[Slider]

So I finally hit the point of turning the key, which hadn’t been done in 25 years. The car has sat in my dads garage the whole time like a time capsule, covered in dust.

Fast forwards to tonight after 2 year journey. New brakes in rear, all new lines, power disc conversion up front, gas tank boiled, radiator boiled and core replaced, all new fluid front to rear, cylinders inspected, oiled and spun a ton of times to make sure everything spun freely. Put new battery in, few gallons of fuel and it was time to wake the neighborhood up. But it just didn’t fire. Got no spark.

Got power to both side of coil but it’s not flashing when cranking it over. Pulled cap and points are not stuck. They seem to he opening and closing fine.

Whats next guys? Do I swap a set of points? What am I missing? I know car was running when parked

[Greg Reid]

Condenser shorted to ground?

[dataway]

If you have power to the coil and no spark, bad coil or condenser. Remember, only two things needed ... fuel and spark. (assuming it wasn't parked because of a slipped timing chain)

[Greg Reid]

Years ago, I got a no-start when I placed the distributor cap back in place and tightened it down not realizing that I'd pinched the condenser wire between the cap and the distributor body.

[Squidward]

Try checking volts at the coil + terminal with the key in RUN, and with key in START. You should have 7-9 volts in RUN, and 12v in START. That should half-split the issue to go after the coil/distributor, or the ignition switch/wiring.

[Bill Hanlon]

Originally Posted by Squidward

Try checking volts at the coil + terminal with the key in RUN, and with key in START. You should have 7-9 volts in RUN, and 12v in START. That should half-split the issue to go after the coil/distributor, or the ignition switch/wiring.

That 7-9 volts in run would only be true with the engine running. Yours doesn't run. With the key in the run position it should be 7-9 with the points closed and 12+ volts with the points open.

Your "power to both sides of the coil" may also be a bit suspect. While turning over (either cranking or running) voltage at the - side of the coil should be rapidly changing between 12 volts (points open) and zero volts (points closed). Most analog voltmeters (with a needle) will sort of average out the reading while digital voltmeters will bounce around a lot.

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Rake a screw driver blade between the point contacts and see if you get a spark out of the coil. 25 year old used points should have corroded some. Just some fuzzy white is enough for the points to not make ground.

Clay

PS, And do make sure the rotor button spins when you turn the engine over. Especially needs checked if it has the original timing chain and gears.

[Formulas]

Your going to want to put in new points, condenser, cap,rotor,coil,plug wires and plugs anyways more than likely every one of those are marginal if they are good at all.
As an exercise in troubleshooting i would do points and condenser first making sure at the same time the coil wire to the points is not broken or insulation flaking off and so on

[Slider]

I’m getting battery voltage on both sides of coil as I checked last night with test light but thus morning with DVOM. When cranking the voltage is dropping down into 8-9 range. No spark from plug wires or even the coil directly.

I had planned on putting all new stuff in there when I got it running, plus rebuild carb, but I didn’t want to change anything until I got the tank and lines flushed. To me changing 20 things and then it not starting would have left me more perplexed. The car ran fine when parked ( always the story but in thus case it was my dads so I know the history on the car).

Time to head to parts store for some stuff.

[torqhead]

Originally Posted by Slider

I’m getting battery voltage on both sides of coil as I checked last night with test light but thus morning with DVOM. When cranking the voltage is dropping down into 8-9 range. No spark from plug wires or even the coil directly.

I had planned on putting all new stuff in there when I got it running, plus rebuild carb, but I didn’t want to change anything until I got the tank and lines flushed. To me changing 20 things and then it not starting would have left me more perplexed. The car ran fine when parked ( always the story but in thus case it was my dads so I know the history on the car).

Time to head to parts store for some stuff.

Totally agree with not just changing a bunch of parts, no matter how old they are. Too often people do this and start to run out of money before the get to the "real" problem. Based on what you said, sounds like a coil and that's where I would focus!

