got a 55 caddy, (its a 12 volt car) trying to get it to start, motor/starter all turns good, gettin gas, gettin air,have all new coil, plugs,wires,cAP,rotor, and points and condensor. Also, new ballast resistor, its the 2 post ceramic, not sure about the wire set up, but i have 2 leads coming from the switch on one side of the resistor, and a wire from the other side of the resistor going tro the coil (hot side), also have a lead coming from starter solenoid (thats only hot when cranking, for 12 volts to start and power from resistor afterward) going to the hot side of coil. Also the coil appears to be "case-grounded", and it IS (appears to be) grounded thru the case to the intake where its bolted. all this and i get no spark at the cap, meaning i pull the high tension (rubber wire (new)) from the cap, hold it against somethin metal, and NO spark.......... Any ideas or help? Ive tried all the basics, and dont know what ohm/resistance level to benchcheck the coil to, so i cant really tell ya for sure the coil is good, but its brand new, so i assume so (haha)
you have the hot runing to the coil, but do you have a wire from the neg- side of the coil to the dizzy?
Are the points opening and closing? What is your voltage reading to the positive side of the coil? Do you have a non powered test light? If so ground it an touch negative side of coil and crank engine....if it flashes you have a bad coil or coil wire..if it doesnt flash you have a condensor,points or ignition supply voltage problem to the distributor. Scott
i have the wire from the neg side of coil going to distr. , yes. also i updated some personal info to avoid the "hail storm" haha, is that what u meant?
points are opening & closing, i did not try the test light on the neg side while cranking, my "test" was pullin the coil wire off cap and looking visually for spark.
voltage reading to hot sid eof coil is rite about 12.8 while cranking (due to the wire coming from starter)
Put the test light on the other side (-) of the coil and crank the engine...... It should flash...... 1. if it flashes...take the secondary wire from the top of the coil and place an other wire in it to near a ground and crank the engine to see if you are getting a spark. A> if its sparks then the problem is in the coil wire. B> no spark- bad coil 2. no flash - no light - bad set of points or the wire from the neg. post of the coil to the points is bad. 3. light but no flash. points are not working right or condenser is grounded Had the same problem on a 2N I helped restore in high school. I went back out to the barn after supper and put the old set of points back in it and it started. NOTE: Even if you have all new parts does not MEAN that one may be defective!
checked neg side of coil with test light while cranking, test light did NOT flash, so we will assume the condensor is bad, odd though as it is new but i know that doesnt mean jack. just 2 b sure , we are talking about the condenser attached to the points yes?the coil has a capacitor/condensor attached to the case of it via the hold down bracket but it is supposedly only a radio noise suppressor
this may not be your trouble but on my 63 buick i had the horn relay go bad would not start.replaced relay started right up.just an idea???
also ; reading "ricksgarage" post, i know i DO have continuity in the wire from the neg coil post to the lead on the distributor, i did check that previously. Also just wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all you guys for the help and ideas, i really appreciate it; no kiddin
ok ok ok back it up. you need to understand how the system works. ok the constant hot "run" from the ignition goes to the ballast, then from that to the (+)coil. from the coil(-) to the distributor(which is the points) where it goes ground in the engine. when the points open the coil charges, and then when they close it fires the coil. ok so to test this, you bump the engine over till the points are shut and leave the key on. put a wire on the coil with a plug or spark tester on it. take a screwdriver (and without touching the ground) open and shut the points manually youll be able to look at the spark. if its sparking you put the wire in the distributor and run all the wires. put a spark plug or tester on one of those wires. if you get no spark, the cap and rotor are bad. or the coil wire isnt in far enough ect. if you are getting spark, it might be 180 degrees out of rotation. reset the rotor by taking the distributor out or flip the wires around.
hotrodstude, on some of the older GM's the power to the ignition / coil resistor comes off of the horn relay. Your relay burned the internal power link when it went bad.
