1997 Trans Am Will NOT Spark.
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Staging Lane
Joined: May 2017
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1997 Trans Am Will NOT Spark. I was driving to the gas station and the car died on me. Started back up, got gas and it was fine. Afterwards I drove around and noticed the vehicle was idling a little low. I drove to the in-laws house and the car died again and has not started since.
Thus far, I replaced the OPTi spark, coil, and have tried a couple of ignition control modules and I still have no spark at the coil. I’ve tested the ignition module wires and I’m getting a signal from the white wire when cranking the motor, and both the other wires showed 12 V as specified in the wiring schematic. I checked the ground wire as well and it has continuity. I also checked the Opti harness wires And wires A and B have 5V as they should the and other two wires have power and continuity.
When I hook up the code reader I’m getting a code P 1351 which points to cam or crank sensor or high voltage signal to the ignition module I believe. The check gauges light is also on but I’m not sure that it has anything to do with this. Given that I’ve tried these parts and have done these tests, am I safe to assume that I have a short somewhere in the wiring? Or is there something else I should try first? I’ve done quite a bit of work on this car but as one problem is fixed another seems to arise haha. I really want to get this car back on the road so if anyone has knowledge or experience with this I would appreciate any help.
Thus far, I replaced the OPTi spark, coil, and have tried a couple of ignition control modules and I still have no spark at the coil. I’ve tested the ignition module wires and I’m getting a signal from the white wire when cranking the motor, and both the other wires showed 12 V as specified in the wiring schematic. I checked the ground wire as well and it has continuity. I also checked the Opti harness wires And wires A and B have 5V as they should the and other two wires have power and continuity.
When I hook up the code reader I’m getting a code P 1351 which points to cam or crank sensor or high voltage signal to the ignition module I believe. The check gauges light is also on but I’m not sure that it has anything to do with this. Given that I’ve tried these parts and have done these tests, am I safe to assume that I have a short somewhere in the wiring? Or is there something else I should try first? I’ve done quite a bit of work on this car but as one problem is fixed another seems to arise haha. I really want to get this car back on the road so if anyone has knowledge or experience with this I would appreciate any help.
Last edited by fischdogg1; Jun 24, 2019 at 07:57 PM.
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 67
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Update I started going through the wiring harness from the ignition control module and so far no broken, exposed, or melted wires anywhere. Unless I find something in the harness between the A/C and PCM it's not looking like a shorted wire. I will try a new AC Delco ignition module to be certain because the two I've tried were from the junkyard. If that doesn't fix it I'm going buy a better optispark because the two I've bought so far have been pretty inexpensive off brand products. I still think it'd be strange to be the optispark considering I've hanged it twice and the car still won't start at all. I'm open to any advice. The sooner I fix this the better!
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: May 2017
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Update I retested ignition module values and the green wire only shows 12 V when I press on the other end of it going into the ignition coil. Otherwise, it shows 0 V. I’m going to change the ignition coil connector and hopefully this fixes my issue.
Factory Service Manuals are your friend in situations like this. Check out this page: http://www.mediafire.com/?40mfgeoe4ctti and download the 1996 manual listed there (1997 should be almost identical, so the majority of issues can be addressed with the 1996 manual). In the pdf, page 2578 (page 6E-739 in the book) references the P1351 code you are dealing with and how to properly diagnose it. These books are worth their weight in gold since they are written by the engineers at GM who built these cars and can tell you exactly what to do and in what steps to do them. Most have flow charts that are stupidly simple. Stuff like "Check this, if 'A' then do this, if 'B' then do this", etc. Can't tell you how much money I have saved over the years by reviewing these books and not just throwing money at parts. Best of luck!
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 67
Likes: 0
Factory Service Manuals are your friend in situations like this. Check out this page: http://www.mediafire.com/?40mfgeoe4ctti and download the 1996 manual listed there (1997 should be almost identical, so the majority of issues can be addressed with the 1996 manual). In the pdf, page 2578 (page 6E-739 in the book) references the P1351 code you are dealing with and how to properly diagnose it. These books are worth their weight in gold since they are written by the engineers at GM who built these cars and can tell you exactly what to do and in what steps to do them. Most have flow charts that are stupidly simple. Stuff like "Check this, if 'A' then do this, if 'B' then do this", etc. Can't tell you how much money I have saved over the years by reviewing these books and not just throwing money at parts. Best of luck!
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Ben Smith
Check out this post:
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Staging Lane
Joined: May 2017
Posts: 67
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Problem solved pooss I got it figured out. Had a bad wire connection at the coil. Then probed OPTi spark harness wires too far into the connector and had to fix that as well. Starts right up now ! Thanks for the help guys.