I need some help. I have a 1998 Town and Country with the 3.8. The last couple of days the weather has been 20 below zero or more. Up until this morning the van was starting with no problems. Now this morning went to go start it and there is no spark. I checked the plugs and replaced the coil pack and still nothing. Turns over like a beast but that is it. Any suggestions where I should go from here. Anything would be helpful, Im a single mom of 4 kids and this is my only vehicle. I am not auto illiterate so talk away. Thanks

 

so no spark well need to find out y no spark by seeing if the coil is getting power and ground to start then see from there.Is the alarm light on the dash do the cluster lights and tach work when u are turning over?? and how did u check for spark?

 

All the lights come on like they usually do when you go to start the van. I checked for spark by taking out the plugs and checking for the spark, at least the front three plugs. Thats the way I have always done it, however, this is the newest vehicle I have ever owned and worked on, so my knowledge really ended in the 80's ...

 

check your private message

 

This might be a little late, but this procedure should eliminate a lot of suspects:

1) Disconnect the 4 wire electrical connector from the ignition module (place where all the sparkplug wires start)and find the B+ terminal (Don't recall off hand which pin it is)
2) Connect a 12V test lamp (or digital multi-meter)between the B+ terminal and ground while ignition is off. Should get nothing
3) Turn ignition to "on" position - test lamp should light for ~1 second (verifies the automatic shutdown relay is operating properly)
4) Have someone crank the engine over while you look at the test lamp. During cranking, if the test lamp lights and stays on, it implies your crank/cam position sensors are fine, and you can start looking for spark. If it doesn't light, there's either a problem with the crank/cam position sensor or the communication in between. Assuming it lights, an inductive timing light is REALLY handy to determine which plugs are firing/not firing. If1 of the 3 coil packs are bad (each coil pack controls 2 cylinders), you'll notice that two cylinders are not firing. Coil pack 1 controls cylinders 1/4, coil pack 2 control 2/5, and coil pack 3 controls 3/6.

This doesn't get into the fuel system, but should be helpful in determining a no-spark condition. See my thread No start condition initial diagnosis for the reasoning behind this procedure.

Chad