Hi all, First post on here, I found this place while searching for help today and it had some really good threads. I'm looking for any advice on next steps with my issue. I'll try to be brief but a lot of weird stuff happened so going to try to share it all. My current problem is that I appear to have no spark or fuel. Context: I drove my 1974 c10 on Friday and then on Saturday morning it wouldn't start when I had to go to work. I knew right away that something was off, because although it's a little cold blooded even when it doesn't get running it's still getting closer, either catching for a bit or spluttering or what have you. On Saturday morning I tried for a bit but I knew that something was up because there was nothing. No catching, no spluttering, absolutely nothing. While at work this weekend I ordered some parts and so today I went and put in new Points and Condenser. The Distributor Cap was arriving sometime today. I figured it'd be fun to experiment and see if either the points or condenser fixed anything. Which they didn't. I went in to the part's store and picked up my Distributor Cap + Rotor. While I was there I got an ignition coil as well because the one on there is looking pretty old and I figured if the cap and rotor didn't work then I could save a trip and just have the coil and hopefully get it running. With all these parts still absolutely nothing. At this point I began searching the forums online more in depth and came across this place. Saw that the distributor shaft not spinning could be an issue. While I was waiting for my hired help to get home from work I decided to check the carb and I had absolutely zero fuel in the line. Girlfriend finally got home and the distributor is indeed turning, however my points were not opening and closing. I tried holding the wire from the coil against the block and did not see any spark at all. Upon further inspection of the points, the hole is stripped for the bolt that holds the points in, which I remember I barely got that on last time I did it. I have 5 volts at my Coil and since it got dark out and mosquitos I was able to call it a day. I really am not sure what do do tomorrow. I guess I am going to try to re-thread the hole for the points. I'm also going to put some more gas in because I can hear it sloshing around but I think it is low and I am on a hill. It ran fine while I was sitting in the parking lot, just feels super weird and more things are breaking than I seem to be able to fix in time. I did need the truck today too since my dad was visiting from Florida and now I'm stranded and fixated on the issue for the time being. I didn't do the plugs or wires because I just feel like there is more of an issue going on here. I don't think all my plugs and wires would have gone bad at the same time. They're pretty new and nice AC Delco ones. I'm gonna be really frustrated with myself if I just needed more gas, but it doesn't make sense because it was running fine in the parking lot. How did I go from no spark to now no gas too? TLDR: New: Condensor Distributor Cap Distributor Rotor Points Coil 5 volts at coil Also no gas, -_- Sorry for the length of this post but I don't want to leave out any important details. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Does the valve gear move when you are cranking? (you may be able to see it through the oil filler cap hole) . If it does, have you tried a bit of gas down the carb? Do you have power at the coil "+" terminal? You should really do the fault-finding before throwing a lot of new parts (and money) at it, hoping it will blast back into life.
I am not sure but I will try to check tomorrow through the filler hole and will try the gas regardless as well. I have power at the coil +, but it is 5 volts so I don't know if that is suspicious or not. I talked for a while with the Napa guy but the more he talked the more confused I got and it kind of seemed like he was saying if I had 12 I would have no resistor and if less than I would have a resistor. If I have one I couldn't find it from searching before, not sure if the resistor would mess anything up Yeah ... I think I'm done buying for the time being. Already bought most of all of it anyway Thanks for the reply
It sounds like your current problem is the points not opening. You need to get that fixed before you fool with anything else. You don't want to create more problems. It would have been nice to have checked for spark before you started changing parts. Then you would know if that was your initial problem or a new problem you just created with the stripped screw.
I do have enough, currently. I wish I had checked too lol. re-threading the hole for the points is first on the list for tomorrow thank you for the input
I don't know much about these engines but do they use the fibre cam gear that likes to shear off and stop the cam from turning?
If the distributor turns when cranking then the next thing I'd check is for excessive side play between the distributor shaft and the housing. It will be best to check this with the distributor removed and the housing chucked up in a vice. Check the side clearance in at least a couple different clock positions. (12 o'clock to 6 o'clock, 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock, etc.) This was not an uncommon failure for Chevy 6 cyl distributors of this vintage. Earlier models originally used two shaft bushings, one each at the top and bottom of the housing. Somewhere along the line, as a cost cutting measure, they were replaced with a slightly longer single bushing mounted midway down in the housing. The single bushing often wore prematurely with the I.D. of the bushing taking on a vaguely hour-glass shape from top to bottom. With enough wear and added side clearance the point gap would eventually decrease to next to nothing, or no point opening at all. And the stalling or hard-start issues tended to get more noticeable at cranking and lower engine idle speeds. If you did get the engine started cold (choke on and idle bumped up) the distributor shaft at least tried to somewhat center itself up in the worn bushing, the points would open and close kind of like normal and would allow the engine to run. Until it didn't. If the idle dropped below a certain point, like normal idle speed, the engine would stall and again become difficult if not impossible to restart.
Well, I got it running. Or perhaps I should say that it started running. Today I was able to rethread the hole for the points. Got spark and fuel and still nothing. Tried gravity feeding the carb. Nothin'. then when I was checking spark at the plug with my girlfriend cranking it shocked me and so I dropped it and at the same time it started running like a champ (on the 5 cylinders). Not really sure what was ever the initial problem. Hard to describe in words but it is running better than it ever has, starting easier, and shutting off smoother as well. I suspect that loose points bolt was causing issues the whole time I've owned it. Time for a freeway cruise--
It's a late as in 63 and for a few years Chevy six that should have pionts in it. That means that you need to check the points. aka contact set. This is an older six cylinder chevy distributor but the concept is the same. You have make sure that the contact surface on the points is clean and you have to make sure that they are opening and closing. what I want you to look at is the blue arrow that is pointing to the contacts at the end of the arm. note that there is a gap between them that should be about .016. then look at the red arrow, note that the rubbing block on the point arm is in contact with the the exact tip of one of the lobes on the distributor cam. This is how it must be sitting when you measure point gap. If the contacts look a bit crusty you can clean them up enough to have them work with an emory board or folded piece of fine sandpaper. Points are good for 10/15 K but not much more. They can burn up if you forget and leave the key on. Come to think of it, you want to make sure that the rotor is turning when you crank the engine as the fiber timing gear Crank the engine over and make sure that the rotor is turning smoothly. Those fiber gears get old and loose teeth. When you put the replacement coil on did you make sure that it went on with correct polarity. on that engine the + Positive post should go to the wire from the switch while the - negative post should go to the distributor. Coil polarity is always the same as the battery's polarity. NOTE!!!!!! do not change more than one thing at a time when you are trying to figure it out. Last and not least, it does have gas in the tank and gas is getting to the carb? My 48 has a 75 Pontiac Ventura 250 in it that I put a lot of miles on.
If you need to replace a fiber cam gear you can go to the truck side of the parts book and get an aluminum one.
Overseas produced condensers are of poor quality get some spares. Should have 6-7 volts at coil with truck running may show 5 if battery was a little low full battery voltage when key is in start position. Glad that 64 is running now
Ha Ha.....Had the same problem once.............Sheared cam gear........ BUT, the distributor still turned....... A real PIA!
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