Could anyone help me with my distributor

[socalismylife]

I bought a 1984 318i that was running perfectly but when i bent the contacts on the distributor it wouldn't start. I tried bending them back, and even getting a new distributor, and it still won't start. I know it is because of that since it was running an hour before I touched it. I even bought a new distributor and it still won't start. I'm really stumped and would appreciate it greatly if someone could take a few hours out of their day and come help me. It shouldn't be hard for someone who knows anything about distributors but since I have coil packs on my s2000 i'm totally clueless. thanks.

Steven.

by the way I live on the border of silver spring, rockville, and olney.

[RRSperry]

IF your replaced the distributor, chances are you put it in wrong. Pull it out and find TDC on #1. Put the cam on the distributor pointing somewhere near the #1 wire location, and install the distributor. Set the point gap and dwell. Then see if it will start. Best bet is to ditch the points and convert to electronic ignition.

[John V]

Does an '84 318 have points? I highly doubt it. It has to have transistorized ignition. If that's the case, it should be simple to diagnose.

First simple check - pull out the #1 plug, connect it to the plug wire and ground it to the motor. Have someone crank the motor while you look for a spark. If no spark, check your coil connections and distributor connections.

If it does spark, get out your timing light (if you don't have one go buy one for $10 at autozone or sears) and have someone crank the engine while you put the timing light pickup on the #1 plug wire. Shoot the light down at the main crank pulley and look for the timing mark. The timing mark on the pulley should roughly line up with the one on the engine.

Even if the distributor was a tooth off, the car should run (although very poorly). It will at least fire. It sounds like yours isn't even firing, correct?

[socalismylife]

nope just cranking. no spark at all. and i did put it at tdc. it was the same w/ the old distributor when I had just a new rotor and wires.

[socalismylife]

...

[socalismylife]

? no one's willing to come and help?

[John V]

Most of us barely have time to work on our own cars. :(

It should be pretty simple to diagnose. What have you checked so far? Is the coil getting voltage? What "contacts" did you bend on the distributor? Did you put on a new cap and rotor when you did the distributor? Lots of things to check here, and most of them are easy.

[socalismylife]

well i checked voltage to the coil. good. also there is a new distributor, cap, rotor, and new wires. plugs also look to be in good shape. hm..... it just keeps on cranking. no spark

[John V]

I bought a 1984 318i that was running perfectly but when i bent the contacts on the distributor it wouldn't start.


What "contacts" did you bend on the distributor?

??

[socalismylife]

Well i got a new distributor so I'm not using that one anymore. I bent the tabs on the impulse generator but I think the real problem was I broke one of ends of the coil on the impulse generator. That's why I ended up getting a new one

[socalismylife]

by the way the car uses a Transistorized Coil Ignition w/ a Bosch Ignition Control unit separate from the fuel computer.

[John V]

Have you verified that the ignitor (I'm guessing this is the "impulse generator") is receiving power? Can you put an AMM (DMM might work, not sure) on the INPUT side of the coil and see if it's getting a pulse? Normally the coil input will see 12V and it will be pulsed to ground by the ignitor.

At least this would let you rule out the ignition controller and ignitor...

[socalismylife]

My multimeter is DMM. So you want me to put it on the two contacts going in and out of the impulse generator? From what I understand the signal is A/C.

[John V]

Hm, with a DMM you probably won't be able to see the pulses at the input of the coil.

Can you put your timing light's inductive pickup on the coil wire while you crank the motor and see if it is pulsing?

[socalismylife]

i can try that

[socalismylife]

ok so the coil tested good for resistance, but when i put a multimeter from ground to the positive side i get 12v, and from the neg side of the coil to the ground i get 12v too. is this normal?

[John V]

ok so the coil tested good for resistance, but when i put a multimeter from ground to the positive side i get 12v, and from the neg side of the coil to the ground i get 12v too. is this normal?

Yes... like I said, the coil will be pulsed to ground by the ignitor. It will read 12V. If you had an analog voltmeter you would see the firing pulses as blips on the needle, but a DMM has too much filtering for you to see this.

Did you put the timing light pickup on the coil output wire (the spark plug type wire to the distributor) and check to see if the coil is firing? If it's firing, the problem is in the distributor. If it's not, you can start checking the coil and ignitor circuits.

[socalismylife]

it wasn't at all when we put a light up to it. the coil tested good for resistance and I never touched any of its circuits. I also tested the control module and that seems to be working fine at the harness. don't know of the module's busted but I never touched that either. however i did stick the probes of the DMM into the harness and bent the contact a lil. hope that didn't do anything.

[John V]

Well, if you're not getting pulses out of the coil and the coil measures OK for resistance (plus coils rarely go bad), that leads me to believe that the ignitor circuit is bad.

[socalismylife]

well the module is getting a signal from the impulse generator so i think it must be the module. however, I never even touched that till yesterday! well i guess i'll try to pick one up used

[socalismylife]

could it be from the fact that I'm using a 320i distributor? The manufacturer says they have the same part number for both since 79-83 320i's have the same ignition system. Does that mean I could just get the 320i control module? that's only $24 compared to $95 for the 318i module

[socalismylife]

finally got it running. stupid ignition control module. lol. funny how I never touched it. Well anywho I got it from Crazy Ray's for $5.25. hahahhaha a whole year's worries solved w/ $10 including gas

[socalismylife]

by the way how many posts do I have to have to post pictures in a for sale thread? need to sell this bfore I go back to college since I have no place to put it

[x68monkeyx]

did you change the distributor rotor?