Technical Need help from the ignition gurus.

So, this is on my P.O.S. O/T daily. I've been stranded at home all week becuse of this thing, so before I part it out and crush it, heres whats up. NO SPARK. Heres what I've tried so far: (I have lots of extra parts.)

-5 different coils
-2 different coil wires
-3 different sets of points
-3 different ballast resistors
-2 different distributors
-3 different distributor caps
-3 sets of plugs
-ran power straight to resistor
-ran power straight to coil
-2 different condensors

So, after trying all of this, theres still no spark, theres nothing ignition wise that I havent replaced at least twice. To me, this seems 100% physically impossible. Is this the twilight zone? I'm about to s**** this car just based on the fact that its some twilight zone ****.

 

Does the rotor spin when you crank it over?

Where are you located? There may be someone close by that can help.

 

Simple. Your battery is dead.













And you need to give a lot more info to get intelligent help.

 

No spark, not no battery.

 

No spark straight from coils even when jumped to straight power and using multiple different coils and wires. This makes no sense to me at all.

 

There is nothing better in a situation like this, than having someone else, that you know to be knowledgeable regarding ignition systems, have a look at it.
It has to be something simple and obvious. Did you wire it up directly from the battery, and byp*** the wiring from the ignition switch, to eliminate the wiring as the problem? Has the wiring ever been altered or repaired?
Did the problem start after some routine maintenance? If so, go back and review every thing you did, and any wire that may have been touched.
Did you check the voltages at the fuse box? I have had a situation in an older vehicle, where the fuse was good, and the wire to the hot side of the fuse had become loose.
Bob

 

Posts like this is why our Governor stopped the sale of alcohol at 5:00.

 

Tried putting a bulb in line to the points connection from the battery, and pulling the motor round with everything clipped on?
Bulb should flash- if it does, you should get a spark between the points if you flick them with a screwdriver- if neither then check the points for continuity and/or short. I've ***embled 2 sets wrong in my formative years and kicked myself when neither set worked...

 

5 AM?
Bob

 

First things first. Is the distributor turning when you crank it?
Do you have voltage at the coil both with the key on, and while cranking cranking?
Can you see a spark at the points while cranking?

You need to methodically test the ignition system, not throw parts at it.

 

Something you have not defined as replacing or not . Rotor and condenser . Is it electronic controlled or point style . Are you moving “ new “ parts from one distributer to the next ? There have been some great suggestions pointed out to you to troubleshoot your issue with also . Just because you buy new parts it doesn’t have the same meaning as it did when we were young .

 

This is why I prefer to diagnose a problem first, rather than throw parts at it. By now you have things so loblollied you will have to start from scratch and check everything step by step. Even then it won't take long, or cost much, compared to what you have done so far.
Let's start with the basics. What kind of car is it? Does it turn over? Are you getting current to the coil?

 

Yes, rotor and condenser replaced, 3 times each. There is power to the coil, not only from the ignition switch, but also hooked it up to one of my emergency power switches that I use to plug into things when I need to send 12v to something straight off the battery lug on the starter, still nothing. I did think of something while I was in the shower though, (Thats when I think of things.) IF there is a broken circuit either in the (-) wire from the coil to the distributor or inside the distributor its self, then the points wont short, which wont trigger the coil and there will be no spark no matter what. The car was randomly losing spark like this a few days before I took it apart, and in Colorado Springs rush hour traffic, thats a big deal.

Also, yes, its points ignition, I also put the electronic ignition back in and still had no spark, so that makes it even more confusing because that completely eliminates the resistor, points, condenser, (-) wire, cap, rotor, etc. from the equation and still no spark.

It's definitely something that I've never experienced before. I also really didn't "Need" to take the car apart, but I wanted to take the fuel injection off and put my dual carb intake on, which I did. I tinkered with it for a while, and the last time it started, it ran perfect, I shut it off, tried to start it again and no spark, then I checked literally every AGAIN on the ignition system and theres still no reason that I can see for the no spark situation, but at least it has dual carbs now I guess.

 

How about you tell folks about the kind of engine you have in your ‘62 automobile.

FWIW, taking a wire from here to there does not verify you have voltage there. So other than replacing stuff, have you actually done any troubleshooting?

edit: I see what you have in your ‘62 now

I had one similar but a few years newer, treat it like a SBC ignition, get a meter, test light at a minimum and do some voltage checks

 

Third time's the charm!

