85 2.0 no spark

[Old Boy]

I have been fighting with this truck for a while, first it lost spark in the middle of a 4 way intersection and then I got it to run after buying a coil and resistor assuming that was the issue and it was perfect for like 2 weeks and I was driving a country road and playing with it a bit and then it dies and and I try and give it gas and it backfired and died again, so when I got it home I took the timing belt off and realigned everything and put it back on and set the timing to around 6-7 degrees btdc and it started up perfectly. I then turned it off because I was letting it run the first time without the alternator hooked up just to check if I made any mistakes and I go to start it again and it will not turn over, so I checked and there is no spark at the coil or at the plugs. I really need this truck fixed because it's my daily driver and I've already lost my job for not having transportation. Thanks in advance for any advice.

[geezer101]

Check your ICM in the distributor. They can go bad. It is strange that the fault seems to be intermittent - normally they die and it's game over. Other than that the other course of action is check the wiring from the coil to the distributor and ensure all your ground leads have a solid connection. Bad grounds cause all kinds of chaos.

[Old Boy]

Is there a way to test them before I just go get another one, also it has a new starter, cap, rotor, wires and spark plugs just to eliminate all that

[Old Boy]

Actually I just went and unplugged it and plugged it back up and it started up quicker than ever so hopefully that was the only issue. Thank you so much for the advice

[geezer101]

Set the distributor to TDC and hook up a multimeter to the wires going into the distributor and set it for OHMS. With the engine/ignition off swing the distributor from full advance/retard and you should see a change in reading (which will indicate it is opening/closing the circuit). No change in reading means it has failed. If you want to do a 'live' test hook the positive lead on the multimeter to the negative lead coming out of the distributor and ground the negative lead on the meter and set the meter to 20v DC. Turn the ignition on but don't start the engine and swing the distributor as per the first test. You should see a rise and fall of voltage between battery voltage and zero.

[Old Boy]

I didn't test it exactly like that but a friend has a good tool to do electrical and he found out that if you give it a interment ground signal to the positive side of the coil while cranking it will start as long as the artificial signal is supplied so in doing that test he said it was in fact the ICM so I'll update when the new one is installed

[geezer101]

Easy enough to fix. Look around on ebay and you'll save a chunk of cash - there's a big variation on prices for the same part.