weak spark.

[Master ACiD]

i dont own a voltage tester capable of showing the ingition spark voltage, but id bet its pretty low. i put new plugs, wires cap and rotor on my 96 dodge stratus v6 and i notice the spark is thin and dark orange. on every other car ive seen its awalys a fat spark and a brilliant blue/white.

so, im thinking whats up with that. maybe thats why this car has been hesitating, stalling, misfiring, etc.

 

[Gary Allan]

Coil. Not always ..but it was so just recently in a problem with my buddy's son's engine. They had to parts replace because there were no codes. He thought the spark was weak ..but an associate mechanic, far more into electronics trumped his reservations about the coil. They pulled the computer and found a soft spot where it had gotten hot and about 3 other trades people said "There it is!!". Nope.

It was the coil.

Power it and ground it yourself and see if the spark improves. If not ...replace it.

 

[Master ACiD]

this is one of those coils built into the dizzy. its a bit difficult to test it like this but i suppose i could try with test probes and jumper cables.

if the coil is bad, this dizzy unit is rather expensive :\

 

[Gary Allan]

Naturally

(on both the cost and the complications in testing).