Technical SBC 283 no spark

Hey Guys, I can't seem to troubleshoot a problem....

I have a SBC 283 with a Pertronix Ignition.

This car ran all last year. It ran Saturday fine, Sunday I go to start it and it runs for :20s then quits.....and I haven't been able to get it to run since.

-I have no spark at the plugs.
-I have voltage at the + side of the coil when I turn the key on.
-When I put a test light in the - side of coil and crank engine the light blinks.
-When I put a plug into the wire that goes from the center post of the coil to the distributor, put the plug it into the dist. end of the wire and ground the plug I have spark when the engine is cranked.
-When I plug that same wire from the coil to distributor into the dist. I get no spark to plug wires.
-New cap and rotor, new wires last year.

I am not sure what else to check.

Thanks in advance.
Kris

 

If it fire while cranking but not will running it is most likely your ignition switch, put the switch in the run position and check voltage on the ignition wire terminal of the switch. Contrary to popular belief switches go bad and they have no special way or time to do it.

 

Did you change the cap and rotor after the no-start appeared or do you mean that you changed the cap and rotor last year when you changed the wires?

Is there any sign of oil inside the distributor?

 

porknbeaner, Ill try it and let you know.

onetrickpony: new cap and rotor after issue. tried it as a solution. no oil in dist.

 

Sounds like a similar problem I had with a faulty condenser. Do you have spark at your points?

 

Sorry read that too fast. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure it's the petronix module. Did you happen g o leave your key on at one point? Do you have a reastat in line with the hot wire?

 

Porknbeaner: I have 12v when I turn the key on the ignition wire terminal.

Master of None: I followed the procedure below which I found was posted a while back by someone from Pertronix. It checks out as still being good. It goes from 12 to 0 volts as the dist. rotates.

1. Connect a jumper wire from the Ignitor Plate to battery ground.
2. Connect the Red wire from the Ignitor to the battery positive terminal along with the red lead from a volt meter.
3. Attach the Black wire form the Ignitor to the black lead of the voltmeter.
4. Move or rotate the magnet sleeve in front of the Ignitor Module, the voltmeter should vary from battery voltage to 0 volts and back.
5. If it does not, then you possibly have a burned out Power Transistor or a failed Hall cell.

 

Is it possible that the engine just flooded and fouled the plugs? Was there any black smoke as it ran the last time? Choke stuck, maybe?

 

I don't know squat about Pertronix Ignitions so keep that in mind...

Does it start & run but then die when you put it in gear?
I had the same thing happen in my '57 and it turned out to be the ballast resistor.
Do you have a ballast resistor? If so, might be it.
Just another thing to maybe look in to.

 

Bad rotor or the dist. isn't turning,

 

You said you had spark, but do you have a good ,strong spark , pull the coil wire out of the dist. & hold the end about 1/2"+ away from a good ground , have someone crank it, should be a sharp blue spark w/ an audible snap , if not , you're probably saying 'bye to your coil..
dave

 

If you have spark on the coil wire going into the distributor cap and no spark coming out, it narrows it down to the cap or rotor. Look for corrosion on the cap terminals, carbon tracking from the center terminal or a hole or carbon track in the center of the rotor.

 

Take the cap off, sometimes the rotor will fail.

 

Seen rotors go bad and ground out the coil spark to the dist shaft. Like someone else said, look very carefully for carbon tracking.

 

This is really common with the cheap Chinese HEI distributors. Check the underside of the rotor and you can see the tracking marks easily.