Leatherneck wrote:IF you have juice at #1 on coil but nothing at points replace the condenser and check again. Or use a test probe and see where the power stops at in the line leading from the coil.
Hook your test lamp to ground and see if the test lamp blinks on and off as you crank the engine over if it does your points and condenser are working and triggering the coil. Using the test light you will not see spark from the coil wire, but if you take the test light out of the pic then if the coil is good it will spark. I am in the process of building a Ignition test board. If you have this trigger and no spark it is the coil.
Take a look at the video in this thread. http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic ... highlight=
Leatherneck wrote:IF you have juice at #1 on coil but nothing at points replace the condenser and check again. Or use a test probe and see where the power stops at in the line leading from the coil.
Hook your test lamp to ground and see if the test lamp blinks on and off as you crank the engine over if it does your points and condenser are working and triggering the coil. Using the test light you will not see spark from the coil wire, but if you take the test light out of the pic then if the coil is good it will spark. I am in the process of building a Ignition test board. If you have this trigger and no spark it is the coil.
Take a look at the video in this thread. http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewtopic ... highlight=
Great thead david, i just printed the whole thing out and im gonna go test it with my dad.
These are the check points to test your ignition system for power when the points are open. If you close the points you will not have power at these check points. If your tests show different results replace the points and the condenser. This is the same test that can be done at terminal #1 of the coil. I start at the coil when diagnosing no spark. Test lamp on terminal # 15 and terminal # 1. If the test lamp blinks we have verified we have power at terminal # 15 and have a set points, and condenser that will trigger the coil at terminal #1.
Now if we have no spark out of the coil without the test light then the coil is defective.
Ok now let’s look at the spark path between the coil and the plugs. The coil wire goes into the distributor on the inside of the cap is a little button that rides on the rotor button. This button can wear and results can be weak or no spark to the plugs, cracks in the cap can cause the same problems. Next in the spark path is the rotor button. It is possible for the spark to burn a pin hole in the rotor and the spark to use the distributor shaft for ground. It is very unlikely you will ever see this problem with ignition point type system.
That brings us to the ignition wires and plugs. This is where most miss-fires can be found. A cracked distributor cap will also cause miss-fires. Plugs, caps and wires cause miss-fires as well as lean mixtures. We can rule out the ignition parts as being a cause of miss-fire by swapping the wires and plugs one at a time between a cylinder that is making power and one that is dead. This usually pin points the problem, but not always. One method to check your ignition wires is to spray water on them. Another way is to ground a test light and hold it to the ignition wire not the tip but with the shank above the tip. Try it on both sides of each ignition wire. When the engine stumbles or miss-fires you have found the problem either by a visual inspection or hands on. Short Video on Spark
Joxracing wrote:alright, thanks for all the help guys, i jsut printed out davids post and im gonna go attempt to figure this out.
wish me luck!
Did you get a test light yet?
Went to advance auto parts, and they were frickin' closed!!
perty sooon, like monday.
no bodys open on sundays around here.
I PMed Speedy Jim
I was wondering if you hooked the idiot light to # 1 coil terminal if it would work as a test light to check the trigger signal. I don't have a running car so I can't try it.
Speedy Jim wrote:Yes, that will work.
Points closed, the light will be On.
Points open, light Off.
That would be a handy way to test out on the road.
Jim
So you have a test light. If your idiot light for oil pressure works hook it to terminal # 1 of the coil turn the engine over to see if it flashes on and off.
I just went back and read this whole thread. I missed this the first time.
Joxracing wrote:Things not firing. no spark we hooked the wire off the dizzy to the postive(15) terminal.
and the rest of the wires to the neg.(1) terminal.
This is wired backwards.
The wire from the dist. hooks to terminal # 1
Power fron the ignition switch to terminal # 15
