Need mechanical help

[T Bell]

What would cause a coil not to receive spark. Driving my car this morning and after getting off the exit, it died. At first I thought it was fuel related but it is getting fuel. There is no spark coming from the coil. Tried a new coil and same thing. Is the coil wired to the ignition switch? And the starter is turning.

[Hydratech®]

Hey T - what are the details? Year? Make? Model? Stock ignition? Aftermarket?

You must have positive voltage to one side of the ignition coil, with the negative on the other side of the coil being what is switched on and off to induce the production of a spark.

Grab a test light and see if you have positive power at one side of the coil when the key is in the on position. If you don't, then you'll have to chase down why. In some cases, you *could* use a FUSED temporary jumper wire setup to temporarily supply the missing 12v, though do this knowing that you could have other issues and may be playing with fire.

If you have a test light handy, disconnect the negative lead to the coil, connect the aligator clip end to the (+) terminal on the battery, test to make sure it lights up when you touch a ground, then connect the probe to the negative coil wire and have a helper crank the engine over. If the test light blinks, this means that you are getting the "negative flash" needed, which indicates that the ignition primary switching circuits ARE working (pickup, module, or points are ok). This is most likely not the case though, as you indicate that you did replace the coil...

Give us more info - pretend that we are sitting in a dark room + blindfolded, as this is essentially about the case!

[T Bell]

sorry so long to reply. Been out there working on it. Noticed that it actually had spark but was only 12v when the car was cranking. So that lead me to looking at the distributor. Cleaned contacts. Check to see if rotor was turning while cranking. Nope. Long story short. Timing belt. Or this is my commuter Geo Metro with a 3 cyl. Don't laugh.