94 with KLZE, Intermitent spark, HEI mod done.

[jakegaisser]

I have been going in circles with this car for days now. I am getting an intermittent problem where I get spark, lose spark, get spark, lose spark.

This problem manifested itself in the form of the car jerking all OVER the place while I drove the car, I am sure that I looked like one of those people that have never driven a stick shift before, the car would jerk violently.

I immediately decided it must be something electrical and so we swapped out the ECU. Still had the same problem. I checked for codes and we had a couple from when the ZE swap was done, egr solenoids and FPR solenoids never got hooked back up, so I hooked them up for the hell of it. Now there are no codes, after clearing them.

I keep reading and a lot of people said it could be the distributor. So I did the HEI mod with external coil. I am still getting the same problem with spark!

Now today I read that it could possibly be the Main relay in fuse box under the hood, so I swapped it out, but same problem still.

Next I kept thinking... all that leaves is the crank sensor, and then of coarse there is the one component that the distributor is still in charge of, the camshaft angle position sensor.

So I started up the car in the driveway and waited for it to cut off with no spark. I then got out of the car and tapped on the distributor with a hammer lightly, kinda like you do on a starter that is going out, and what do you know I have spark again....

Now I am wondering could this be coincidence, or could the root of my problem actually be the camshaft position sensor in the distributor.

DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO TEST THE CAMSHAFT POSITION SENSOR IN THE DISTRIBUTOR? I have a voltmeter.

Thanks so much for any help anyone can give.

[jakegaisser]

Also, when I turn the distributor by hand I can hear clicks from relays/solenoids.

It is the same click that I hear when I tap on the distributor with a hammer.

[jakegaisser]

I have a distributor from a 93 but the plug wire plugs on the cap for it are in a different order than the distributor that came with the ZE...

can i still use it?

[mazdags94]

Whats your disty (94) part number? If it's TOT57171, then I would leave it alone. Maybe it's time to get a new cap and rotor. You probably aren't getting the right connections internally. I would give that a try first. Re-check your HEI wiring too.

[PATDIESEL]

The signal from the crank angle sensor in the disty is a sign wave. So you cannot test it with a simple volt or ohm meter, you need your tester to be able to test sign waves. Sign wave testers only show the wave ----1___1----- and you need to know what the wave is supposed to look like in order to tell if it is wrong. Some times the wave is off enough to easily tell, like if it goes ---1___1---1___1--------1___1---1 etc. If you test for 12v you can see some fluctuation of voltage, but I very seriously doubt your tester is sensative or fast enough for you to make any sense of it.
I would try another disty to test if your sensor is bad. And it is ok that you posted Needs pic, but we need to know what year motor and disty you are using to be of any more help than I offered above.

[jakegaisser]

The car is a 1994 Mazda MX-3 the distributor is a K834-TOT57171

we have already modified this distributor for HEI. things have been cut or removed and RTVed.

I was thinking that maybe it was the still the distributor due to the cam angle sensor they have, so I HEI modded a 93 distributor that was stamped KL01.

I still had the issue with the 93 distributor. I tested for spark at the coil used for the HEI mod, and theres no spark there.

So now I am thinking my problem happens regardless of the distributor.

what else could cause a no spark / intermittent spark?

The cap and rotor was replaced prior to doing the HEI, when it did not fix the problem is when we started the HEI mod. All wires tripple checked for the HEI mod, however I would like to know how to actually test the wires. (I have a voltmeter.)

[jakegaisser]

I was messing with the wires a lot. and I found a spark arc as I messed with them.

What I think happened is the coil or ignition in my distributor was going out, then I hooked up the HEI and fixed that problem but introduced a new problem by creating a nick in the Blue colored wire.

I cut the wire back past the nick in the wires shielding and respliced it and wrapped it up in electric tape and so far everything seems good!