I have a fresh complete Ford 390 on my test stand with stock Ford dizzy . I was ready to start it and break it in. Having trouble with no spark at any of the 8 spark plugs . I used an ohm meter on the wires all is good….I have a great spark at the dizzy side of the coil wire Cap looks good ad well as the rotor so I narrowed down to condenser or points. Before I but another new set of them is there a way to test the condenser and points?
If you have spark at the coil wire and none to the plug's I would be looking at rotor cap and plug wires. Look close at the bottom of the rotor for burnt spot.
If the coil is creating a spark at the distributor side of the coil wire (while cranking) your points and condenser are doing their job. The rotor may be burned through or the distributor cap ****on may be missing or damaged.
New cap and rotor and they show no wear or any burn marks…Like they are not even being used when I tried to start it. Just like they came out of the box.
Figured it out ….Brand new distributor complete with the points, .condenser and rotor and the rotor was close to 1/8” shorter when compared to an old one I had…….go figure and from OReillys…..Distributor was the correct part just wrong rotor…Sure it was not US made…Thanks to all that replied
Could still be a crack right through the rotor so the spark can jump to the steel axle it sits on. New stands for Never Ever Worked, unfortunately the opposite of a guarantee it's a good part.
In the maliase era, the big three all shortened the tip of the rotor to force a stronger spark. Often when simplifying the half dozen part numbers for the same basic application, these later model parts were the default. Yes, that ****s. As said, the rotor will be the most likely failure through the center. One other thing to check is rotor phasing. Make sure the rotor is pointing as close to the cap terminal for the wire as possible, not too far back or forward, which may cause it to jump to the other terminal since it's easier to fire with no compression. Electrical will go the path of least resistance. This will be a compromise, because of timing advance.
This is the absolute truth. In the early Corvette world, the rotor currently available from GM (and the FLAPS) has the same part number as the one originally used. However, careful measurement will show that the tip of the rotor is at least .060" shorter than the originals. (As said before, this was done for emissions reasons.) I was lucky, because while my car would start and run OK, it would not reach the factory redline, starting to "break-up" at 1000 RPM below it. After several weeks of head scratching and perusing the Chevrolet forums, I discovered the cause of the problem. I took the easy way out and ordered a new rotor from a specialty manufacturer. A quick measurement showed the difference in tip length, and after installation of the new rotor, I had to be careful not to exceed the redline and float the valves.
You learned a valuable lesson with this one, Meaning when you Are checking things and you have spark here (End of coil wire from coil to cap) but not here= (end of plug wire) the issue is between them and he points, condenser and coil are working.
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