Hey fellas, buddy of mine came into work today talking about his truck not starting. Said he put all new cap, rotor and everything to do with the distributor. Has spark inside dizzy, but not to the plugs. Also has brand new coil. I thought maybe a ground, anyone else have an idea? Thanks for the help! Rocky
Had a 223 cap corrode the center terminal, but I doubt that is whats wrong. There are two wires to the coil, the power from the ignition, and the signal wire from the points to tell the coil to fire. The signal wire has been known to fray or go bad over they years. I take it he also replaced the points and condenser and installed them correctly? That system is about as simple as it gets for ignition.
He said everything is in there correctly, and yes, he did replace points and condenser. Has spark to the points, but not to the plugs. Told him what you said about the coil wires and he will check those. He told me that it started up fine and then died. Now can't get it to turn back over. Thanks guys. Any other things he should look at?
Had a similar problem years ago. Put in new points and condenser in a customers Chevy 6. It wouldn`t start after that. My boss came over and checked my work, looked ok. He tried another set of points. No good. He asked me to fish the old points out of the trash and he installed the old points. It fired right up. Turns out the cam in the distributer was so worn the new points wouldn`t work. It`s worth looking at.
I just had a simliar problem on my 223, it would turn over and not fire. Turns out the NEW spark plug wires I had in there had collapsed inside the distributor cap and were not making contact. Spread the terminals out to test the theory, started right up. Another new set of wires solved the problem.
Does the fellow know how to correctly gap the points? You dont just hook up the wire and screw them in place.
Trying to get a clear picture here (only one cuppa so far this morning... What do you mean "Spark inside the dizzy? you mean the points are opening and sparking? because Im curious what spark inside the distributor means. You also said now it doesn't turn over.. Turn over means the engine sits there like a lump and the starter motor does not move it.. let's be sure we are talking about the same things here before we continue. Things to check (If the engine is turning over) Rotor. Did he forget the rotor (been there done that) is the contact on the rotor missing or dirty Is the cap the right one? is there spark from the coil high tension lead? (big wire from coil nose to cap) Is there power to the +ve cpoil terminal, and pulsing (when cranking) at the negative? is there spark to the plugs? Narrow it down and find the issue
I'd say that Ole Don and Gromit asked all the pertinent questions in posts 9 and 10. I've seen more guys put in points and not set the gap right than anything else. Too many of them set the gap with the rubbing block on the flat rather than the point of the cam. Other than that have him check the condenser to make sure that the screw holding the holder is tight. And make sure that the condenser is tight in the holder. We lost the high school drags one night because of that little ditty.
When you say "now can't get it to turn back over" do you mean it won't start or it won't turn over, two very different issues if the motor won't turn over there is not much use in looking in the distributor. Not trying to be smart assed so please don't take it that way.
Narrow it down some. Hold coil wire near a ground and crank. Spark? Great,now you know the points/condenser,coil and wiring are functional. Now stick the coil wire back in the cap and pull any plug wire and see if you have spark there. No spark at the plug? Now you know its a cap/rotor or plug wire problem. Replace new parts with old parts one at a time till the problem goes away...
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