Howdy all
This past week I've had a bit of trouble on several different things that stemmed from my Dakota's battery coming off its base, bouncing around under the hood, and emptying its fluid. I've cleaned off everything, got a new battery, and fixed a couple things (wires jarred loose, etc). Since then, everything has run fine the past few days until last night I tried to start my truck, and it turned over, but just wouldn't catch. I checked a spark plug, and there's no spark when turning over the ignition. Anyone have any ideas? I'll check the distributor (and rotor) tomorrow, but some friends think it might be a coil issue, or much worse. Does it matter which plug I check to see if it gets spark? I just checked the closest and easiest to reach, so I don't know if it makes a difference if it's the "number one" cylinder coming from the distributor...
This sounds like it might be a rather common problem, and I'm hoping it has nothing to do with the battery fiasco of last week, but I don't know. If no one has any suggestions, is there at least a place online I can look that's similar to the info I'd find in a Hayes or Chilton? I don't want to buy ANOTHER Hayes...
thanks in advance
nico h

 

How did you check for spark? It shouldn't matter which plug you use, but it never hurts to check a second (different) plug if you get no results from the first one. I'd definately start looking at your coil. Check all the wire connections and make sure the coil wire is snapped on tight (on coil and cap). Are you throwing and "Check Engine" lights?