No Spark To The Plugs

So team just an update, I went out tonight and adjusted the dwell and the points. I also picked up one of those remote starts so I could watch under the hood (best $11 bucks I spent). After adjustment I turned the motor over and I had week spark between the points. I tried to start with no luck. After pulling the cap again I only have intermittent spark. I am waiting for the new points, condenser, cap and rotor. Any other suggestions would be appreciated
marty

 

I wonder what the quality of the points and condensers that are manufactured these days. In had a bad set right out of the box a few years back. I switched 1 Jeep to hei and the other to pertronix and never looked back. You may want to look into upgrading in the future.

 

Absolute garbage.

 

Set the point gap to the specified width (.016). Anything close will fire the plugs, although, varying the point gap will change the timing.
The dwell angle is measured by a dwell meter. It isn't necessary, but is handy for Delco distributors with the window in the cap.

 

Coil? Maybe?

 

I will rest the points to .o16 tonight. What would cause it to have ok spark when I started rolling and than almost nothing after I rolled it for a while. As I said I have points, condenser, cap and rotor on the way.

marty

 

Cracked or defective rotor, grounding the spark to the distributor shaft.

Ruined a vacation trip for me one time. It was a "new" rotor, showed no sign externally.

 

So just got back in from adjusting the points to .016. I also adjusted the connection of the condenser and coil. It started out promising with decent spark. I put everything back together and no luck firing. I pulled the cap off and again limited spark in the points. I also tried to make sure of a couple things, 1 made sure the with the points closed I grounded off the - side to the block and opened the points. It had spark when I opened the points. I also run a direct wire from the battery to the positive side of the coil to bypass the wiring an no difference. Waiting for the new parts to arrive and hopefully that will help.
Marty

 

If you can put a spark plug in your coil wire and get better spark than you can at the end of the plug wire, the problem can only be the cap, rotor, or wires.

 

Condensers are mostly junk nowadays. Had 6-8 failures in the 3-4 yrs that I used the F head. Also had a NAPA brand coil fail on me almost exactly as you are describing your spark condition. It would idle rough, would not rev up. The spark got weaker and weaker to the point it died. Cool for a few minutes, and same over again. Coil was probably 3yrs old.
Good luck!

 

So as I was doing some investigation on my hook up for the points. I think in my removing of the points condenser an disconnecting the coil I may have missed a step. I am not sure I have the connections on the distributor plate correct and I may be getting a ground. I have 100 pictures of everything else but I didn’t take a picture of the distributor with the cap na rotor off. On the f134 spare engine (this is a 6 volt) it looks like there is a small separator on the wires to the mount. I have the points, condenser and coil ground all hooked together with the bolt (see picture). Any thoughts ?

 

Verify that with the points open, the condensor does not ground. And that when they close, it does.

 

Thanks, this may be a stupid question but how do you suggest I test the condenser to see if it grounded?

 

Looking at your photos, I don't see a copper contact strap in the points arm. I see a steel spring strap only.

 

Looks like on the end of the coil wire it has a clip. When I took them apart I may have lost the strap?

 

so the point gap is .016? i thought it was .020, and that's how i've been setting it. that may be causing my issues.

 

I checked the condenser and it tested ok. So I rearranged the wiring on the plate I. The distributor. I know have good spark to stare and it get a little weaker the more I roll it. I am pretty sure it is the rotor or cap so waiting for the parts, they should be here tonight. Thanks again for the help.

 

So interesting thing, I left the battier hooked up an the coil got so hot I was unable to touch it. Not for sure what is going on now. I must have a wire crossed or something but please let me know your thoughts.

 

That will happen if the points are closed for an extended time. Their whole purpose in life is to ground the coil intermittently.

Testing for ground, or power, is easy with a 12volt test light, or a $20 electric test (AVO) multimeter. Vital tools.

You really need to own a Factory Service Manual, if (for instance) you don't know your point gap.

 

Thanks, I went thru and cleaned my grounds just in case. I will make sure not to leave the ignition on while I’m working. I have a tester and used that to check for ground. Thanks an I will post once I gets the new rotor an cap.