Crane Cams fireball xr3000 no spark issue

[MTBRider]

Hi all, I purchased my 67 Coronet late last fall and it seemed to run well. Fast forward to a couple days ago and it died on me a few blocks from home!
Long story short, I don’t have any spark. I’m not familiar with the Crane Cams fireball xr3000 ignition system but it seems like it was an ok, simple electronic conversion system.
Strange thing I’m finding is I have power on both sides of the coil?? Is this a sign of a bad coil (possibly an internal short)?
Thanks for any advice.

 

[Don Frelier]

A coil is essentially a short (coil of wire).
So you are probably open on the - side of the coil which would be the case with points in the open position or sitting on the cam lobe.

 

[MTBRider]

Thanks for the reply but I’m not sure I understand. No points in my system, it’s an electronic conversion system so there’s a pickup in the distributor. When the key is in the “run/on” position, there is power at both the + & - terminals of the coil.

 

[MTBRider]

Ok, so I think I understand how the coil works and why I would see power on both sides. I’ll make some resistance checks and see if it’s firing today.
In case the ignition box is not working I’ll probably change it out with something else, any suggestions that work well? (MSD, etc) I don’t know what’s been modified with my 440 except Edelbrock l750 carb and performer intake; stock exhaust manifolds (don’t know what if any internal mods).

 

[MTBRider]

It has an Edelbrock 1407 (750cfm) carb.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

Do you still have a ballast resistor? If so, those go bad a lot & are cheap and easy to replace. Also, if you disconnect the "double plug" of the distributor, turn the ignition to "on" and temporarily ground the exposed terminal (from the wiring, not the disoconnected distributor) it should fire the coil. While doing this, you should have a phillips screwdriver inside the ignition wire coming out of the coil (disconnect center wire from distributor cap) & that screwdriver VERY close, but not touching, a good ground (e.g. intake manifold bolt). That tests all the ignition system except the distributor (& the electronic ignition pickup inside). Hoe this helps

 

[MTBRider]

Do you still have a ballast resistor? If so, those go bad a lot & are cheap and easy to replace. Also, if you disconnect the "double plug" of the distributor, turn the ignition to "on" and temporarily ground the exposed terminal (from the wiring, not the disoconnected distributor) it should fire the coil. While doing this, you should have a phillips screwdriver inside the ignition wire coming out of the coil (disconnect center wire from distributor cap) & that screwdriver VERY close, but not touching, a good ground (e.g. intake manifold bolt). That tests all the ignition system except the distributor (& the electronic ignition pickup inside). Hoe this helps

Heading out to the garage now to figure this out . Yes, I do have a ballast resistor so I’ll check per your suggestions.

 

[MTBRider]

I’m pretty sure it’s either the controller or the pickup as I’m able to get the coil to fire manually. This system seems to use an optical pickup as the sensor looks to have an emitter and a receiver with a rotating ring with 8 slots. There’s some corrosion on the receiver that may be part of the problem but no good way to clear and I’m not sure how to check it.
Thinking of replacing the system with MSD 6A or 6AL, opinions??

 

[PurpleBeeper]

Maybe see if you can get a Q-tip with rubbing alcohol on it inside the distributor to clean the pickup? Also, maybe look for a way to test the ignition box (I don't know how)

 

[MTBRider]

I was able to remove the pickup and tried to clean as good as I could but no luck. I have no idea how to check the control box either. I ordered a Pertronix unit to try so hopefully that gets me back on the road. Thanks