Quick question about spark color
 

got a 97 chevy cavalier 2.2 that won't run. has the basic 3: fuel/spark/compression

only thing I can see weird is the spark is yellow/orange when I assume it should be white/blue. Makes me think the spark is too weak maybe?

what would I check, coils? power to the coils? ground on the coils?

I know I know, cavaliers are girls cars... but the car is for my girl so its not so bad and it was dirt cheap

Thanks guys

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

all 4 four plugs like that or just 1/2, one coil pack could be bad.

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

all 4 are the same

plugs were brand new i was told and they look it, regaped to .060 factory spec

coils and wires look factory 150k ones

injector leads lit up an LED

pulled the fuel reg and got fuel

cranked without plugs and got puffs of fuel out the plug holes

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

sounds like weak coils to me. try new ones and post back.

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

Check compression, could be a broken timing chain.

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

are you being serious right now?

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

Also might want to replace the distributor can and wires while your at it.
It does sound like a weak spark.

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

gap that spark down to .030, try again. if it doesnt go bluer.. weak coil for sure.

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

haha good luck with that.

Try spraying starting fluid down the TB and see if it trys too fire, could be bad gas was the car sitting?

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

Compression was 110-120 on all 4 cyl and it has been sitting for a couple weeks at least. Wouldn't start for the last owner and he just parked it.

Gauge was just about on E, so I threw a couple gallons of gas and a fuel line dryer in the tank the other day

It kicked every once in a while when crankin it with the yellow spark.

Put 2 new coil packs and new plug wires on it yesterday, sparks bright blue now. It kicks more often now like it wants to start but won't.

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

Priceless... just priceless ;)

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

This ------ thing sucks

siphoned the tank and filled with new high octane gas.

cranked and almost started with someone holding their hand over the throttle body (maybe ran for 3 sec)

I'm stumped, pulled the codes and it says cel should be off, but pulled codes for misfire on cyl 3 and temp sensor voltage low

any new ideas?

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

stupid question, did you do a voltage check? batt might be cooked

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

battery doens't seem to hold a great charge, but we've been jumping it off of a running car and letting it charge a bit before trying

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

eh i dunno, whats the voltage

do a tdc check.. its possible he did a 150k timing belt/chain tuneup and fucked it up, compression is a little low, that's like in the 6.5:1 lawnmower range at 120psi..

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

I ------- hate people that talk about spark color, if it jumps a 3/4 inch gap the ------- thing will run.

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

Your cranking compression is on the low side.

Try doing a wet compression check to see if the rings are sealing as they should be. If you see a huge jump, then they are either stuck from sitting for a lond time, or toasted.

Big jump = going from 110 dry to 190+ wet.

I doubt that the spark is your issue.

Also, with the fact that you could get it to fire with your hand over the TB sounds like there is a pretty significant vacuum leak.

You will definitely want to check out the coolant temperature sensor issue. If the code was stored in history and is not currently set, then it may have been left over from a previous service, but whoever worked on the car didn't reset the DTCs.

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

120psi is much higher than that ---- the minimum spec for my car is 100psi,I have 120psi compression on a fresh rebuild granted its a very low compression engine but not 6.5:1 I would check the timing marks though to see if it jumped a tooth, I don't know much about the j-body cars but one of my friends is all into them

you may want to try www.j-body.org

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

Before priceless up there gets his panties in a wad... Sorry I didn't read the whole damn post attention span slipped when I read cavalier. Go over the simple things instead of throwing parts at it. If you got spark you got spark. Do you have the correct fuel pressure? Are the plugs just fuel fouled? If someones been in the timing cover possible timing is incorrect.

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

100 psi of cranking compression is getting pretty close to the borderline for combustion.

If memory serves me right, 80 psi is considered the absolute lower limit for combustion to occur.

Meh, it sounds like there are multiple issues, but trying to diagnose a car over the internet is rarely productive.

Re: Quick question about spark color
 

coils were split and rusted, spark was ---- compared to what it is now. no it wasn't the problem, but it couldn't have helped.. the car kicked a ton more and tried to start after the new coils/wires

turns out it was getting too much fuel and flooding out. thinking maybe regulator is keeping too much fuel pressure or something, will look into it further later this week

once we decided it was too much fuel, we pulled the plugs and pump relay and cranked it over. then installed the plugs and cranked it over... while just touching the relay in place a couple times and it fired right up. then we plugged the relay back in and it ran great.

cheap car cause it wouldn't run, turns out it just flooded itself out instead of starting, i'm happy