All of a sudden no spark

Went to jump in Willie yesterday and would not start. I had just driven him the other day with no issues. He always starts right up, even after sitting for a month. The only difference was the cleaner contraption was off to clean, paint, etc. Turned over normal but no go. Pulled carb cover and getting gas, choke working, etc. squirted a little starting fluid and still not. Then pulled plug wire and no spark. None on coil wire. Where should I start? Would a coil just die with no warning?

 

Are you getting power to the coil, with ignition on? Are the points clean, adjusted, and functioning? Do you get a HT spark from the coil if you manually open-and-shut the points?

Start with establishing the basics.

 

Yes, be systematic. Power to the ignition switch? Check. Power to the coil with the switch on? Check. Power to the coil when the engine is cranking? Check.

If the points check out, I would next test continuity in the coil. You should have a very low resistance between the plus and minus posts on the coil. If that checks ok, yo can borrow a coil from another car and try it.

Just keep eliminating unknowns until you find the problem.

 

Check all grounds first.

 

Gotta heat out of town this morning but gonna try to get the test light and check basic coil stuff before I leave.

 

Is rotor turning...?

 

Had the wire from the distributor to the coil fall off for no decernable reason one day. Musta been loose, or the nut on the post was any way.
Stuck it back on, tightened the nut and away we went.

Could be?

 

Systematic is the word, and patient.
It happens also to owners of new Rolls, Porsche...

 

If you follow this, step-by-step, you will find your problem.

No Spark?

 

Will go thru steps when I return. Before I left I did make sure coil getting power and points working. Did not ohm it out as in hurry. First thing the other day was to make sure all wires on, etc.

 

i had this exact problem occur 19 years ago. Same fix, same result.

 

I had the same thing happen while on a color tour with about ten cars, the Jeep just stopped running. I pulled over to the shoulder, about three guys came to help, I opened the hood, the first guy said your hot wire to the coil is off right away, sure enough it had fallen right off, another guy said you should have put an eye on it instead of an open end connector. I told him it was factory, while wiping down the motor, I turned it and loosened it and it vibrated off. Fixed it and had a great cruise.

 

Wish mine was that simple

 

I had this happen once before while I was driving. Going down the road just fine, then it just died. Ended up being the ignition condenser had gone bad. Might check that also.

 

The only way I know to test a condenser is to make a loop in the wire, hold the loop, charge it up and yell 'catch' as you toss it to a friend. If he jumps, screams, throws stuff at you, then it's good. If he says what's this, it's bad.

 

Actually, if you have an old multimeter that is not digital (like a Triplett or a Simpson 260), you can check the condenser fairly easily. If it is shorted, you will read a very low resistance value across it. Normally, you should read a fairly high resistance and the value will keep changing as the condenser charges. If it is open, you can test the condenser with the meter leads connected one way and then switch them around and you will get the same reading, or close to it. If the condenser is good and you do this, the value should climb as you hold the meter leads on it. If you then change them so the polarity is opposite, you will get a lower reading and then it will start to climb as it charges in the opposite direction. Of course, if you have a capacitance meter, like a good Fluke multimeter which will actually measure condensers, (capacitors) then all this means nothing. I have them and they work great.

 

If you test it as shown above, be very careful handling it after test. The internal batteries in these testers charge that condenser pretty good so mis-handling that condenser afterwards may knock your D&%K in the dirt.