1928 A, No Spark

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KSpencer4275

Junior Member
Trying to get my 28' businessman's coupe up and running after about 5-6 years of sitting. Ran excellent when I parked it last and took all the necessary steps for long term sitting.

Had a long road trip with her from California to Montana on a trailer two months ago.

Just started working back on her a month ago or so and haven't had any luck in getting spark.

Here is a list of components I have checked and replaced. Not really sure where to go from here.
1) Replaced points and set with a .018 gap
2) Re-timed
3) Cleaned and re-gaped spark plugs
4) Ignition Coil Replaced (Still on standard 6V system)
5) New battery
6) Carburetor Cleaned (Did not need rebuild)

So I am no means a good or decent electrician. I'm starting to think it might be an ignition switch problem or something with some wiring. When the key is in the on position the headlights and brake light wont turn on as the used to, also the horn won't go off either.

Amperes Gauge does not move either when turning over, stays stationary on 0.

The engine will turn over but I don't get any spark.

Any Suggestions on what to check next?
 
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Start by checking for voltage at all of the easy to reach points. Both sides of the terminal box, both sides of the coil and of course the starter terminal. If you have 6V there, turn the key on and check for 6V at the point arm, points open. If no, suspect the switch, the wire between the plates, or the armored cable screwed too far into the distributor housing. All easy to check, just need to be methodical.
 
Also, you might want to open the gap on the points up to 22 thousandths as they will close up during wear in. With 18 thousandths they will close up a bit and affect the running for sure. They might even close up enough for the engine to die.
 
I think the key here is that everything is dead except the starter. On a standard A the ignition key only turns on/off the ignition circuit. Does not affect Starter, Horn, lights, electric wiper - they should work even with the ignition key off.



Do you have a fuse? If you have a typical starter mounted fuse - a bad connection, bad fuse clip, blown fuse the starter works but all else is dead. Check fuse if installed, make sure fuse clips make good contact, remove fuse assy. from starter and check the backside of it for opens/shorts.



With or without a starter mounted fuse - check out the wire from the starter to the wiring block on the firewall, take the cover off the wiring block and check your connections, unscrew back part of the wiring block and inspect the wiring including what goes through the firewall.


.
 
Check fuse if installed
Click to expand...

Use a meter to check the fuse, check for power on both ends of the fuse, don't just "eyeball" it.
Yesterday I had a fuse (modern car) that looked good, checked for continuity w/a meter and tested good, but when installed it was NG, replaced w/a new fuse and everything was good.
 
katy said:
Use a meter to check the fuse, check for power on both ends of the fuse, don't just "eyeball" it.
Yesterday I had a fuse (modern car) that looked good, checked for continuity w/a meter and tested good, but when installed it was NG, replaced w/a new fuse and everything was good.
Click to expand...




X2, agree, was suppose to indicate that some cars have the aftermarket fuse option, some do not. Poorly written on my part.
 
Don't know how I missed the part where you said it was dead past the starter. I agree that the problem is most likely the fuse or fuse holder, assuming you have one. If the fuse is good jump the fuse holder and see what happens.
 
Update-
I had no idea that they had fuses on them. That was definitely the issue on why the lights and horn weren't getting power as well as the ignition coil.
She sounding like she wants to fire up now. But still having some issue's on getting her to actually fire.
Any advice for the first time getting her started after a long term of sitting?
Going to re-time her again later today to make sure I did it right the first time after that any advice would be extremely helpful!
Thanks
 
KSpencer4275 said:
Update-
I had no idea that they had fuses on them. That was definitely the issue on why the lights and horn weren't getting power as well as the ignition coil.
She sounding like she wants to fire up now. But still having some issue's on getting her to actually fire.
Any advice for the first time getting her started after a long term of sitting?
Going to re-time her again later today to make sure I did it right the first time after that any advice would be extremely helpful!
Thanks
Click to expand...


So you have lights, horn and spark now?



Before you take the distributor apart at all, take out the #1 plug and lay it at the plug hole so it still grounds and you can easily see the electrode. Pull out the timing pin and with the key on and spark up turn the engine with the crank until the pin drops into the dimple. You should see the plug fire right when the pin drops in the dimple. As long as it is close, your timing is set correctly.
 
You cleaned out the carb, did you clean out teh gas tank?

If it had old 5-6 year old gas in the tank, you may have clogged up the carb again.

Do you have a spare carb? If yes install it on the motor, hang a small container of fresh gas from the radiator support rod and run it into the carb. If it runs with a good carb and fresh gas, then you know you got varnish/rust/etc in the tank and/or a plugged up carb.


Sometimes just draining the tank and putting in fresh gas is not good enough.
 
If you choke it and crank the engine for a few revolutions the throat of the carb should be wet with gas. By sounding like it wants to fire do you mean it's almost catching? Coughing, spitting, etc?
 
So I finally was able to get a lil more time to work on her yesterday.

1) Ignition key works. Only read voltage off the ignition coil when the key is turned on.
2) Not sure what happened with the spark. I am not getting any anymore.
3) What would my next step be to get spark?
4) Got a fresh ignition coil wire to distributor as well.

Fresh gas is in the take. Flowing to the carb fine.

Any recommendations would be extremely helpful.

Thanks
 
ryanheacox said:
Start by checking for voltage at all of the easy to reach points. Both sides of the terminal box, both sides of the coil and of course the starter terminal. If you have 6V there, turn the key on and check for 6V at the point arm, points open. If no, suspect the switch, the wire between the plates, or the armored cable screwed too far into the distributor housing. All easy to check, just need to be methodical.
Click to expand...


If still no spark I stick by my first post. If with the key on and points open you have 6V at the movable arm the points probably need cleaning. I've had a problem with terminal on the wire between the plates grounding against the spring, very intermittent and very annoying.



This assumes you don't have the "wireless' plate setup which can cause a whole host of issues.
 
I tested the points this morning.
I got no voltage with them open or closed.
It is not the wireless setup. Stock setup.
I make sure the connection wire and condenser look good under the plates next.
I installed new points 2 weeks ago but just took off and replaced the points only. Didn't touch the condenser.
 
In that case I'd pull the condenser and check for voltage at the points, if yes then the condenser is bad. If no then it's either a bad switch or bar armored cable.
 
Good News!
Got her fired up finally!!!
Was the wire between the points and condenser that wasn't connected properly.

Only one issue now. She will idle for days but whenever I get above half throttle she starts to backfire a lil bit (not alot) but will die. Any advice?
Tried to play around a lil with fuel to air ratio since she did get moved from sea level to about 4,500 ft of elevation. But just only moved her a half turn.
Maybe the timing is a bit off and I should try to re-time her once more?
 
The carb idle mixture screw is primarily an adjustment for only the idle, should not have much to do with above slow idle/mid/higher RPMs. When it starts to have issues does adjusting the GAV knob make a difference?

Most cars run best between 1/8 to 1/2 turn open from full clockwise closed. A few cars may need up to a full turn open.
 
I would first lightly sand the contacts on the new points and open the gap to twenty thousands, If that didn't work , there is a good chance that the condenser is the problem .
 
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