Elect. Gremlin #2 or why doesn't my engine start?

Terry NJ

Terry NJ

Well-known member
I spent the last few days getting a working distributor! I found one with a shorted lower plate and replaced it. Slowly and carefully I checked each step with meter, does it conduct? Should it conduct? are the points open when open and conductive when closed as it should be. I used both the ohmmeter and the volt meter. Replaced the distributor and timed it! Next I tried to start it and rrrrrrr, The engine spun over smartly but it wouldn't catch fire. To make a long story short, This happened several times with me making a small adjustment to something or other each time, and a check on the points to see if they had current. All seemed well! 6V at the points when they were open!(key on)Continuity when closed. But still no spark! Also, when I took The plug out to check TDC for the timing, it as dry, despite the carb. leaking . It's a separate problem but I thought I mention it.
Terry
 
No, I didn't check the coil wire. I will do that tomorrow. Yes the rotor was installed (2 time, but I did forget it once. But it made no difference, it still wouldn't throw any power to the plugs. This is the weirdest thing, I drove it up onto the ramps about a week ago and it hasn't started since. I had to roll it off the ramps. I've gone over everything (except the coil wire) and I'm getting POed. I can't think of anything else to check and everything seems OK, yet no fire to the plugs. And no spark at the points! The meter reads 6 V but jumping them with a screwdriver does not produce a spark as you would expect ??????
Terry
 
Terry
Make sure your ignition switch terminals are insulated from touching / grounding on the gas tank. I just had one in that had an int issue like this and that was the cause

Mitch
 
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Do you have a solid wire for the coil wire?
Carbon is for modern cars, and over the years I've seen carbon burned away from the ends until the spark no longer jumps the gap.
 
Mitch//pa said:
Terry
Make sure your ignition switch terminals are insulated from touching / grounding on the gas tank. I just had one in that had an int issue like this and that was the cause

Mitch
Click to expand...
also if your using the cheap $10 ign switches I can guarantee one of the terminals is loose. When you've been swapping distributors you did put the lower shaft back in correct?
 
Make sure the armored cable is not threaded too far into the distributor, I've seen the bus bar (metal tang) distort, bending it to make an intermittent short inside the distributor.

Just FYI
 
Mitch//pa said:
Terry
Make sure your ignition switch terminals are insulated from touching / grounding on the gas tank. I just had one in that had an int issue like this and that was the cause

Mitch
Click to expand...

I own that T-shirt also, and it was a nightmare discovering what the problem was. It hadn't even scraped all the way through the paint.
 
No, It's the $50+ nu-rex (?) job that Snyder sells.



SeaSlugs said:
also if your using the cheap $10 ign switches I can guarantee one of the terminals is loose. When you've been swapping distributors you did put the lower shaft back in correct?
Click to expand...
 
I will attack it again later. One of my cars has a rubber pad glued against the gas tank as an insulator, I can't recall which one, I think it's this one though.
Terry
 
Terry said:
No, It's the $50+ nu-rex (?) job that Snyder sells.
Click to expand...

They are really good switches, and the same one i had ground... move the dash panel back and retry to start it..

Disregard if you already insulated it when it was installed
 
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Terry, what colour are the points? I had the clip dislodge at the light switch as well. When this happened it fried the points. Hope this helps. Jeff
 
Aloha,
Condenser? My car was running fine, then started to backfire and running rough, before not starting at all. Changed the condenser and everything was fine again.
Cheap enough just to replace it just to make sure.
 
One thing on checking voltage, current (amps) plays hand in hand here. If there isn't adequate current available, then checking a "no-load" connection for voltage doesn't tell you much. High resistance connections may very well show proper voltage... until it needs to pass enough current to do the job.
 
I put this together for running an engine on my little test stand. Later I decided to keep this together as a test setup, maybe even carry for an emergency. Totally eliminates the electrical system of the car.
 

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Terry, when you checked for 6 volts at the points where did you connect the ground terminal of the meter? Twice I have seen friends with your problem and they used a head stud nut for the ground. The problem turned out to be a bad ground to the distributor caused by a combination of paint, rust and oil.
 
I have a Condenser tester. It's an "Orbit 2" Simple little thing, even I can figure this thing out! Just plug it in (110V), the light goes on. Connect the two leads and if the condenser is OK it will blink, the faster the blink rate, the more micro farads, at least I think that's the way it will read for you. The Condenser I'm using in it is new. I buy them two at a time.
Terry
 
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