[ramairthreegto]

The red ‘69 has been a fun driver for over a decade now.

It has the original distributor replaced with a GM later 70s HEI.

It decided to not start for me.

While in the way of the lift I needed for something else.

Great battery. RobMc mini starter turning like a boss.

Fuel seems to be getting into quadrajet.

Starting fluid sprayed in bowl does not fire.

I got out a timing light, clipped it to the battery and put the lead on a spark plug wire and while cranking the starter get no light activation while holding trigger.

I pulled a wire and put a test light plug on it and no light.

What’s my best, most efficient option?

New coil wire?

Get a new coil and install.

Just get one off the 50$ replacement distributor caps?

[Formulabruce]

Probably the cap, or rotor, start easiest first

[25stevem]

First confirm that the heavy wire feeding the dizzy is getting 12 volts, if it is Getting power then pull the HEI out because it sounds to me like the pickup coil went bad and the dizzy has to come apart to replace that.
I would not expect the other part ( the module ) to fail from just being shut down after the last drive, even though that’s a vague possibility.

[george kujanski]

Check the pickup coil for broken wires. Never had a module fail, but had a pickup go bad.

George

[67Fbird]

i would first be checking the 12v input, then the rotor-to-coil button, then the HEI MODULE, coil. If you have a DMM you can positively check each of these items...or throw money at it till it runs

[25stevem]

I can't see why the coil button would be bad if the motor was running good the last time he parked the car, but it is a quick and easy thing to test.

[Sirrotica]

Throwing parts at a problem is pretty expensive, plus the quality of new parts made of chinesium is questionable.

I trouble shoot problems before I spend money, and buy, and change parts needlessly.

In an HEI, rotors go bad and burn through most commonly, characterized by a discoloring if looked at from the bottom. High resistance older plug wires will force the current to seek the easiest path to ground through the rotor. Followed by a bad coil. Then the wires breaking in the pole piece would be third most common. Forth would probably be modules, depending upon who made the module originally.

A visual inspection would be in order, then a tug on the green and white wires going to the pole piece to see if the wires are broken internally. You'll have to have a volt ohm meter available to check further.

That's how a technician checks a no spark problem. A parts changer keeps buying parts, and changing them till they happen across the problem. Then they rationalize that all the other parts they changed without curing the problem were old anyway, and probably needed changing............

Sucks to have replaced every part in the distributor, and the car still doesn't have spark, only to find out the ignition switch is not passing current to it. FWIW, bad ignition switches contacts are fairly common in cars with locking steering columns of the same era as your car.

[ramairthreegto]

The HEI has a full 12V feeding into it.

I’m not sure how a 50$ part distributor counts as “throwing money into it.”

[Sirrotica]

The $50 HEI is made of chinesium, it's your car, so feel free to purchase whatever you want. Be aware that the $50 HEIs aren't known for longevity, or reliability.

Myself I would want to keep the AC Delco part in my car, and repair it, because it was made much better than the $50 unit was. Kinda like buying a Snap On wrench compared to Chung Fong forge wrench, they're both wrenches, but when stressed, and one slips, or breaks, and the other doesn't, you'll see the difference. But if you only work on things that aren't rusty and you never place the cheap wrench under stress, they both will work as designed.

“The Bitterness of Poor Quality Remains Long After the Sweetness of Low Price is Forgotten”.

[ramairthreegto]

So, with the pool all ready to go and everything ready to cook out later,
I finally got everything together.

I had, a car that would crank the starter, and no spark.
With a great battery. And full voltage to the HEI.

I threw on a new rotor and cap/coil.
Everything wired back up, turn the key, and ….

Starter won’t crank.

What the hell.

[george kujanski]

Take a break, have a happy fourth and get back to it tomorrow.

George

[F ROCK]

I love that car. that's a great color and a cool photo.
For me, it has ALWAYS been the module failing.
YES, the module often fails for other reasons, such as old wires; as Brad has suggested; But module replacement usually (Always) cured the no spark problem that I was having at that moment. I've also seen the rotor "Burn through" as Brad has also mentioned.
Folks will hate; but I put the points Distributer in all of my pontiacs.
I didnt like anything about the HEI.

[graygator]

This from post #7 "Sucks to have replaced every part in the distributor, and the car still doesn't have spark, only to find out the ignition switch is not passing current to it. FWIW, bad ignition switches contacts are fairly common in cars with locking steering columns of the same era as your car."

Especially now that you are having a 'starter - no crank' issue. Also, once that is resolved, make sure you have 12 volts at the power feed to the HEI both:
1) when ignition switch in the start position and
2) in the run position.
They are two different circuits.

[ramairthreegto]

Issue ended up being my “good” battery had sat for a couple of weeks wi the 8 track playing but volume down. Charged it back up and I have spark again. The new rotor and cap have it running like a champ

[Old Goat 67]

Funny how it's always that last thing you look at, huh?

[ramairthreegto]

It is, battery was great.
Turning the starter like a brand new battery.

But no spark.

Finally got around to dropping in a new rotor and putting on a new cap/module.

Then starter was not a lick of life.

I was like- damn, I know the battery is good to go.

Got around to testing it today.
Nope. Starting charging and then noticed payer had been left on.

Got it charged and good to go.