Turning over but won’t start-slight electrical short

M

Mabel1930

Junior Member
Turning over but won’t start-slight electrical short

Hello all,
I’ve been in the garage all day with my ‘29 trying to figure this out; took a bumpy road the other day and the car shorted out. Came back to life but today shorted out again and now won’t start at all. All electrics work but when I turn the key on the pop-out, I show a 2-3 amp draw. Seems no power is getting to the coil as it shows no spark when on the starter. Anyone have experience with a similar problem or a bad coil? The current coil is only about 5 years old- all wiring is good and also checked the distributor bottom plate- all checks out. Could the coil have gone bad?
Thanks so much for any thoughts!
Mark
 
Re: Turning over but won’t start-slight electrical short

Job #1 would be to put a volt meter on the coil studs to see if there is voltage there. Be warned many a good coil has been changed in a effort to solve an ignition problem. Should be able to trouble shoot fairly easily. A loose wire in the junction box or on the amp meter is an occasional problem. Pop-outs are sometimes problematic. They are designed to ground when off - maybe yours is remaining grounded when turned on. Good Luck.
 
Re: Turning over but won’t start-slight electrical short

Here is a video that should help you. The second half pertains to your problem. Search YouTube for “start that Model A 2019” and it should come up. Just because you hit that bump did not cause your coil, or any other part to go bad. Don’t change anything until you chase down the problem. Good luck.
 
Re: Turning over but won’t start-slight electrical short

Is there a trick or anything I should specifically look for in repairing the pop-out or is it better to just replace it if found to be grounding out?
 
Re: Turning over but won’t start-slight electrical short

There's typically no such thing as a 'slight electrical short' - The 2 to 3 amp draw you are seeing sounds normal for your ignition coil. You are saying no spark when on the starter.. not sure exactly what you are doing. Assuming you mean no spark when trying to start. Troubleshoot the problem.. In my opinion if no spark look at distributor / point setting. Could be that the points are not opening enough to generate spark.
 
Re: Turning over but won’t start-slight electrical short

Points may need to be cleaned or replaced. It happened to me when it lost spark while cranking with the starter. It fired right up with the hand crank though.
 
Re: Turning over but won’t start-slight electrical short

Seems to maybe be the pop out switch. I put a 1930 style armored cable on and bypassed the switch and the car fired up.
 
Re: Turning over but won’t start-slight electrical short

For those that might not know this:

If you had to loosen a head nut, even for a short time, to remove Popout be sure nut is tight.

Note:

In future always drain radiator before loosening that nut so coolant does not get into the oil pan.

Oil will be milky white after running if coolant got into oil!
 
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