 

Oh ****.
"Loblollied"
That has got to be the 'word of the week'.
Lets get back to whatever the problem was tomorrow. I can't think straight right now. I'm a little loblollied.
I'm just so happy to have a new cool word to use.
Thanks Rusty.

 

Being a former high school shop teacher one of the things that we did in cl*** was get the points out of adjustment so that they didn't fire so the students had to troublshoot the problem.
I don't ***ume that someone asking questions on here know anything about how a car works or working on one until they show that they do.
Have you set the point gap by bumping the engine over until the rubbing block on the point arm is on the tip of one of the lobes of the distributor cam as pointed to by the blue arrow on this photo?


Then did you set the gap to the recommended specs? I've gone out to fix too many worked on it and won't start rigs where the guy set the point gap with the rubbing block on the flat of the cam and the points never close.

If you are getting power to the coil with the key on but not when it cranks you are going to have a resistor byp*** wire even if you don't see a resistor. There is normally a pole on the solenoid for the byp*** wire. If there is none because the solenoid/starter was intended for a rig with electronic ignition you are going to have to figure how to wire one in. That could be as simple as putting a push ****on under the dash with a hot wire to it and a wire to the coil. Put it where you can reach it with the hand that doesn't turn the key easily so you can use both hands to start the rig, one on the key one on the push ****on.

 

Start with the starter switch. I had a faulty one that would turnover, but would drop the voltage to the coil in when I went to the start position. When I would release start, the hot wire to the distributor would then have voltage. Is it a stick or an automatic? Automatic, check the neutral safety switch. Is the wire leading from the start switch hot when you are turning the starter and also when in the start position? Make sure your wire from the battery to the starter switch is showing at lease 12V going IN. If all this stuff checks out, then go into the coil/distributor. The bad starter switch (and it was brand me new) drove me nuts for several weeks.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I like to troubleshoot things dealing with electrical components. Is it possible you have lost a ground to the engine ?

 

Back up a ways was a good clue. Years ago I soldered two wires to one of those bulbs that go in the light in your headliner, can’t remember the number. Then I put two small insulated alligator clips on the ends of the wire. I built this to time my OT 900. But I used it more to check problems just like this. You can clip it to the points side of the coil and to a ground, and see it it blinks. Yes, your points are doing the job. No, you have a problem. Check to see if the bulb lights up on the +side of the coil.
I also use those little alligator clips to clip directly onto the points theirselves.
Also on your deal check and make sure your condenser wire is not touching metal where it connects to the points shorting it out.

Sometimes the connections going into the disturber can be shorted also.




Bones

 

This

 

If you lost the ground to the engine, it wouldn’t crank.

If he has 12/6 volts to the positive side of his coil, his problem will usually lie from that terminal back to the disturber, somewhere.




Bones

 

Two spots in the dizzy sometimes get over looked EZ= The ground wire from dis/points plate to dis. main body= no spark. And the the power wire between points and coil goes through the dis. body,some designs has a transfer block going from inside to out side dis.< that can be shorted . If it is grounding out,zero spark,often coil get hot=if that happens
.
Just ideas I don't see noted

 

The dizzy itself may have lost it's ground from the engine, with the engine still having a good ground. In this case it would still crank.

 

That would drive you bonkers! Lol








Bones

 

So, we are dealing with some kind of gasoline car engine with carburetors and points ignition. You have power to the ignition. So far, so good.
Next step, if you connect a 12V test light to the points, does the light flash on and off as the engine turns over? Are the points opening and closing? Is the gap somewhere near correct?
If the light flashes on and off the next step is to connect a spark plug wire directly to the coil and see if the plug fires. The plug must be clean and grounded to the engine, the metal part resting on the engine should do it.
If the coil is firing next step is to check the distributor cap and rotor, and see if all the spark plugs are firing.
After that it is a matter of checking the timing, being sure you are not 180 degrees out, and the plugs are wired in the correct firing order.
There are a hundred things that could go wrong from dirty plugs to a loose wire but if you check step by step you will soon track it down.

 

Well said, I didn’t want to type that much! LOL







Bones

 

It might help if he told us what kind of car and what kind of engine but I can work around that. The point is to learn to diagnose the problem step by step. Once you learn that you can diagnose, and therefore fix, almost anything.

 

You are right as rain! He is missing something somewhere.






Bones

 

It's an old word, I never knew how old until I looked it up just now. The oldest meaning goes back to 1595 and means porridge, a thick stew or a mudhole. I used it in the meaning of mucked about or messed up. Apparently it is also a kind of pine tree found in the southern US and can also mean a lout.