How much spark ?????

[Guest outlaw car man]

Is it possible to have to little of a spark from plug wire to plug. Working on a 32 DL6. If I unhook the plug wire on all 6 cylinders and test each one individually, I get a spark on each one. Just a little snap.

Coil works on my other DL6 so assume that's not it.

Car won't fire. Carb seems to be fine, timing was done, new unfouled plugs, possible flooding smell.

Only thing I can think of is the carb is off or not enough fire to the plugs?

Any ideas?

Thanks

OCM

[Guest Merchant Xpress]

Have you tried your plug wires on the other car. Is it possible you have dirty connectors at the cap or plug end? If your coil is good and your plugs are new it sounds like the problem is at the distributor or in the wires themselves.

Harry

[72caddy]

Just something else to double-check...does each spark plug wire go to the correct spark plug? If the wires are out of sequence the spark is missing the compression stroke or intake of gas.

[platt-deutsch]

Cracked rotor will cause it..

[Guest DodgeKCL]

Did the engine run OK before? Have you changed something for a new old stock part and assumed it's not that?

One of the strangest faults you can have is the wrong rotor. Normally the tip of the rotor just misses the cap contacts by a few thou. The fault you're describing can be caused by a rotor that has too short a sweep arm and the gap is too big for a healthy spark to jump over when the 2 meet. You can also have a cap that fits the dist. base but is higher than the correct one and again the rotor end gap is too wide.

I find in trouble shooting a spark fault it's always nice to have a set of steel core leads to substitute for carbon fiber ones because they always work,they may drive the radio nuts, but it's one less thing to suspect until you find the fault.

[Guest outlaw car man]

Wires are new- I am getting spark to the plugs. We checked each one, one at a time all showed a spark at the plug-

I'm thinking of sticking the carb from the other DL6 on this one and try- The other runs perfect-

[Guest outlaw car man]

Good point I'll double check as I've got a newly installed set of wires.

Do have spark to all plugs-

Thanks

[Guest outlaw car man]

Engine ran briefly ( chug, chug) couple months ago. After that, installed a new set of plug wires. PO said he installed a new set of points, rotor etc. and had problems with fire-

So, I set the points, set timing, new plugs, and checked these with a light, have spark at the points and spark at the plug.

I thought coil was bad, so used it on the othe dL6 i have worked great.

Car has a Carter DAT 08 on it, PO said he had rebuilt it- I have it off the car, looks clean and gaskets new(er) .

Accelerator pump maybe ?????

Thanks

OCM

[Guest Merchant Xpress]

Okay, are you sure they are in the right firing order? Have you tried setting up an auxiliary fuel supply to make sure you are getting fuel to the carb? Try squirting some gas in the carb and see if you get the engine to fire.

Harry

[Guest outlaw car man]

I'm 99.9% sure I've got the correct firing order. Even went to the other car and followed the plug wires from dist to plug and verified it with the owners manual. Did the same on this one. 5-3-6-2-4-1 .

fired the other dL6 and checked the spark levels ( really stabbing here for an answer), then went to the one I'm working on and did the same. Both sparks appeared the same.( plug wire to plug top)

I'm sure timing is correct, set the flywheel to the mark, then turned the dist till my test light just went on. Points set too. Pulled the plugs , after trying to start ( lot of cranking) and they are as clean as new, which they are & gaped.

Unless I'm missing something, my only alternative is to switch carbs and see what happens.

One thing, the car had sitting in storage for many years.

I got compression and fresh oil too.

????????????????

thanks,

OCM

[Guest Backyardmechanic]

Hi ocm,

Am I missing sonmething here you state that the fire order is 536241??Fire order should start with # 1 cylinder the spark plug behind the radiator is # 1 cylinder. Most early Dodge engines had the fire oorder 1 5 3 6 2 4 Another

thing I can think of is you are timing at the exhust stroke Try this remove #1 spark plug but fingure over the hole turn engine over you should feel a push of air when the pistion is coming up on the compression stroke check to see it the rotor is pointing near # 1 cylinder go from there 1-5-3-6-2--4.I have seen some flywheels with couple of marks.The flywheel may have been removed at ome time and had been install incorrectry. The bolt pattern o n the early dB engines did not offset one bolt to make sure the flywheel could be install correcty

Until next time,

Vern

[Guest Merchant Xpress]

Have you tried just squirting some gas down the hole and cranking it over to see if it fires?

Harry

[Guest outlaw car man]

Sorry, I just wrote it wrong- 1-5-3-6-2-4.

I've got the carb off the other DL6, when it warms up, I'll try that one, which I know works.

Am getting gas, I'm using a container as a temporary holding tank to get it started.

IF that doesn't work, I guess I'll go back to square one and redo the timing again and double check as you pointed out-

Also, a suspect may be the accelerator pump- Seems like I'm getting no suction, the other one does ?

