Hi, I did a very stupid thing not knowing it was stupid at the time. I had a friend hook his booster cables to the terminals that hook to the battery (I had no battery installed) I just wanted to fire it up during the winter. Anyway, it fired up fine but after a about 10 seconds or so it died and there was a bit of smoke coming from somewhere on the left hand side dash (could be the tach I have wired there).
But now I have no spark. Checked the fuses under the dash and the white ballast resister under the hood but I am not too handy at fixing cars.
Never knew you shouldn't run a car with no battery installed....

Was hoping someone could suggest what I could check for. Could it be the brain box?? Not sure how to check the distributor either.... can't be that hard but was hoping from some help from you guys

Kelly

 

could be multiple things, first do u have power to everything when u flip the key on? im guessing so since u dont have a spark, get u a test lead check for power running to coil, distrib

 

Yes, there is power but no spark. I can borrow a multimeter but am not sure how to check the distributor/coil with it. Maybe I've taken on too much here trying to find the problem myself.

 

You might have fried your brain box depending what you use there's no telling really its gonna be a long day for you i got a feeling though

 

Smoke is never a good thing. It's possible that the problem had nothing to do with the way you hooked up the battery.

I agree with your own assessment. I think you should look for a local friend, etc to help you who has some electrical experience. I would NOT jump right on the ECU (brain box) and start throwing parts at the problem.

If you have a tach, try unhooking it, first

 

You need repair book to check it . The distributor pickup As I remember should read about 200-900 ohms, also check the ballast resistor on the firewall should have battery voltage on pin 1 of the ign connector
The ign box pin 1 battery pin 2 (-) ign coil pin 3 to Ballast resistor Pin 4&5 go to the dist pickup

 

You didn't take on too much you just want to learn how cars work. Simple really compared to what is new today. As mentioned get a book. You can find a lot of info on line or the library will have books you can look at for free. You definatly want to find out just what burned. You may have a little wiring to do. It seems bad at first, just take your time and you will some day be able to pass on what you have learned.