Coil Wire; Remove the end that goes to the Distributor. Slide back the rubber boot to expose raw metal female end. Hold wire with an insulated pair of pliers, or a couple of sticks.., and place the metal end to about 1/16th, or 1/8th inch from some metal, i.e., engine block, valve cover, inner fender, etc., and have someone crank engine several turns to see if you get 'spark' to cross the gap made. If no assistant is available, (or if the rubber boot does not want to 'slide' back on the wire), then set up coil wire end with a small piece of metal into the female socket end, i.e., a nail, and securely place that end with the nail up towards some engine compartment metal area, i.e., as above, in an area in which you can visually see that end from within whatever zone you are, i.e., inside, or outside from the ignition switch.., and go crank the engine. Due to the fact that the engine cranks will vibrate, or bounce the engine around, etc., it is necessary to be sure you 'secure' the coil wire with it's nail, nearly up against metal .., so try to do so with string, a block of wood, your boot.., lol, whatever, so that when you crank you will be able to see if you have spark, or not. No sparky, then bad coil, or bad ground, (the former more likely than the latter). If good, check all spark wires with same proceedure in order to check each and every one of them to make sure that they are good, and that none are adding up to resistance failure. If some of your wires are bad, or plugs, the juice from the coil will want to go through the inner distributor cap contact nodes, but have no easy path to go.., but to burn a little bit there. Wires are funny. Some recommend that they must not be abused in any manner, i.e., carefully installed, insuring good separations between them, and left alone. Some say they are fragile, and moving them around ape-like, especially in cold frozen weather can damage them. There is a way to check each wire resistance values, as per their inch lengths, with a simple cheap ohm meter. Seems the better wires have more insulation around them then the cheaper wires, etc. Plugs have a similar fate, i.e., some are better than others.., and that too is another debate. Once you have established good spark, and good flow.., then you have removed these as variables to your problem. Other members will be able to guide you further, as I am a novice to the XJ.:eyes: