Timing light, spare spark plug, spark gap tester... - Saab 900 Bulletin Board - Saabnet.com
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Timing light, spare spark plug, spark gap tester...
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Posted by RayF (more from RayF) on Thu, 5 Mar 2015 15:53:02 Share Post by Email
In Reply to: Re: Ran great, now wont start, new fuel pump & nothing, Dave Tibbetts, Thu, 5 Mar 2015 13:20:35
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...or just some kind of bolt or big nail, stuck up into the boot till it hits the clip and then held near to the block while someone else cranks the car.

The easiest way is if you or a neighbor has a (now old-fashioned) inductive timing light. You clip its sensor end over one of the four spark plug wires or over the coil-to-distributor wire, and if it's not the kind with built-in battery, clip its red clamp onto the battery positive post and black clamp onto the negative or to ground. Then, if its cord is long enough you don't even need a helper. Get into the car while holding the light and push its trigger in while cranking. If you have spark it will flash regularly, four times as fast on the coil center wire as on the plug wires.

At an auto parts store you can buy a spark gap tester that clips onto ground somewhere, a bolt on the block likely, and onto which you plug one of the plug wires. It has an adjustable gap electrode and not only can you see the spark you can judge how strong it is by how wide a gap it will jump. Probably $5 to $10.

Removing a plug, plugging one wire onto it and holding it onto the block somewhere while cranking, will also let you see a spark. Or use a spare plug if you have one kicking around.

Or any longish metal bolt, poked up into the boot till it stops and held a short distance from the block, will show a spark if you have spark IF the distance you're holding it from the block isn't too great.

You DON'T want to get a sparkplug current shock, it's painful and could stop the heart of an ox or you or anyone else holding on. So I don't like either of the last two options, though they call for no expensive tools and are free.



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