drjewalton

OK Here's a brief description of my vehicle and what's going on:

1984 camaro Z28 5.0 H.O. (T5 trans)
30,000 original miles - garage kept
Has a remanufactured Quadrajet (like new-Aug 2011), new fuel pump (Oct 2010), Hurst shifter, new tires....that's it.

Up until last week, the car ran and drove perfectly for a 27 year old car. I have put around 300 miles on the new carb with absolutley no issue. I was returning home from a trip (traveled about 80 miles flawlessly) on the expressway (about 70 MPH) and the car stuttered a couple of times then died. I pulled over and tried to start, but the engine just kept turning over and over with no fire. At this point I could smell gas, so I figured it was maybe the distributor/coil not getting spark to the plugs.

Well, here we are a week later...I have pulled the spark plug from #1 cylinder and tested for spark - it DID spark, but I have no experience to tell if it was a strong spark or weak spark...it WAS visible. I also compression tested that cylinder and it was excellent (>120psi consistenly)

I also visually inspected fuel being squirted into the carburetor when I opened the throttle by hand. But when I try to start the car, it still just keeps turning over without any sign of trying to start (as if there is no spark). I even put some starting fluid in the carb hoping to get the engine to fire a little, but nothing.

I am racking my brain trying to understand why if there is fuel and verified spark, why is this engine not wanting to fire!

Just a note - I didn't use a spark tester, just the plug itself pulled from the cylinder. Does it make a difference? I may invest in a spark tester and re-verify.

Any help or advice on this problem would be greatly appreciated.

OSS

If you're not going to use a spark tester, you have to complete the electrical circuit...Put the tip of plug, grounded on the engine block, then perform the spark test. Do this for each cylinder, and compare spark. Engines need air, fuel, compression and spark to fire. If you can confirm there is spark, and compression, then fuel is the issue. Have you changed your fuel filter? Run a fuel pressure tester from the fuel pump. I think mechanical fuel pumps are what, 7psi?

-OSS

drjewalton

Got a spark tester and now confirm NO spark at the plug. I did verify with a volt meter that there is power to the coil. I also ohm tested the pick up coil and it was within range at 833 (range 600-900).

What to do next? Word is that the ICM was notorious to go bad in these cars. Is this the next step? How do you check the coil itself?

Really considering at this point to get a new intake, non-computer controlled carb, distributor and coil and just bypassing the ECM altogether. Any recommendations are appreciated.