Have '72 D-100 thats been sitting for a few years and want to get it running again. Can not get fire out of coil but I've got juice to the coil, the ballast, etc... I don't have a volt meter to check these items only a test light. I have changed out the coil, ECU, ballast, and even the entire distributer (all off running cars) with no luck. Is there something I am overlooking, could mice have chewed up something under the dash that could be a problem? Looking for any ideas or leads! Thanks!

take the brown solenoid wire off of the starter relay to(termporarily)disable the starter & see if you have fire to the coil positive primary terminal and to "point" of the ECU pentastar connector when you turn the key to start(ign2). Take off all wires from the coil negative primary terminal & w a jumper w alligator clips jump from there to ground repeatedly like morse code & w key on see if the large coil to dist secondary wire held 1/4" from ground is sparking. How far are you from Parsons, my home town?

I am in Pittsburg, Parsons used to be FULL a mopars!

Well I did what you told me and found this. Yes I have power to positive side of coil and "point of pentastar" on ECU in both ign. 1 and ing. 2. When I tried grounding the negative side of the coil I do have spark but it is very faint that I almost have to touch it to a ground to get spark. Does any of this point anywhere, any ideas on where to next????

When you repeatedly grounded the coil neg terminal like morse code you had to hold the coil secondary wire VERY close to ground to even get a spark, correct? Jump 12V from the batt positive to the upstream side of the ballast & see what you get for spark(key on) then repeat w 12V to the other side of the ballast & if you then have a better(blue) spark see if it will start & if not jump 12V to the point of the pentastar plus(the above) to the ballast & see if it will start.

Tried it and still no luck. With everything hooked up when I check the coil with a test light it shows power on the positve and the negative side with the key in the on position, but I checked this on 2 other cars and they only show power during starting and running on the negative side. Am I missing something?

Everything hooked back up with the test light on the coil neg primary terminal(& to ground), it's lit in "on" and in "start" & does it blink on & off when you crank it

No it did not blink like the cars I tested all it does is stay lit the whole time. By the way, thanks for helping me out with this!

Hey you're quite welcome. alright, this means the ECU is not grounding the coil primary circuit like it should. check that it (the ECU base) is grounded good

I took a working distributer out of another vehicle and installed it with the same results. Also tried 3 different ECU's and all acted the same however I installed them in the same manner as the old one so possibly could be a grounding problem?

We've just about got it, an "open" somewhere. double check the connections and the plug ins(& the ECU base)

During the process of elimination I also noticed both wires leading to magnetic pickup are also lighting up on the test light. The ECU is mounted on the drivers fender so could a bad firewall ground be the cause?

Went out and checked the firewall ground and guess what...you guessed it! Not there! Got one hooked and fired right up. Thank you very much for all the help! Now I just need to find out where it went as it ran when I parked it.

Thats good, one problem solved. Next time I go down there to visit my brother I'll give you a holler, might be awhile though, I owe him money