Summit ignition control

[murf]

So I've recently purchased an '83 Jeep Cherokee Laredo. It was working fine for a few week then wouldnt start w/o a jump. Pick up a new battery they gave the wrong group installed it then realized it was wrong group went back and exchanged it. Now the car will turn over but wont ignite. Did the jerry rigged test of shoving a screw driver into the cable that leads to distributor to see if it would spark and nothing. Bought new ignition coil also not the problem. The ignition module is a summit racing the indicator led on the back says its working fine. The previous owner did tell me that when he installed the IM that he had to pick up a diode. Was wondering what the diode was for and whether anyone had any ideads as to what it could be.
Thanks for your time.

[Ryan]

could be lots of things. Sticking a screw driver into the cable that leads to the dizzy?? sounds like you possibly shorted something out. To test for spark, you remove one of the plugs from the block, connect it to a plug wire, and while cranking check for arc across the plug (needs to be sitting on part of the block to see this). Never short out one of the wires that leads to the distributor, as you can fry parts that way.