No Spark..this is ridiculous..need help

A

Alex Dragone

Member
I have no spark. The car has no spark at the points. I dont understand whats going on. I replaced the coil, I replaced the ignition switch and I have a brand new distributor..I ran a wire straight form the power wire and into my distributor and it had spark at the points, but when I connect any switch it doesnt get any spark. Does anyone have any ideas?
 
Well, I just tried running the hot wire into the distributor again and I get no spark!!! I dont see what is wrong. I also took the plate off of the distributor and everything looks fine inside, the wire connecting the two plates is fine and the condenser is fine...
 
If you recently screwed the ignition cable into the distributor, you may have gone too far. If you twisted it until it bottomed out, that's too far. Back the head out two turns and try again. What happens is that the conduit end grounds the distributor and prohibits the spark from occurring at the points. While you are messing around with the cable, take it all the way out. With the key ON, touch the springy part of the cable (the end) against the distributor body. If it sparks, you're o.k. If it doesn't, the problem lies farther back, such as a bad switch or broken/grounded wire behind the instrument panel. If you do have spark when you touch the end of the cable against the distributor body, the problem then lies inside the distributor itself. But try backing the cable end out two turns first and see what happens.
Marshall
 
If you are just checking for spark at the point by opening and closing, maybe clean the points. A little grease or oxidization can prevent them from working.
 
Mike V has a very good hand-drawn diagram in his post - print it out and use it as a troubleshooting guide
With the points open (slip a piece of paper between them), and the key on, check for 6V with a multimeter along the entire path from #3 (in his diagram) out to the open points arm. Just over a year ago, I had an intermittent short in the distributor that was a real bear to track down and isolate. Along the way of figuring it out, I became more familiar with the ignition system than I ever was before. It wasn't fun at the time, but I'm glad to have the troubleshooting knowledge I have now.
 
Alex Dragone said:
Well, I just tried running the hot wire into the distributor again and I get no spark!!! I dont see what is wrong. I also took the plate off of the distributor and everything looks fine inside, the wire connecting the two plates is fine and the condenser is fine...
Click to expand...

What is the "HOT WIRE"?:confused:
The wire going into the distributor is actually the ground wire for the coil, as the points open and close the ground circuit. Also was th cast iron body of the distributor grounded when you checked the points for spark?:confused:
 
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