'24 4cly tried 3 coils, no spark

[Guest rwolf]

I have spark across the points but nothing coming out of the coil. Even if I run a line from the secondary of the coil to a direct ground (by passing the cap and rotor) their is no spark. This is after three coils and a condenser. I noticed than even though I ran a jumper directly from the battery to the + side of the coil, the starter/generator spins only when the ign switch is on. Apparently the the switch is in the circuit and I wonder if this is somehow killing the secondary circuit? This is getting a little complicated for me.

This all started two nights ago when I tried to take a evening ride, I turned on the headlights, they started flashing until they burned out and I BARLEY had enough power to get it into the garage. Last year I did a valve job on this car and it was running really well.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Guest simplyconnected]

Spark happens when you BREAK the circuit, after the coil is 'saturated'. You can check this by pulling the neg wire off the coil, and substituting a jumper. With the key 'on', every time you ground your jumper, then pull it off, you should see a pretty blue spark on your jumper (indicating an inductive load), and the secondary side should produce a healthy spark. Check to be sure your coil AND your distributor are both properly grounded. If after this test you still have no spark,

A) No blue jumper spark when you lift it off ground - the primary coil wires are open inside, you have no battery voltage, or no coil ground. Check for voltage on the + side to ground.

Blue spark but no secondary spark - Secondary is shorted inside the coil, or coil isn't grounded. Hope this helps - Dave

[Leif Holmberg]

Hi.Check out that these parts in your distributor are not grunded,even check the tube between outside and inside the distrubutor.

Leif in Sweden.

[Dandy Dave]

I've seen where people have changed the points and not put an insulating fiber washer back where it belongs, or replaced it with a brass or steel one in the stud of the distributor that Leif Pictures above. Note the paper he has behind the point spring which is very important. All it would take is one small filing to short between the spring and the outer case to stop the whole works if the paper was not there.

Being you burned out the light bulbs, your not trying to run this on 12 volts instead of 6, are you? Also, your starter generator could be over charging if the car was running when you turned on the lights. This could be a voltage regulator problem. The six volt battery in this car should be Neg ground. Dandy Dave!

[Guest rwolf]

Thanks for the help, I got it running. One thing I didn't understand when replacing the coil was that the wires on the bottom of the original coil belong on the + side of the replacement.

As far as the lights burning out, I noticed some frayed wires at the connection to the drums and have ordered new parts.

The charging rate in this car, I believe is controlled by a third bursh in the generator,and I don't recall any problem indicated by the amp guage. However , isn't their some sort of a cut out to prevent the battery from draining at low rpm? And what is the function of the electro-magnet coil in the middle of the ign switch ? Maybe it's the cut out, or a circuit breaker (there are no fuses), anyway it's all rusty and that can't be good.

[Guest rwolf]

p.s. it is 6 volt neg ground

[Dandy Dave]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">p.s. it is 6 volt neg ground </div></div>

That's what I said up here!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The six volt battery in this car should be Neg ground. </div></div>

Dandy Dave!

[Dandy Dave]

My 15 has a similer part on the switch, and it is a circut breaker.

One thing for certain, rust and corrosion does not help an electrical circut. Dandy Dave!

[jbbuick22]

I see in your first post you replaced the condenser, that my be the problem. A condenser that has not be charged for a long time will some times fail when used the first time.

Reinstall the original one and try again. When replacing points it is not necessary to replace the cond. only if it is defective. Good luck.

JB

22-6-55 Sport Touring

[Guest rwolf]

Thanks to all , this 24-35 is now back in driving condition. There definitely is a circuit breaker in the center of switch. I intentionaly shorted one of the terminals and it functioned as designed. The headlight parts on still coming but the wires to the cowl lights were cracked in many places and I'm sure were shorting, so they have been replaced.

I'm not sure what was wrong with the ign system, but with the new coil and condenser it works fine.

I don't know if it is possible but I wonder if when the lighting circuit shorted if it somehow robbed power from the ign?