"hotrodstude" i think the horn relay IS bad cause it clicks and clunks everytime i hook/unhook the battery, and actually with the battery hooked up and just turning the wheel, it clicks like you keep "beepin" the horn, also it gets hot as hell just while the battery is hooked up. I tried 2 look into all the "relay" type stuff, but hard to guess when i cant even get it to start haha, but from the looks of things the horn relay is next in line after the generator, i just figured that was way down stream of my "spark issue", ill try anything at this point !! haha : )
THERE is NO power on the negative side of his coil. Either his points or one of the condensers ( whoops I forgot about the radio suppressor) is grounded. NOW disconnect both condensers. Do you have a flash or power now on the negative side of the coil? Check and make sure your distributor housing is grounded. (I know....long shot) RECHECK the wire from the (-) coil terminal to the points. The plate in the distributor that hold the points should be grounded.
As long as you have power to the (+) side of the coil WHILE cranking, the horn relay is not a factor in this problem.
ill go rite now and check the ground on distributor plate , housing, and crank it with the condensors unhooked and let you know brother
okay distributor housing and plate are grounded, also the wire from neg side of coil to dist/points is showing a good ground. I have to wait on the little lady to get a free second and she'll crank it for me and i'll let u know about the test lite status with condensers unhooked. heres another question, do you know the sequence of the wires on this ballast resistor/ again its a two post, rite now i have both leads from the "switch area/harness" coming from the firewall on one post and a wire going to the hot side of coil on the other post, is this right? that thing gets smokin hot! i know they get warm but this one is "burn your finger rite now to the touch"
Did it work before you "fixed" it? Been a long time since I've seen a 55 Caddy distributor. I recall the points having an insulator riveted to the base and the wire and condenser mount to a screw in that insulator. It was possible to have the wire or condenser lead ground out on the rivet. Does that have a ground lead that goes on the point mounting screw? I had a guy connect the ground lead to the points on a forklift when he forgot where the leads came from.
with the radio suppresor unhooked and the condensor (points condensor under cap) when i put test light on neg side of coil the lite flashes while cranking (it did not light up just by contact, only flashed while cranking)
dude you dont need someone to crank it for you. listen to what im telling you. leave the key on, pop the dizzy cap off, open and shut the points and the coil will fire, you will see sparks at the points too and it will make a "SNAP" noise. you dont even need to worry about the ballast resistor. you can wire the coil up to the (+) side of the battery even. you can even test the coil by touching the same (+) side wire to the post on and off when the points are shut. the reason i said before what to do is always how you diagnose problems, you go down the line from ignition to plugs. if you have power coming from the key, you should have power coming out of the resistor. if you have power coming out of the resistor, you should have power at the coil, if you have power going into the coil, and no power coming out of it, that is where your issue is.
ENGINE MAN; just got the car the other week, got the floor pans fixed and started tinkerin under the hood, supposedly when i got it , it hadnt run in ten years but ran when they parked it , u know how that goes.... so i havent had a chance to "fix it" yet bhaaa hahahaha points do have a phonolic insulator on the base but no ground lead on the point mounting screw. I will have to check and make sure im not touching that rivet, good thought brother; thanks
The ballast resistor is getting hot because your points are grounded, maybe because they happen to be closed. If you open the points and put a piece of plastic between them so they can't close, there shouldn't be a ground on the wire from the coil to the distributor and the ballast resistor shouldn't heat up.
If the test light doesn't light up while cranking with the condenser connected and does without it connected, the condenser is grounding the points, either at the connection or the condenser is internally grounded.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJYJ3KvPhhY you can do the same with the points. ALSO you never said anything about setting the points gap.
You're kidding aren't you? A test light doesn't care which is positive or negative. If the battery polarity was wrong, the engine wouldn't turn over because the starter would rotate backwards and the drive won't engage.
actually we converted my 53 ford to 12 volts and the starter didnt care which way we had the battery it still turned the same way.
points are set to the proper (.016) gap, i DID forget to mention that. the battery is hooked pos cable to starter and ground to the chassis
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