are $35 total for the cap and rotor. I'll replace all three for $85 or so out the door.

 

Just closing this out for future reference... It was the ignition coil getting weak on me. It's running like a champ now.

Thanks,
Matt

 

I may have claimed victory too early. Got it up on the highway and noticed it seemed to skip a beat every once in a while. Typically at low-accelerator positions, like maintaining speed. I didn’t notice it during accelerations or idle.

Where is the return on the secondary side of the coil? Does it go through the mounting holes on the inductor core? That’s would be weird but possible I guess. Should I make sure the mounting surface is clean (ie sand it down)?

I pulled a plug wire and spark tested it. Still getting an orange spark instead of blue. Is that relevant?