I am at the end of my coil

[vanjam]

Hi yes it's two months now since i started to rebuild my engine and it is now in the van looking very smart and today I cranked it over for the first time but i have no spark from coil. this is a dg 1.9w/b

3 questions please: I have checked wiki etc, 1. does the -ve side need to be earthed or does the green wire from the -ve side to the ECU/TCI? unit achieve this? 2. Is it ok to have a constant (ignition switched) live to the +ve terminal. 3. In the haynes wiring diagram there is a black wire shown going into track 24, I am assuming this is an earth

The coil and hall sender were working fine when the engine exploded so no reason to think they have gone and i have marked all wiring and replaced as was (or so i thought) so i am a bit confused and considerably teed off and my wife is going to stop talking to me soon. Have put multimeter on coil and appears to be in spec. How can i test the hall sender please? any offerings gratefully accepted
cheers jim

[Aidan]

i haven't got the manual here so can't check but your black wire will be +12v pin 15 ignition switched live, if this isn't present then no spark, it goes to one side of coil (and there's a feed to carb) again I can't check as no manual and no DG to compare with
see Mickyfins post below there's a video of a syncro DG engine bay, ignore the extra stuff on the carb the rest of the wiring is the same, there are dozens of pics of DG engine bay and wiring on here but good luck in finding them

[Mickyfin]

Link to my video..

http://youtu.be/5uL9f2yKouc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Footprint]

The +ve side of the coil* is always live, (when the ignition is on, obviously). It's the -ve terminal that is switched on and off to cause the spark, it's that side that goes to the igniton unit terminal '1' **, with standard VW wiring this is green.

*The +ve coil terminal is, depending on exact coil make, sometimes marked '15', the negative terminal is sometimes marked '1'.
** The ignition unit terminals are numbered right to left, i.e. no 1 is the one at the right hand end when looking at the front of the unit.

[mblake4u]

You could also check that you've got a good 12+ volts to the positive terminal, and also check that the 3 wires that go between the ignition terminal unit and the distributor are connected.

If you're worried about the hall sender, you could have a quick visual inspection by removing the rotor and dust cover to make sure they didn't melt or something during your engine 'explosion' - did it catch alight?

Also you can turn the engine over using a wrench (with the battery disconnected) and make sure the rotor is turning. If it's a new engine, the distributor may not be seated correctly in the engine case.