1993 F150 no spark condition, and then...

1993 f-150 5.8L auto. This all started as a random condition where the motor lost all spark. I found an article online ( easyautodiagnostics.com/ford/4.9L-5.0L-5...ition-module-tests-1 ) that had a chart on testing the ignition. Following that article, I determined the ignition control module was bad. Replaced and no spark.

There's a section in the article where it has you make a test lamp with a LED light and connect one end to the PIP input wire at the ignition control module and the other end at battery ground.
It should pulse during cranking(which it does), but it mentions that if the vehicle starts while the test LED is connected, the PIP sensor is bad. Fair enough.

I marked the plug wires and the position of the rotor button and replaced the entire distributor with one from Advance auto. Now I have spark, but the spark to individual cylinders seems weak. It's obviously not in time now, but I cant get it to start no matter where I position the distributor. I also tried cranking with the spout connecter unplugged. Nope.

Battery voltage is 12.8, and as of right now, coil, ignition module, ignition switch, and complete distributor is new. Any ideas?

Hey rob88! Give me a bit of perspective - how weak is the spark? Jump a 1/4" gap? More, less?

I think my next step would be to check spark out of the coil wire, at the distributor end. Install your spark tester or test light, and see how strong the spark is there. If it's still weak, redo the same test directly out of the coil. If it's strong, then we know the problem is in the distributor.

It's unlikely that the coil wire went bad at the same time as the distributor, I know. :lol: But I think this direction test will help point us in the right direction. Let us know what you find!

with the spark tester hooked to the coil wire , its a strong steady spark at 1/4" gap. Hooked to a plug wire its weak at the same 1/4" gap, and a couple seconds between sparks.

thanks anyway!

Did you set the engine to #1 TDC before distributor change? I would recheck distributor to make sure it's close to in time. It's easy to end up setting it to exhaust stroke if you don't pull the valve cover . Your spark doesn't sound horrible it's normal to lose some power through the distributor because it has to jump a gap inside there as well . Did you replace the cap and rotor with the distributor?

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No, didn't set the distributor to #1 TDC, I just reinstalled the new distributor with the rotor button in the exact spot as it was with the old distributor. The motor ran good before the change, but had a recurring no spark condition which we suspected was the PIP sensor.