Re: 1983 UrQ Ignition Control Unit

[steveb@falcon.kla.com (Steven Buchholz)]

> Has anyone tried the ignition control unit test in the Introductory Service 
> Documents for the 1983 UrQ? The car won't spark and I'm lead to believe from 
> the tests outlined in this document that it is the result of the ignition 
> control module, the one screwed to the body in the glovebox. Has anyone 
> actually tried the 1.5 volt coil spark test? Anyone have any thoughts on the 
> likelihood that this is the problem. Steve B kindly confirmed that the ECU is 
> OK, and I did correct a poor ground at the throttle switch/ECU on the intake 
> but it still won't spark. Lots of fuel, no spark. Do these things go bad? The 
> one I took out is stamped 9/'83, the build date was 7/'82. Looks like it is a 
> replacement, possibly of the wrong year. Did the ICU change after the '83's?  
> Any help is greatly appreciated.
> 
I've never actually done that test, but I have seen a bad module.  Before 
going too crazy you might want to try rotating the distributor while crank-
ing the engine to see if you can get to the point where the spark returns.  
If this is not happening then you've got either a bad Hall sender on the 
distributor or that ignition module is bad.  That same module is used on a 
lot of other cars (Coupe GTs, 4kQs, probably many others), so you might 
want to pick up one or two from a junkyard rather than a dealer.  You might
also want to take an ohmmeter to the coil just to be sure.  

HTH!
Steve Buchholz
s_buchho@kla.com
San Jose, CA (USA)