So I changed motors in my 32 and had no problems before that. Tried to start for engine break in engine turned over fine but no start. Checked for spark and no spark to plugs. I do have a remote solenoid that worked good before and I didn't change anything there and I do have power going to it.. I checked my Ign. switch and there is power to Batt post ( 4 post GM switch ) finally checked coil and there is no power to coil put multi meter on coil post and nothing . Everything else works fine headlights, taillights, brake lights, turn signals, dash lights but no spark to plugs ???? Thanks
That would indicate a bad ignition switch. Jump it from batt post to ignition post and see if it has power at the coil. Did you maybe pinch a wire on the ignition side?
First: what is between the ignition switch and the coil that may have gotten disturbed? If you can reach the switch with a test light, do you have power at the ign post on the switch with the key on? Yes _____ No______ . If yes, follow the wire to it's next connection and test it again and keep following it out to the coil. If it has a ballast resistor check both sides of the resistor. My experience says that ballast resistors that have been used for a while don't survive having wires tugged on all that well at times depending on the design of the resistor. If it is an ignition with a ballast resistor, did you hook the resistor bypass wire back up? If you swapped distributors and coils for a setup that doesn't use a ballast resistor does your ign switch put power to the ign post when you are cranking. Some switches rely on the resistor bypass to provide power to the coil when cranking and only send power to the coil in the "on" position. The old it doesn't fire when I crank it but some times fires up when I quit cranking it thing.
Yes I do have power to all post on starter switch except start ( st ) With key on I have power to + side of coil but not to spark plugs ??I also have power to distributer
Not sure how your car is wired, but does the starter have a terminal for bypass of the resistor? This is a generalization, but many older cars were wired so the coil got full battery voltage from a terminal on the starter while cranking. Maybe you put the wires on the starter improperly.
Power to the coil . What kind of engine snd ignition ? with swapping the engine maybe something decided to die during the swap .
I installed a Chevrolet Performance crate 350/357 h.p. Yes there is power to the coil and I also checked power to the distributor at the ign. module. I already had a new ign. module on hand and switched them. I have a wire from the large Batt. terminal on the starter to the S terminal is this correct ??? There is no resister in this wiring. I also have a remote Ford type solenoid.
So which is it? On your first post you have no power to the coil, now you state you have power to the coil. Which is it? If it’s an HEI do you have a tach hooked up? Disconnect it. If you have power to the + side of the coil/hei and no spark, you have a bad Module or coil. But you have to be more accurate with your information to get accurate advice. How about you start with what type of ignition you have. Pertronics, MSD, HEI, points, separate coil, coil built into the cap, you have to help us help you.
The S terminal runs to the start position on the ignition switch and has a resistor on the Ford solenoid circuit. The I terminal jumps to on position on the switch and splits to the coil. Joe
Sorry my fault should have said earlier that the testing tool I was using to test coil etc. was broke and not showing any spark. I have the small cap distributor with Ign. module mounted underneath body of distributor which I changed today with a new one I had on hand already. It has the rotor and magnetic wheel / reluctor under cap. Yes I added a tach and as per instructions hooked one of the wires to neg. side of coil which is on the firewall. Had a 5 gauge panel and wanted a tach. so over the winter installed a 6 gauge panel and two weeks ago installed new motor hooked everything back up had wires labeled so I wouldn't rely on memory and you know the rest no spark to plugs. Thanks I appreciate everyones help.
Have you checked to see if you are getting 12 volts to the coil or are you using a test light? A quick and dirty way to check would be to run a jumper wire from the battery + to the + terminal on the coil and jumper the solenoid from battery + to the S terminal on the solenoid. Remember, as soon as you put power to the S terminal the motor is going to crank so be ready to unhook the jumper. On a Ford solenoid you can usually just use a screwdriver to short across the lugs from the battery + to the S terminal. This procedure is known as "hot-wiring" in case you are a law-abiding citizen who has never done such a thing. We're just a bunch of hoodlums here so it comes naturally.
did you try unhooking the tachometer? I have seen tachs that have gone bad and kept cars from starting. The module and coil are not the only components in an elec ign. it could be a bad pickup coil in the dist. When I was a mechanic in a shop back in the 70's when HEI's were new there nothing but problems with those things. the vac advance is turning the breaker plate back and forth thousands of times. this causes the wires going to the pickup coil to break.... just another thing to look for. If it was my car it would still have points and I would be out driving it
The rotor could have hole burned in it, the end of the rotor could be rusty, the center post inside the cap could be bad. Just a few things that could be the issue.
Just a thought; do you have power to the coil while the engine is cranking? Is the gap between the reluctor and pickup coil correct?
x2 on trying to unhook the tach. I had a no power past coil problem that had me stumped. As a last resort, I unhooked the tach and the 327 in '27 Ford fired right up.
The tach is brand new from Autometer yes I unhooked the tach wire which I had hooked to the - side of the coil being an HEI I probably should have attached it to the Distributor, still connected under dash. Inside of cap and rotor look good. Welding cable ground from motor to frame. Is the reluctor something you can replace ? Neutral safety switch was working only turned over in park or neutral but that has nothing to do with spark. What gets me is it started fine before the new engine install. Thanks for sticking with me
Just curious here. there is voltage present at the distributor in the run position (key switch on). Is there voltage present in at the distributor in the start position? If there is, I would throw another distributor in there that you know works and get on with breaking in the engine before you wipe out a cam lobe. Just saying....
The Jalopy Journal
