My son has a 1984 Aries. He removed the factory feedback carb and replaced it with a non-feedback carb from a Pinto. Fired it up and it sat there and idled for a while, and then it started to sputter and died. Now it won't start and has no spark. Does the feedback carb also control the ignition some way?

He said there was no juice on the + side of the coil with the key on so I told him to hook a hot wire to directly to the coil temporarily to see if there was any spark, but still none..

Does anyone know exactly how this system works? Any help would be appreciated.

 

The positive side of the coil gets feed from the ignition switch. I don't know if switching the carb would kill the ignition, I don't see it, though. You may have to backtrack the feed circuit.

Can you check for troublecodes? Try cycling the ignition switch, three times, (on/off,on/off,on),--- by on, I mean turn the switch till the dash lites come on, don't crank. The check engine lite should start flashing, you count the flashes to get the codes. There is info all over the web about how to do this.

I could tell you that the computer pulses the negative side of the coil to induce a spark and uses a trigger signal from the distributor, but, you need to get B+ to the coil, first.

 

I wonder if there is someplace online where I could see a wiring schematic of the ignition system?

 

I think we're just going to ditch the whole electronic system on this one - we found some instructions on how to convert it to a simple points-type VW ignition - looks to me like it would make life simpler for him in the long run...

 

As far as diagrams, go to autozone.com, click on(vehicle repair guides) follow the links, there are some wiring diagrams.

 

Thanks, there is some useful information on that site how to troubleshoot the system - not easy to find anywhere else I've looked. Thanks again.