fixed till broke

A

aermotor

Well-known member
On going problem starting with a miss. I changed the distributor, carb, coil, spark plugs and coil to cap wire with known good parts form a running engine and timed with the New Rex. Now the car will not start. How do I check the key to distributor connection at the distributor? I am down to the cable screw in at the distributor.
John
 
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Instead of just throwing parts at it, determine which cylinder is not firing and then work from there to find out where the issue is.
 
edzaha said:
Instead of just throwing parts at it, determine which cylinder is not firing and then work from there to find out where the issue is.
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I did all the proper trouble shooting, it was more like a skip rather than a miss and now no spark between the plug wire and plugs at all. I have had a couple people look at it and all have come to the conclusion that something is wrong between key wire or housing to the distributor. My question is how to trouble shoot that. Everything else was checked and all parts replaced with known good parts. This isn't the first rodeo with model A's for any of us.

John
 
A person should have a multi meter around for stuff like this. The price on many of them are less than $25. I like the Fluke brand but many of the cheaper ones will do the job.

Set a meter on Ohms with a low value setting and it should have very little resistance between the terminal on the switch head to the spring loaded tip at the distributor when the key switch is in the ON position.
 
Ensure the armored wire from the switch to the distributor isn't screwed in to the distributor too far, grounding out the lower plate connection. Common mistake.
 
Put a jumper to the passenger side of the coil and the other end to the isolated lower dist plate. Hold it against screw that attaches the original condenser to that lower plate. That will bypass the ignition switch. Nothing but the jumper should be attached to the passenger side of the coil. Sure hope you have a test light to chase this all down. Good luck.
 
Disconnect the ignition cable from the distributor. Turn on the key and scratch the end of the cable on a head nut. If you get a spark you have continuity. Follow suggestions above. Put it back together if everything checks out.
 
Put a piece of paper between the points. Use a multi meter on volts setting to check voltage first at the points with the key on. If no voltage, work back to the ignition switch. Check voltage at the terminal box studs and both sides of the coil. GEt a wiring diagram and check voltage from the battery forward. It is pretty easy to do.
Once a problelm turned up that was hard to find. the end of the ignition wire from the key has that part that screws into the diestributor and has a rounded tip on it. Check voltage to the tip. One time that tip would either not connect, or shorted. If all else fails, screwing in the connector at different depths to find when the connection is right may reveal a problem.
 
Many years ago after my A had been in storage for about 8 years, I remove the ignition switch and cable. I then ran a hot wire directly to the distributor twisted the wire around the lower plate tab, the battery was weak so hand cranked her. After about 3-4 cranks it became alive!
 
Over the decades the primary cable insulation can go bad. Attach a volt meter to the open point arm and look for voltage. If you have it then everything in the primary circuit is good to that point. But, wiggle the cable near the distributor and see if you lose voltage. The cable can unscrewed and examined and it may show whether the insulation is good or bad. Also, as mentioned, don't screw it in too far so it grounds, a couple turns is all it should need.
 
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