No spark through distributor

[farrel]

I have the 92 454 King Cobra Spitfire and the ignition module assembly however not getting any spark. Should I bypass the IMA and get a new distributor?

 

[Miles2000]

Pull the cap first. Look for carbon tracking and a wet rotor... those 454s corrode under there in a damp bilge.

But before you buy anything, check the kill circuit. The shift interrupt switch on the Cobra bracket grounds the ignition to unload the dog clutch. If it sticks closed you get no spark at all, and it looks exactly like a dead module. Unplug it and crank it.

Then check power at the module and at the coil while it is actually cranking, not just with the key on. I have seen these drop the feed in crank and still start fine cold.

On the pickup, crank it and read AC volts across the two pickup leads. You should see something. Flat zero means pickup or air gap, not the module.

I had one where the big harness plug at the engine was green inside. Cleaned the pins and it fired right up. Cheap thing to rule out.

I would not bypass the IMA. It is what switches the coil, so there is nothing to bypass to. Borrow a known good module before you spring for a distributor... the distributor itself is rarely the problem on these.

What do you have at the coil, spark at the cap or nothing at the plugs?

thanks