1953 Dodge with no spark

Hi everyone,

I am new to this site, but it seems to be just the place for my problems. I recently pulled a 1953 dodge 1-ton out of the weeds on my buddy's farm. It cranks over great and has good vacuum and compression. We have changed the coil, plugs, rotor, condensor, and points. We arent getting any spark past the coil. We get juice to the incomming side of the coil but no juice on the outgoing side. Any ideas or suggestions would be valued greatly. I have the cap on order, but the cap seemed to be in great shape.

Thank you,

Thomas

 

coil? by the way, welcome from another Mopar neighbor. I live in Warm Beach.

 

The coil is new, as well as rotor, plugs, and condensor.

 

Get a test light. Block points open with a bit of biz card,turn on ignition. Start by checking the test light to work ! Then start at switch side of coil,dist side of coil,movable point and then connect test light to both sides of the points. Where the light stops working is the problem.Could be where the power goes through the dist body or ground wire from point plate to dist body for a couple of ideas.

 

John,

Thanks for the advice. We put the test light on the starter side of the coil and get light, but on the dist side of the coil we get no light. So it seems that the power isnt making it from the coil to the dist. We ahve one wire comming from the starter to the coil. Then one wire from coil to outside bottom of dist, and then the Plug wire from the center of coil to the center of dist.

 

Here is a picture.

 

I ***ume you are just running a temp jumper wire from the starter? Same terminal as the hot battery cable? For normal operation the coil should be hooked to the ignition switch. Disconnect the wire from the coil to the bottom of the dist body. Then test at the coil and then the dist end of the wire and see what you get. If the light does not light at the coil terminal you have a bad coil,at end of the wire bad wire. Remember just because a part is new does not guarantee it is GOOD! Many Years in the parts biz taught me that !!!!

 

Yep ,thats a flat six engine alright . Does not show anything about the problem though.

 

John,

Thank again for your help. I will try that. We arent getting any light at the coil terminal on the dist side. I will try another new coil. I will update after that. Thanks again.

Thank you

Thomas

 

If you have the old coil, reinstall it.
What is the ground on the battery? Is it postive or neg. ground?
And is the coil wired correctly with that in mind? Maybe one of those was wired backwards.

 

ditto that, if the ground (positive on old MoPars) is not right, the flow is wrong through the coil. if you get ANY spark, it'll be weak. it's an honest mistake to ***ume that all cars run negative ground, though.... been that way a lot longer than it was the other.

BTW; i'll bet you a dozen internets that the old ****** will fire right off once you get a spark. the '52 i had did right off the bat, after gosh knows how long it had been sitting... well; long enough that the last two spark plugs had rusted off. replaced those and cleaned the points....

 

Yes we did try reinstalling the old coil. And yes it is a positive ground. We tried wiring the new coil backwards, in case the new ones are marked for the now negative ground precedent. Still nothing out the dist side of the coil. We get a nice solid light on the starter side of the coil at the coil post, but on the dist side of the coil there is no light at the coil post. Engine sounds great. just cant get the power to the dist to start throwing spark. New points, coil, rotor, condensor and plugs. Cap is in tomorrow morning. Thanks everyone for being so helpful.

Thank you,

Thomas

 

Your problem is going to be INSIDE your distributor...start by replacing the wire from coil to the points and be sure its not grounded out...

 

If there's no light at the dist side of the coil while cranking the engine, then the points are not opening, or the wire is shorted, or the condenser is shorted.

There should be battery voltage on the wire from the points to the coil, whenever the points are open and the key is on.

The coil should be marked + and - and you connect the polarity so it matches whichever way the battery is connected.

On positive ground, you connect + to the points (distributor), and - to the ignition switch.

With negative ground, - to the points and + to the ignition switch.

 

While it may not be the problem in your case, I've learned to suspect even brand new condensors after having gone through several to get one that worked properly on more than one occasion, and on more than one car. The quality control on condensors these days is atrocious at best, and non-existant at worst. I would rank new coils a little higher, but not much.

Good luck tracking down the issue, electrical is not my forte. You may also want to check in at the pilothouse forum over at http://www430.pair.com/p15d24/mopar_forum/index.php. All things pilothouse Dodge.

 

BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! learned the hard way

 

Check the wire as it goes through the housing as someone mentioned above.
I had spark at the points of my 56 Fargo, but it would not fire. Noticed the wire was weak where it went throught the distributor housing, tossed a bit of tape around the wire and it fired right up. Got home and replaced the wire and the grommet.

Worth a second look IMO....?

 

If you disconnect the wire from the coil + to the distributor do you get power going through the coil?

John, Jim and WBRW32 all pointed you in the right direction.

Are the points adjusted correctly with .020 gap when the rubbing block on the points is on the tip of one of the distributor cam lobes ^ ?

Are the lead from the condenser and from the coil to the points in the right place and not grounded out on the housing or plate?

Is the lead from the coil to the points in good shape and not frayed or damaged?

http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/521.cfm
This link is for cars but it has some info that might be useful.

 

is the coil wire fully inserted in the cap, is the carbon nib that shoots to the rotor in goood shape? Is the distributor cap correct for the dizzy. Are all the spark plug leads firmely in the cap? Mopar used 3 or four dizzy's that are interchangable as far as going from motor to motor, but you gotta get the parts by the dist number on the plate on the dist.

makes sure the wire going from the coil terminal to the points is in good shape and ot grounding agaist the dist body. The can look fine but they flex a lot and can be down to a couple strands inside the insulation that are still conected. and a new condenser is not necessarily a good condenser.