1989 Astro Van No Spark

Bad Distributor?

I connected the inductive pickup of a timing light to the output of the ignition coil (which connects to the distributor cap), and there was no spark, could it be still a bad distributor?

Is this the HEI setup or the DIS ignition?

It's a HEI since there is a distributor.

Of course, I should have caught that.

I have seen those HEI coils short and break down.,I think this is a pretty common failure. You can often see the arc spot when you dissemble the coil.

It might be worth a check.

Disassemble the coil? At that point, you're gonna buy a new one anyway.

Maybe I am way off. Son had one with the HEI system in a Blazer a few years ago. Seems to me a coil is mounted inside the HEI distributor, and can be removed and replaced separately.

This is the one that can arc over to ground. Some of the aftermarket coils he bought didn't last very long, but finally got it under control.

Or have I just had an out of mind experience?

GM used that set-up for about 10 years, a 1989 Astro would definitely have a remote mounted coil.

All coils are subject to arc over, comes from trying to get too many miles off of a set of plug wires.

Nope, just off by a few years.

I had my van towed to a repair shop over the weekend. The diagnosis was indeed a bad distributor, and had to replace the enitire distributor and cap/rotor.

Thanks to all your help, but I am still not sure why no scan code was registered even after I replaced the ECM in vain. p.s. the ignition coil is mounted outside the distributor.

There is no scan code for an ignition failure.

Well, there is, code 12 (which you did retrieve) but code 12 shows up normally when the key is on and the engine is not running.

Code 12 = no distributor reference pulses received by the ECM.