need help with 1984 mustang 5.0

[Tri-Z Pilot]

Hey, Tri-Z Pilot here, havent been to the site lately, beacuse I have been playing with my new toy. It's an 84 5.0, with a 750 holley carb, aftermarket headers(dont know what brand), ford motorsports air cleaner, fireball cam, and has 3.73 gearing with a posi-trac rear end. My problem is that the other day, I was backing out of my friends drive way, and the engine died out,(when it does that it will usually start right back up, but not this time). I tried a recharging the battery, visually inspected the distributor cap, and tried dry gas. When I tried to tow start it, the engine sounds like it is only running on 3or4 cylinders, has no throttle response, and when you push the clutch in, it dies automatically. It's getting gas,(you can smell it for one thing, and for another you can see it in the see through filter that is attached on the line to the carb). I think it may be the ignition coil,(this same thing happened to my yellow tri-z once, it had the same symptoms, and I think it turned out to be a disconnected ground wire on the sparkplug coil). My questions are, how do I test it with a multimeter/voltmeter, and how many ohms or volts should I be reading, (I have never used a multimeter, I am not an electrical genius lol!), how do I test the distributor cap other than a visual inspection, and are there any other things that could be causing this? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanx.

[Trucker200X]

Sounds like it's your Timing here is what I would do...
Check your Distributor and see if your able to turn it with your hand. If you can then have a buddy jump in the car and start cranking while you turn the distributor to the right and left untill it fires up and then play with it till she sounds like she is running good then tighten it down...Also if your distributor isn't loose I would loosen it and try that to get it started...From what you were saying thats what it sounded like....

[200xman]

I'd be willing to bet that it is the Duraspark box. Should be mounted on the fenderwell somewhere. About 6" square with a couple of plugs.

[YTZ250#1]

check for a worn timing chain,pretty common on some of them older 5.0's
take the cap off and watch the rotor while you turn the crank buy hand,turn 1 way till the rotor moves then try the other way.If the crank turns more than an inch or so then the chain is worn.also if yours has a grey module on the side of the distributor that could be bad.I have seen them go while driving down the road,it causes a no spark condition.just about any parts store should be able to check it and tell ya if it is good.

[Honda300ex]

Have you changed the spark plugs lately?? My ford probe acted like it was runing on 2cylenders when ever i would take off slow.. then it would clear out. I alwas check the small things first

[Tri-Z Pilot]

Na, it wont even run when your towing it, it justs make alittle noise like it's sorta running, (like very little spark). I checked the ignition coil with an ohm meter, and on the 0-2 setting for the main terminals, I get a reading of 0.001, then I switch to 20 ohms, and put one of the meter cables to a terminal, and one on top where the distributor cable comes out of the coil, and I get a reading of 0.02. Now I am not an electrical genius, but shouldnt it be higher than that? Also the duraspark box that 200xman mentioned, is it gray, and located on the left fender well right by the ignition coil? Can that be tested with an ohm meter?

[200xman]

It should be an aluminum box about 5 or 6" square with 2 plugs on pigtails coming out of it. The color of the grommet where the wires come out identifies the box and they will ask you the color at the parts store. I had an 86 Bronco with a 351 H.O. that would just shut off whenever it felt like it and it was the box. I don't know if you can test them with an ohmmeter but they are only like $20 new.

[Tri-Z Pilot]

I bought a new coil today, and first off, it has the wrong terminals, but here is what confuses me, I tested the new coil, and got the same readings as the one in the car 0.001 ohms primary, and 0.02 secondary what gives? Do I have a bad multimeter?

[bbechtel16]

Is it a decent (aka Fluke) multimeter? I know my Dad's cheapy multimeter isn't sensitive enough to test the coil on the SX, I believe it gives an inaccurate reading on the secondary windings. I think a guy at my Dad's work who tested it had a half decent looking multimeter (still wasn't a fluke) still gave inaccurate reading on my secondary windings.

[nate b]

it is pretty rare for a coil to go bad. I would check to see if it has any spark at all. if it doesnt its probably the box. if it has some its probably weak and needs new plugs, wires,cap& rotor.

[Trikeaholic]

I was whooping on my wifes 89 LX 5.0 once, and the coil WIRE got fried. I would replace your plug wires, plugs, and the box thing and go from there.

[Tri-Z Pilot]

Well, I bought a new msd blaster 2 ignition coil the other day, tested it, got same readings (craftsman meter), put it in, no luck. I have spark at the coil, and at the plugs, although it is a weak yellow. Yesterday I had my battery and duraspark ignition module tested, and they both failed, so hopefully some new units and it will fire up.

[J.D.]

Hey bud.....personally I would look into getting rid of that system, and try to find a EEC-IV system. It's EFI, has a distributor mounted module....you'd have to change wiring and whatnot but it's got to be easier than those crazy primitive systems Ford had.

[200x Basket]

i would go to www.corral.net for stang help.

[200x Basket]

here are mine

http://www.corral.net/photopost/showgallery.php?thumb=1&cat=500&si=&perpage=24&sort=1&stype=&ppuser=10588

http://www.corral.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=467485

[Tri-Z Pilot]

Fuel injection? Never!! I'll keep my old carbuerated engine, (although I may go down to a 600 or 650cfm). I like my cars like I like my trikes, Bare Bones, and Balls to the Walls!

[nate b]

holley 4-barrel and a duall point dist. doesnt get any simpler

[Honda300ex]

I never have any problems with fords solid state ingnition...

[Tri-Z Pilot]

Well guys, it turned out to be the duraspark ignition box, I now have oil leaking out of the intake manifold gasket, but some new gaskets should fix that.

[200xman]

You're welcome! :?