Help out the mechanically retarded. Coming back from the grocery store in the poncho and all of a sudden she sputtered a little bit and shut off on me. rolled on into a parking lot and couldn't get the thing to spark again, the starters going but thers no firing going on, checked the distributor and everything in it still looks brand damn new, which seemed a little weird to me since as far as i know it hasn't been replaced recently. So what the hell should I be checking, the alternator was just put on not long before I bought the car 4-5 months ago so I'm hoping it's not that. So what should I be looking for? Alternator, coil, or what? I know I need new plugs and wires but I don't think that would make it shut off and not start again all of a sudden.
well we need a little more detail. because we are standing next to your car with ya. what engine doe you have / Stock dizzy or hei did you check the grounds? are you getting spark out of the coil? will it crank over? did you try to start it from the voltage regulator?
Just happened to me too. This is how I started to track it down: First make Sure you've got gas. (And I'm not being a wise guy here..) Then try hooking one lead of a test lite or meter to the terminal of the coil where the skinny wire goes to the distributor, then turn on the key(but don't turn over the engine)and touch the other lead to ground. If you've got lite or voltage you've got power that far and you look to the dist or condenser. No voltage means start looking at your switch & connections under the dash.
stock 389, only thing that's been upgraded is the alternator, and wiring harness. Coil ground should be good, checked it out and everything is where it should be and the wire appeared to be in good shape. Didn't check the spark, but I tried to see if the coil had power going to it, but didn't know what I was doing when i did it so I dunno really if it does or not. I checked the wire going from the alternator, and the one that goes back through the firewall to either the box or the ignition. I dunno what the***** I"m doin' so...I"m just wantin' to know what i need to do when i go to my brothers house in the morning to try to get it goin' again. what do i check and how do i check it? Like I said, I don't have a lot of mechanic know how, I'm still figuring that***** out.
well first off its not the atl for thats your charging system not your ignition.second check if it is copper points sometines there not pressed together right or get pinched and they are gone no spark anymore.check if there is power comigt out the - side while the key is on .oh did it start spuddring first b 4 it died may be codenser but probally not .maybe the coil or coil wire also .good luck
If it cranks over ...don't bother with any thing to do with the charging system. next ..what is the engine and does it have points or lectronic ignition.fatchuk
[ QUOTE ] How do you check if the coils gone AWOL? *interested to know...!* cheers MAIKI [/ QUOTE ] Pull the coil wire and spin it over, if sparks jump out of the tower, it aint the coil. Primer, aside from lookin' to see if they're burnt, turn theswitch on, then take a screw driver and open them, they should spark. Of course not sparking could be from a bad coil. On a points system I've seen a bad condensor keep one from starting. It shouldn't keep it from running though. Just a thought.
Didja check to see if the rotor's turning? It's possible you coulda sheared your distributor drive or if you're really unlucky maybe even a stripped timing gear or busted chain, but that would likely be accompanied by a horrible noise.
how about you call Click and Clack on NPR, they always have the right answer with almost no information. or you could get someone that knows what they are doing to take a look at it. from what you describe it does sound like either a fuel or an ignition problem, verify spark like said already, either at the points or the plugs, then check fuel, pull the air cleaner, is the choke stuck? is there icing? I had a buddy that had a car die like that on a cold day, I opened the throttle and could see a big ball of ice in the intake, turned out the exhaust crossover in the manifold was clogged with carbon and without a warm manifold the refrigeration effect of the evaporating gasoline was freezing the moisture in the air, making a big ball of ice right under the carb. I poured hot water on the manifold to thaw it and drove it home to pull the manifold. water in gas is also more common in cold weather... Paul
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