I am getting spark when I
>ground the distributor end of the coil wirt. I am not getting spark when I
>pull a plug wire, insert a plug and ground it to the motor.

Bruce,

When checking for spark at the plug end with a plug, are you cranking the engine or just grounding the coil neg? You should be cranking the engine to make sure the rotor is lining up with the wires so the spark gets through.

Seems like the
>failure is somewhere between the coil wire and the end of the individual
>ignition wires.

make sure the cap an rotor are good, look for carbon tracking or moisture. Make sure you also check the plugs. This week working on an IH farm tractor that wouldn't start, I used a spark testor and got good spark, but it wouldn't even fire on ether, anyways to make a long story short, it turned out that all four spark plugs (some what new) were bad. Very strange!

Good luck,
Andrew
1984 Westy "Speed Bump"
1996 VW Jetta Trek  "Little Beep" (the wife's car)
The Basket Bus  http://www.creativegifts2go.com/vw.html

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