No spark?? Need some help.

[uncommon33]

OK, so I am headed home today and the car just stopped. No spark. It cranks, and I have replaced the coil, ignition, and distributor rotor and cap. Replaced the coil wire, still no spark.

I have 12 volts to the coil both cranking and with the key on ignition disconnected. It will crank. Still no spark. I have looked at the wiring diagram, and the wires from what I can tell no issues.

My question is could the ignition switch be bad, or is this just a three position switch, off, on, start? I would think that if I am getting 12 volts to the coil, I should get 12 volts to the points and condenser, or the two ignitors I have had in it. The one that it quit on, and the one that cam from a running engine. I have checked all of the coils, I get 2.5 to 3.2 terminal to terminal, then 8.9 to 9.5 negative to coil wire, and same for the other. I have 0 resistance through the rotor, the first one was bad I got no reading or continuity. The third one was the same as the second.

What am I missing?

Thanks in advance.
Mike

[my59]

Condenser?

Have points? Are they gapped correctly?

Is the wire to the distributor connected solidly?
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[Tdog71]

Power to coil, good. Pull main wire from center of distributor and expose wire. Hold wire near metal distributor cap side clip and crank engine. You should see a bright blue spark. Report results

[uncommon33]

Dizzy cap?

No points, ignitor.

[uncommon33]

I have no spark. Same thing for three different distros, rotors, caps and coils.

[Tdog71]

3 coils and no spark means you have a battery problem. Run a jumper from positive to plus side of coil from a running car and negative to chassis. Crank starter and see if she fires up

[uncommon33]

OK, it was the fuse. I replaced the fuse and it started up..... however now it is way to far advanced at idle, the idle is way lower than it was when it died. Now it is running at 650 RPMs and the advance is around 27*.

When I tried to lower the advance it back fires. When I take it further it just runs like duky.

If I pull any one of the wires from the cap it will almost stall and then it back fires from the cylinder that I pulled the wire from. Any cylinder.

I tried to see if I had put the distro in backwards and saw that you can only put it in one way. So that is right.

I am getting 11.99 volts at the coil and 12.56 at the fuse box.

It does this with both the Ignitor and the points and condenser. Two different distros, same results.

Why would it be out of time so far and backfire when I try to take it where it was prior to quitting? Prior to stopping today it was idling at 950 and the advance was around 7.5*.

Could the drive gear on the crank have slipped? I am guessing now.

Ideas? What is next?

[66brm]

What fuse? aint no fuse in that system unless............
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[uncommon33]

Yeah I know there's not suppose to be one but they wired it to the first fuse in the box closest to the column.

What about the time?

[EverettB]

Sorry I can't help with your second issue but I'm curious what was fused since you said you were getting 12 volts at the coil?

What did the fuse fix if you were already getting power to the coil?
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[uncommon33]

You know that is a good question. One of my friends and me tested it three times, got the same thing. I think I popped the fuse last night after I got it home. It arced and that was probably when the fuse popped. My wife was turning the ignition for me, and I noticed that I did not have power at the coil. I started digging and saw that the fuse was bad. Replaced it and it started up, albeit with the above conditions.

It is interesting.

[uncommon33]

Fixed.

Couple of issues.

Power: the issue boiled down to the wiring harness, the hood hinge and the speaker that I had installed earlier in the week. Because the harness is the original it has either shrunk over time or been shortened on the ends just enough to put tension between the hinge and the speaker. When the hood was closed it pulled on the fuse block just enough to open the fuse connection. Fixed. Removed speaker.

Second issue timing. Boiled down to plug wires backwards on the cap. Putting things together at night you can do that. Buddies can help find your mistakes. Thanks David.

Third issue cutting out. Thanks to John at Aircooled.net for pushing me to get off my but and check my floats! These had never been checked out of the box. After I found all of the other issues I pulled the tops. R/S float was litterally stuck open and did not have any movement. Initial reading was 25MM!!! Really, thanks Weber. L/S was not much better 23 MM with maybe 2 or 3 MM of play. Reset both to 10MM resting not upside down for the stop, and 35 MM drop. Now I get a steady high end with no loss of power and a top end of 75 - 80 MPH. . And it's reliable. Even better. Plus now I don't get the no more valve clack. I will hangs the oil this weekend and tune the carbs one more time and I should be good.

PS I left the points in.