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Originally Posted by Slider

Got power to both side of coil but it’s not flashing when cranking it over. Pulled cap and points are not stuck. They seem to he opening and closing fine.

Test light would blink if coil (-) power was getting/going to ground through the points.

Clean the point contacts

Originally Posted by Slider

I’m getting battery voltage on both sides of coil as I checked last night with test light but thus morning with DVOM. When cranking the voltage is dropping down into 8-9 range. No spark from plug wires or even the coil directly. .

Steady 8~9 volts is probably normal voltage drop from the starter being engaged.
Digital meter should be jumping from 0 to 12 (or available voltage) while turning the engine over.

Clean the point contacts.

Raking a knife blade or screw driver between the point contacts should make the coil fire if that is the problem. If force firing doesnt work with the contacts....Check that the breaker plate is grounded good.

If the coil is good it will spark when you make then break ground.

Clay

[PunchT37]

You can disconnect the coil completely from the car to check it. Run 12 volts with an alligator clip to the pos side. Run a wire from the neg side to ground. Put another wire or a small screwdriver or such, in the center tower. Ground and unground the neg side. Every time you unground the neg side, you should hear or see the center tower fire. If it doesn`t, the coil is shot. This rules out the points and or wires. And does rule the coil in or out.

[Peter Serio]

Something to keep in mind when buying new ignition or electrical parts for a 50+ year old car.


The quality of parts available for your ignition system today are a far cry from what those used to be, say 20 or 25 years ago. Points distributors have not been used in new GM cars since right around the year 1973 or 1974. Everything sold at car parts stores for any car this old is going to be made cheaper & out of thinner metal and/ or nylon or plastic.
You will often see a modern aluminum alloy; that or cheap brittle plastic used in place of what once was made from steel or self-lubricating Ivory colored nylon. You can't expect new stuff to last as long either, even if it works at all when you first put it on your car.

On an engine I built a few years ago; I had it all apart anyway. I went ahead and "bench tested" my distributor & coil set-up before I put it back (timed) onto my new engine. I set my dwell at 30 degrees while spinning the distributor using a cordless drill.

Just wanted to make double sure of a quick start up to break in my new cam.

As a side note one of the things I do look for during the summer-time at swap meets are older AC Delco bubble carded or national store brand packaged service parts "tune up kits." If you go back in time about 25 or 30 years these store tune up kits were made 100% in the USA by reputable parts companies and then packaged expressly for each store with the store's name printed right on the package.


Some people will use them (un-opened) for display but I can tell you that they are much better parts (quality) than anything you can buy today.

[Schurkey]

Originally Posted by "QUICK-SILVER"

Test light would blink if coil (-) power was getting/going to ground through the points.

Clean the point contacts


Clean the point contacts.

Thank you.

[TedRamAirII]

Originally Posted by Schurkey

Thank you.

X3!. If you take a jumper wire and connect it to the - on coil and then scratch the other end to ground, and you have spark, the points being corroded/dirty is your issue.

[Slider]

I give up and throw in the towel. This thing has got the best of me. Put new coil, points and new condenser (after installing an old one dad had stored in trunk). I even replaced a large section of the wire from dist to coils as I was sure I found it when I closely examined it and found what I believed was a break in the wire (it was kinked and intermittently losing connectivity with ohm meter).

But Nada......no fire in the hole still.

But if I ground the coil it sparks. If I open and close the point I get spark. But cranking it over I get nothing. Rotor is spinning not that it matters as I’m not getting anything out of coil. Only thing I can think is I’m losing ground inside dist but loosened ground screw and tightened back up which didn’t help.

Might be time to call Skip White, get HEI Dist, and get this bitch running. Then I got time to get the original dist rebuilt.

[Bill Hanlon]

When I have this problem I look in my pocket for the rotor.

[flat-bill]

what are your point gapped at? Billk

[LATECH]

coil wire.

[Slider]

Originally Posted by LATECH

coil wire.

It’s new also (I had one from another vehicle) and it sparks pretty hard when grounding coil)