How come my 1988 454 has no spark?

Answer 1

The most common cause will be within the distribitor. The distributor on these contains all of the electronics for this HEI system. There is a power wire that plugs directly into the side of the distributor. First, test that wire to ensure that it is powered up with the key on. If it is, then remove the distributor cap & focus directly on the internals of the distributor. There are three components in there that could each cause your no spark condition. Here is the order of likeliness: 1] The distributor module - The easiest to replace - held in by 2 screws - this is the item that fails most often. 2] The coil assembly - This is housed inside the distributor cap; the cap must be disassembled - check the cap for cracks also! 3] The pick-up assembly- This is located in the bottom of the distributor housing - The distributor must be removed from the engine and be completely disassembled to replace this. You must have knowledge of ignition timing and finding "top dead center" procedures to perform this pick-up replacement. theverybestoflucktoyou, Mike