Engine cranks and no fire even with start fluid. I can hear the fuel pump running all stock 2.0L with FI. I think there is no spark. Just put in a new Bosch Coil a couple weeks ago. Drove around the block and seemed fine. Old one was working okay, but looked ugly. Tonight I drove a few miles to a B-day party. Started and ran great. After the party it wouldn't start.

Bad coil? I checked the plug wire connections. wiggled all the coil wires. I will check for spark tomorrow and bring the old coil.

I'm a bit baffled that it started and ran fine and is suddenly dead. Any ideas?

It does have Pertronix! Never had an issue before.

I also checked all the fuses under the dash. Sometimes I kick them out getting out of the car. I got a cover for it now, so they are all where they should be.

I would suspect wiring. Did you check all the connections to the coil? Make sure you are getting 12v there when the key is on...

Try cleaning and/or readjusting the points. Happened to me twice - out of the blue even with fairly new points.

Small strip of very fine grit sand paper folded over and slipped between the points. Back and forth. Better yet, cut about a 3/16 inch strip from an emery board.

Good luck.

He has Pertronix, not points.
Do you have 12v at the coil when the switch is in the on position? Remember not to leave the switch in the on position too long when checking unless you have the newer version Pertronix.

It was the coil. Swapped the old one back in and it fired right up. Anyone have a coil die on the first drive? Blue Bosch Super Coil. Checked both coils and both had 3.8ohm resistance across the terminals and 9700ohms to the center. Tried the new one twice for certain. No spark.

I wouldn't go blaming the coil right away. Just jiggling the wires might have changed everything....

I jiggled them all and installed it again and it still didn't work?

Well then, coil it could be! What is the resistance across the pos and neg?

IIRC, Pteronix requires a specific Ohm coil.

I know the bosch is like 1.5 ohms or something. 123 requires that. Pertronix might require something more in the 3 range (hotter?)

,sure I read somewhere the ( new production )blue coils have proved to be unreliable however it depends where they are made .

back a few years in time the old coils had PCB in them.
polychlorinated biphenyl.

thats what made them good.
and toxic to the hell.

PCB been banned since early 2000s .

they make new coils in a different way though they look the same on the outside. its some kind of plastic resin substitute. a bit like the way brake pads had to change from asbestos.

i suspect that occasionally a coil has an internal manufacturing problem that is undetectable by conventional testing. somehow they just don't work and they sneak through.

sounds like you might have got one of those dud ones?

Both coils are the same blue Bosch Super Coils. It was on the car when I bought it and so was the Pertronix. It does not mean it's the right one, but it was working fine. I'll dig into this a bit deeper.

OK...this sounds way too familiar....my car wouldn't start for three months and it had fuel, spark, and compression....except the spark was weak so under compression would not start...just on a dare I replaced the coil and it started right up and smoked like hell due to my three months of test starts.....so now my car dies after running well for 30 minutes...fuel pump not running so I suspect an electrical issue. So after some research I believe it is the relay board...just has too be....so will replace and test. So for your issue maybe it is just bad luck but you may have back to back component failures..they are 50 years old.....anyway there is my two cents. Please report back....we all need to learn all of the tricks of the special quirky fun machines....
All the best,
gg

Call them and ask for the engineering dep't. They're very helpful & will answer any questions you may have.