[Blone]

I went out to start my car today to move it for street sweeping, if you don't move it they will ticket you. It fired up, ran for about 7 seconds, then suddenly died and I could not get it started again. It is as if there is no spark. A while back I temporarily wired the tach light to turn on when the engine is running, when the car died, the tach light shut off as well. The engine is getting fuel, but just in case I used some starting fluid, and it still wouldn't fire. I checked the coil with a volt meter and it has 6volts going to it. Where would be the first place to look for these symptoms?

Of course I put a note on my car saying it wouldn't start, and the assholes still gave me a ticket.

[J_JAMNIK]

If you are still using the points distributor (since you have a 6 volt coil) I would check the single black wire from the dist to the coil and the resistance of the coil. You will have to check the primary and secondary resistance with a ohm meter. The primary resistance is between the two screw posts. You need to set the meter to the 200 ohm setting (or lowest setting). You should get between .4- 1.1 ohms of resistance. The secondary resistance is from either of the screw posts and the coil discharge (the area where the coil wire to distributor cap is. Make sure there is no corrosion in the coil tower where the coil cable is. Set the ohm meter scale to 20,000. Your reading should fall between 6,000- 11,000. If there is no problem here I would check the cap and rotor, especially the center carbon pile button that contacts the rotor. Also check the botom of the rotor for carbon tracing. Sometimes the spark will jump through the rotor to the distributor. Heavy black powder is usually a good sign of this. Another possibility is that the breaker plate that the points are mounted on sometimes contact the wire from the coil which acts like the points are always closed.

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Originally Posted by Blone

A while back I temporarily wired the tach light to turn on when the engine is running, when the car died, the tach light shut off as well.
I checked the coil with a volt meter and it has 6volts going to it.

If it has points, make sure there clean and breaking like their suppose to.

Tach may have shorted out, un-hook it and see if that helps.

As mentioned above, check lead wire from (-) post on coil to points.

[Blone]

Originally Posted by J_JAMNIK

If you are still using the points distributor (since you have a 6 volt coil) I would check the single black wire from the dist to the coil and the resistance of the coil. You will have to check the primary and secondary resistance with a ohm meter. The primary resistance is between the two screw posts. You need to set the meter to the 200 ohm setting (or lowest setting). You should get between .4- 1.1 ohms of resistance. The secondary resistance is from either of the screw posts and the coil discharge (the area where the coil wire to distributor cap is. Make sure there is no corrosion in the coil tower where the coil cable is. Set the ohm meter scale to 20,000. Your reading should fall between 6,000- 11,000. If there is no problem here I would check the cap and rotor, especially the center carbon pile button that contacts the rotor. Also check the botom of the rotor for carbon tracing. Sometimes the spark will jump through the rotor to the distributor. Heavy black powder is usually a good sign of this. Another possibility is that the breaker plate that the points are mounted on sometimes contact the wire from the coil which acts like the points are always closed.

Originally Posted by "QUICK-SILVER"

If it has points, make sure there clean and breaking like their suppose to.

Tach may have shorted out, un-hook it and see if that helps.

As mentioned above, check lead wire from (-) post on coil to points.

I managed to get the car started, the tach light worked. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but the condenser on the coil was not hooked up, I don't know if it had rattled loose, it could have not been hooked up the whole time, even when the car ran fine. At first, It was difficult to start, felt like it wanted to fire, but just wouldn't catch, then eventually started. It could have been flooded though, from the multiple attempts. I drove it around the block, parked it, and immediately tried to start it again, it was difficult to start, almost fired up, but wouldnt. Tried it again, and then it just started clicking, and wouldn't turn over (another issue I have been chasing for a while now). It was never that hard to start, usually it just fires right up without the hesitation, but since the car died out of nowhere this has started.

The distributor, points etc are new, and the car has not been ran very much at all since then, so I don't think it is carbon tracing.

[george kujanski]

The condenser on the coil: is it hooked up to the coil + or - terminal? Is there a condenser inside the distributor connected to the points also? If there's one inside, it should be connected to the same wire that goes to the coil - , and the one outside the distributor should be connected to the coil + or not used. The outside one is to reduce static for the radio.

George



George

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Originally Posted by Blone

The distributor, points etc are new, and the car has not been ran very much at all since then, so I don't think it is carbon tracing.

New doesn't count any more. I've put NEW in cars that were running and had to put the old back in to get them to crank. So at least check them.

Was the lose end on the radio capacitor laying where it could have grounded out the coil (+) wire? AND, if it was lose enough to fall off, how tight was the other wires? Lose enough for NO crank or weak spark?

Check out ignition components thoroughly; coil connections, points, etc.. Then charge battery and start over.

Look into 'IGN 2' function while you're at it, it's the 12 volts for cranking and can come from switch or starter depending on car.

[Blone]

Originally Posted by george kujanski

The condenser on the coil: is it hooked up to the coil + or - terminal? Is there a condenser inside the distributor connected to the points also? If there's one inside, it should be connected to the same wire that goes to the coil - , and the one outside the distributor should be connected to the coil + or not used. The outside one is to reduce static for the radio.

George



George

The condenser on the coil is hooked up to the - terminal on the coil. The condenser inside is also connected to the wire that goes to the - terminal.

The car ran fine before, everything is hooked up correctly, but ever since the car died that one time, it has been difficult to start. I am wondering if it is getting loaded with fuel. When I start the car the first time after sitting for a while (cold or even slightly warm) it seems to start right away, if it dies then it becomes difficult to start.

[Blone]

Originally Posted by "QUICK-SILVER"

New doesn't count any more. I've put NEW in cars that were running and had to put the old back in to get them to crank. So at least check them.

Was the lose end on the radio capacitor laying where it could have grounded out the coil (+) wire? AND, if it was lose enough to fall off, how tight was the other wires? Lose enough for NO crank or weak spark?

Check out ignition components thoroughly; coil connections, points, etc.. Then charge battery and start over.

Look into 'IGN 2' function while you're at it, it's the 12 volts for cranking and can come from switch or starter depending on car.

Thats the wierd thing, the condenser wire was not hooked up, wasn't grounding on anything, and the coil (-) wires were tight on the post, so I think the condenser was not even hooked up (a mechanic installed the distributor, and my have neglected to hook it back up and i just didn't notice it), if it wasn't hooked up, the car ran fine without it.

I did notice the spark from the coil wire was orange, indicating a weak spark, but the spark at the plug was blue, indicating a stronger spark.

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Unhook the condenser at the coil. It's a radio capacitor and will run without it. For radio static only, has nothing to do with ignition spark. It's suppose to be hooked to coil (+).
Having it hooked to coil (-) is like having two condensers hooked to the points and could definitely make the coil spark weak. Especially in run position where power is resisted.

Curious about your 6 volt reading and how you hooked the tach light to only burn while running.

This one should be as easy as it gets.
Knock on wood

Get the gap/dwell checked on those points.