Hello Friends,

I'm having problems starting my baja beetle. I'm positive i have fuel but I'm not sure if i have a spark. I have electronic points and was wondering if anyone knows how to identify where i'm losing the spark. Anyone know any tests that pinpoint the coil as faulty, or the leads, or dizzy, or gen etc.

Any info would help,

Regards,

Nick.

Remove the plugs (you might as well remove all of then as you are going to be cranking the eng but don't want it to fire up while you diagnose & it will be easier for the battery.) Connect the HT leads to the plugs which will have to be earthed-I use a wire with 2 croc clips direct to the battery & crank the eng & look for a spark across the electrodes of each of the plugs in turn. If there are 4 working arcs, then your ign is OK. If not ie all are dead, then go back to the dist. Remove the HT from the central terminal of the dist & hold it about 5mm from your earth connection & crank the eng. (BTW, you CAN get a bit of a shock- I avoid this by using a glove that I have connected via another wire & 2 croc clips back to earth. That way if you get a HT charge on you it is earthed via the car & not thru you-it's not dangerous- I once saw an RACV roadie test for a spark by holding the lead & feeling the shock- masochist!) If you now get arcing, your sparks are being lost in the dist cap- look for cracks or an unserviceable rotor button. No sparks- then it's time to check the "make & break" action of the points & the coil. Is there LT going into the coil? Use a simple test lamp device to check. If not then your ign sw circuit could be faulty. If yes, is there LT on the other side of the coil. If not, the coil LT may be faulty. If yes, is there LT coming out of the dist intermittently as you crank the eng? If not then the points are faulty. If yes, the HT side of the coil is the culprit.
Good hunting!!!

Hello geodon,
Thank you for your time and information. This might sound stupid but I just need to know what HT and LT stand for.

Thanks,

Nick.

Follow geodon's approach and you won't go wrong. HT is High Tension (High Voltage) and LT is Low Tension. The HT wires are the thick wires to the plugs from the distributor, and one from the coil to the centre of the distributor. The LT wires are much thinner.