I have another problem, please help!

[quickjagg]

when I tried to start my 81 up I found that it has no fire... all of the connectors that go to the distributor are hooked up, except for one, it is labeled "Tach" the wire has vanished, would this cause the car to not fire? where in the engine bay would I start looking for the wire, knowing where it comes from would be a BIG help.

Thanks for any help you can give!

-Chris

 

[silver 80]

if it's anything like my 80 I think it's either red or white? it has two connectors one for the tach and I couldn't tell you what the other one is for. might try looking at the rear of the dist, I think that it goes into the big wire loom.
do you get any power?
also if you were tinkering aound there is a big square connector on the pass side firewall it might have been bumped and seperated, or just gunked up. take it apart and try reconnecting.

 

[quickjagg]

yea that's how it's set up, but the wire for the tach is MIA, we've checked the wire loom that the red one comes out of, which fits into the spot on the dist. labled "bat" the car turns over, and all the lights work so I have power, there just isn't any fire. would the tach wire being missing cause this? I just want to at least get it started I don't mind if the tach doesn't work for now.

Thanks for any help!

-Chris

 

[MaineShark]

At least in my '79, the tach wire just goes straight from the distributor to the tach. Nothing that could cause a no-fire condition.

Not sure about your car. I would suggest looking through the wiring diagram.

Joe

 

[silver 80]

here is what the manual is saying for a no start
no spark- check voltage at dist "BAT" terminal while cranking. 7 volts or more with ign "on" check"tach".
tell you what give me a call or I can call you and I'll just read it for you I still tpye with two fingers.

 

[quickjagg]

ok we think we found the problem, the engines timing is off, so I'm going to pull the front apart again ::sigh:: I'm tooo anxious to hear this thing fire up with those open headers, I hate when things don't go as planned.

Thanks for all the help guys!

-Chris

 

[MaineShark]

Check and make sure the distributor is aligned correctly, while you're at it. If not, the timing will be pretty hard to set...

Why would you have to pull the front of the engine apart to set the timing? I can see my timing marks with the covers all in place...

Joe

 

[quickjagg]

well my uncle came over yesterday and said that the timing was on the money, but couldn't figure out why there wasn't any spark. I removed all of the smog stuff, so would the computer cause this to happen? I really need to get her running, I can't start working until I do (it's my only car) We're going to bring the distributor down to one of my other uncles who can test them, and see if anything is wrong with it. unless you guys have any other suggestions that I could try before my dad gets home.\

oh and the reason why we need to pull the front of the engine apart is because we replaced the timing gear and chaing, and my dad things that the cam and crank are out of time which requires us to pull all of that stuff apart.

Thanks again for the help!

-Chris

 

[quickjagg]

I fixed the problem, and WOW! she makes a lot of noise with just headers on =)
I discounected the computer from the dist/ and she fired right up.

Thanks for all the help!

-Chris

 

[MaineShark]

Great!

It didn't seem likely to me that a timing problem (particularly a cam timing problem) would cause a lack of spark. That had to be electrical.

Is your computer just broken? Or is there some wire that isn't connected to the computer, which it needs?

Joe

 

[Copdogcorvettes]

I know you got it fired up, but do you still have a problem with the tach. 80 vettes have a filter for the tach. The wire from the dist goes to the filter, a small graycondenser looking thing. It is normal clamped to the intake near the dist somewhere. Be careful with the filter, they cost around $75.

 

[quickjagg]

The problem with the computer (I think) is that since I had none of the emissions things attached to the computer it thought there was a problem or something so it wouldn't give the dist. any spark. by disconecting it from the dist the car fired right up.

as far as the tach goes, I finaly found the wires, I wish you had seaid something like that earlyer copdog, my dad didn't label that filter before he discounected the wires from it, so we had it pretty much attached to itself, rather than to the tach. I have it attached now and the tach works fine.

Thanks again for all the help.

-Chris

 

[Copdogcorvettes]

Glad to be of help. I just found this site a few days ago and am still going through it as I can. My first vette was an 80. I love it dearly until a 4X4 took the front end off of it. I parted it out last year, so I learned a lot about where everything is. Well anyway good luck with the project.