Will not start

J

JBohannon

Senior Member
Well having a tough time starting 29 A. Tried it this morning for first time in a while and ran for about 5 seconds then nothing. I have to own up to something I used a 12 volt charger because it was cold. Now it seems I have no spark at spark plugs unless I am not grounding them correctly. How can I check coil spark? I do have sparking at points when cap is off and ignition on. I have put in new coil, points, condenser and plugs. I notice the 2 points "post" or where they both meet for spark do not line up very well. Anyway can I take coil wire and check it for spark?
 
Thats not a good idea 700. He may have a heart condition that your procedure will not help.
 
Key on, cap and rotor off, hold coil wire about 1/4" from block, open and close points with a screw driver, spark should come out of coil wire. Or if you have someone crank it over results will be the same.
 
To test for spark take the coil wire out of the top of the distributor and hold it about 1/2 inch away from a head stud. Do not hold the end of the wire. Crank the engine over and you should see a good spark jump across the gap.
 
If you have sparking at the points and you are not getting the coil to jump spark to the plugs then make sure while cranking you are getting sparking at points with cap off. Also try swapping out rotor and cap some are defective. The points only need to connect and disconnect to get the coil to spark.
 
JBohannon said:
Well having a tough time starting 29 A. Tried it this morning for first time in a while and ran for about 5 seconds then nothing. I have to own up to something I used a 12 volt charger because it was cold. Now it seems I have no spark at spark plugs unless I am not grounding them correctly. How can I check coil spark? I do have sparking at points when cap is off and ignition on. I have put in new coil, points, condenser and plugs. I notice the 2 points "post" or where they both meet for spark do not line up very well. Anyway can I take coil wire and check it for spark?
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Are you saying that because the weather was cold you used a 12 volt charger on a 6 volt battery?
If so, I can only think of 3 problems that might cause.

1. Start something on fire

2. Ruin the battery

3. Fry the charger

I've experienced all 3 over the years, and that was even with using the correct voltage to charge the battery. That's why I don't like to leave a battery on a charger unattended. If it's unattended, then put it outside where it won't damage other things if the battery explodes or the charger catches on fire.:eek:
 
If you're getting big sparks at the points, your condensor is bad, you should only be getting small sparks at the points.
 
wmws said:
To test for spark take the coil wire out of the top of the distributor and hold it about 1/2 inch away from a head stud. Do not hold the end of the wire. Crank the engine over and you should see a good spark jump across the gap.
Click to expand...
The jump you mention should be your feet leaving the ground momentarily. That's when you break the circuit.
 
Thanks Everyone for help. What I meant was I use a portable quick start 12V battery box to help start. I will not do that again. My question is do you think that would have ruined the coil ? I also think I have a weak battery so I may replace it first.
 
I doubt it would have ruined the coil unless you left it on for several minutes.
If the coil has current flowing through it (key on and points closed) I've seen a 6 volt coil used with a 6 volt battery go bad after 30 minutes. It happened to a guy in our club when his engine didn't start and he forgot to turn the key off.
 
I was trying to start a newly rebuilt engine with a weak 6v, that didn't spin it, so I used a 12v just to crank. I would pull it off as soon as it started. I ended up damaging either the coil or the capacitor, or both. Got a new battery, replaced the coil ect, and everything was fine.
 
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