[mikey]

Any help appreciated guys.

I am running a thruster DFI with dual sync distributor on a 415 cu in chevy motown. Last year the engine was running fine but after a 12 month period of not starting the car when I finally came to turn over the motor both LEDs were not lighting up on cranking the motor and as a result the engine wouldn't start. I got a replacement board from Prestolite and the engine fired straight up. However after leaving the car overnight again I had problems starting the car and noticed that there was no spark at the plugs.

Since then it has started on a couple of occasions but runs as if the timing is way out, spitting back out of the throttle bodies (I have TWM induction). I have re-checked the distributor sync several times together with the rotor phasing and everything in that department is okay
What I have noticed is that whilst the cam and crank sensor LEDs blink, and off during cranking, when I monitor this on the laptop whilst I get a cam indicator (blue) that stays permanently lit during cranking the crank sensor indicator on the laptop stays greyed out with no counting of the teeth in the indicator below. Occasionally the crank indicator will blink on and off on the computer and the tooth counter will activate and when this happens the engine attempts to start but whilst trying to start the crank indicator then stops indicating and the engine splutters without starting as I guess the spark is not being timed due to whatever the problem is.

I am a little bit at a loss and still suspect that there is a problem potentially with the new electronic board in the distributor although this is purely a guess. I have checked the wiring for continuity etc but I really am at a loss as to how to try to narrow the problem down. Obviously I could send the unit and ECU back to Prestolite for checking but as I'm over in the UK I would like to try and find out what the issue is first before I have to do this. At first I suspected that the soldering I carried out on the wire connections to the distributor board may be a culprit but as I said before the engine fired straight up and ran well on the first attempt at starting and having rechecked the soldered connections etc there doesn't seem to be any problem there.

I have tried to give you all the relevant information that I can think of and I would be grateful if anybody can help to try and throw light on this issue as it is not me completely stumped unless as I say it's just unlucky and I have another faulty board.

Thanks in anticipation
Mike