Hey guys,

After checking my no start problem on my '86 240 further, I found that there is no spark at the plugs. The coil is working. Does this mean that the distributor is bad? Does anyone have one for sale?

Thanks,
Dave

what about your wire from the coil to the distributor, is it old?? are you grounding out after the coil, before the cap??

Last weekend before I left town I pulled the rotten thin red wire from the wiring bundle. It's pretty crusty and I think that I'll just solder on a new wire at the plug on the firewall and re route it to the alternator. What color is the oil warning sender wire? It too is also worn. I want to fix these wires before trying to start the car again. They're not exactly helping the situation. My car really doesn't need the whole engine bay wiring harness replaced. Once I replace about 4-5 of the old wires it should be fine.

Well the HT lead from the coil to the dist'r looks OK, but I'll double check. It will be Friday until I can look at the car again since I'm out of town during the week. Hopefully I can get it started this weekend.

Thanks,
Dave

First, verify that the distributor is turning. Make sure the timing belt isn't broken. If that's OK, it's possible it's a problem with the ignition computer or the wiring. Have you got a crusty wiring harness? A lot of 86's do.

The ignition computer, RF fender, is a very hardy item, but I suppose they can fail like anything else. A used one from any 85-88 junk ought to be fine, and no more than $20, more like $10. If you can't find one, I've got one.

However, I think it's more likely to be the plug up near the coil. There's a 2-pin grey plug under/next to/behind the coil. One wire in it is red/white and the other blue I think. Caused me a tow and a lot of headaches on another 87 I worked on earlier this year. Intermittent stall and then recovering.

Unplug it and reconnect it, making sure it's fully seated. It can plug together and be latched but still not make contact, ask me how I know! With good contact, key on, you should read about 12V at both coil terminals relative to battery ground. If you have the key on, and this plug is the problem, wiggling it may make the fuel pump cycle once, which is how I found my problem. I was poking around and heard BZZZZT.

Good luck with it!
--
Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '87 244DL/M47- 234K, '82 245T/M46-182K, '89 244DL/AW70- 212K Not too distant past: 86 244DL 215K, 87 244DL 239K, 88 744GLE 233K, 88 244GL 147K, 91 244 183K

Hi Rob,

Yeah, the dist'r is turning just fine. I pulled the upper timing cover to verify that all marks are lining up. This car has really crusty wiring under the hood. I'll also check the wiring over by the coil at the gray connector that you mentioned. Yeah, if the problem is the igntion computer I'd like to buy one from you. I don't know of any 240 parts cars around here so finding one could be tough.

Cheers,
Dave