Thanks-

OCM

[Guest outlaw car man]

Vern-

I think you are probably correct on this one-

I installed the running rebuilt carb on my other DL, to the one I'm working on- Nothing !

Ok, I installed the carb that was this car to the my running DL-

Runs great !

So, the carb is proofed.

So, I got fire to the plugs, got a working carb, back to timimg again.

I'll follow your advice-

appreciate it-

be in touch......

ocm

[idrjoe_sandiego]

Hi Outlaw- Don't forget the pesky condensor! Substitute with known good one if you don't have a tester. Also, if all else fails, you may need to get down to basics and check your compression. Sounds like you have got spark, you have got fuel, but if you don't have good compression, you're gonna be out there in the garage fooling with this for a while.

Also, invest about $3.00 for a spark checker, it gives you a quantitative and visual estimate of your spark for the coil as well as the plugs and wires. With this little dandy you (usually) get a good ground with the aid of its strong alligator clip and the spark is contained in a small plastic tube so you don't have more fireworks than you were looking for.

One more note on firing order: 1-5-3-6-2-4 is the same as 5-3-6-2-4-1 is the same as 2-4-1-5-3-6. The motor doesn't care which number you start with as long as the numbers are in the correct sequence.

Joe

[nearchoclatetown]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: idrjoe_sandiego</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

One more note on firing order: 1-5-3-6-2-4 is the same as 5-3-6-2-4-1 is the same as 2-4-1-5-3-6. The motor doesn't care which number you start with as long as the numbers are in the correct sequence.

Joe </div></div>If he's useing any kind of timing marks on the flywheel or crank pulley I think it does matter which cylinder he starts with. marks woould only line up on 1 and 6, wouldn't they? If he's useing valve opening and closeing and eyeballing the rotor he could start on any cylinder. I've never seen any engine start the firing order from any cylinder except number 1.

[idrjoe_sandiego]

Doug ,if he were starting from scratch with no wires installed, sure, he would want to start with the timing marks at top dead center and and both valves closed (i.e., on the compression stroke) for the #1 cylinder. Then he would observe what distributor cap contact the rotor was pointing to. This is where plug wire #1 goes. The rest of the wires would be intalled in the 1-5-3-6-2-4 firing order in the PROPER direction (CW or CCW- I believe it is CW on this motor).

But I think the original question was simply checking if the order of the wires was correct, (i.e., did he accidentally swap the position of two wires?). You see, in this case you can start at any point in the order and as long as the sequence is correct, the motor doesn't care.

If he reallly screwed up the wire swap and got the order correct but was off by 2-3 rotor contacts to start with, yes, he would have to go back to the beginning and do a "sanity-check" as they say in the electronics world.

Joe

[nearchoclatetown]

When someone asks a question on here it's hard to tell what they know and what is confuseing them. He will get it running.

[Guest outlaw car man]

Joe-

I'll be on it today & tomorrow weather permitting ( Colorado)

I'll triple check again, but pretty sure #1 plug wire from dist goes to #1 ( first) cylinder. Next in line, #5 plug wire from dist is hooked to #5 cylinder plug...etc. etc.

Condenser, hadn't thought of that- I can switch from the other car to check.

This may have no effect, but I did notice the dist cap on the running DL, is in a different position in regards to the two cover snaps. One the snaps are in a 8 o'clock-2 o'clock position, this one a 10 o'clock 4 o'clock position.

Yea, I'm stabbing here but don't know so I'm asking- Should they be close?

1939 limited, HMMM. I'm looking at a 1933 series 90- interesting.

Thanks

OCM

[idrjoe_sandiego]

OCM- If the two DL's have the same engine and distributor as I assume they do, it sounds like someone has pulled the distributor and installed it 180 degrees out.

1)pull the #1 spark plug

2)rotate the engine by hand in the correct direction of rotation (same direction your starter motor turns the engine)

3)observe the #1 piston as it rises and falls

4)each time the #1 piston approaches the top of its travel AKA TDC or top dead center, you should see the flywheel (or damper) timing marks line up with timing arrow.

5)As you rotate the engine, notice that it takes TWO revolutions of the crankshaft for every ONE revolution the distributor rotor makes.

6)one these two crankshaft revolutions the #1 piston is at TDC on its exhaust stroke and the second crankshaft revolution the #1 piston is at TDC on the compression stroke.

7) It is the compression stroke that is the key to positioning your rotor correctly.

8) bottom line, your rotor should be pointing to the #1 spark plug terminal when the #1 piston is at TDC on the COMPRESSION stroke--see vern's earlier post re: determining compression stroke.

9)if number 8 above is NOT TRUE then your distributor is 180 degrees out. You will need to pull the distributor to realign the body of the distributor and the rotor to their proper positions. Use your running DL to guide you on position of the body and follow the above instructions to correctly position the rotor. Make sure you reinstall the distributor hold down clamps. You will want to finalize your timing with your timing light once she is running again.

Kind of a long explanation, but as Doug pointed out, its hard to tell on these forums whatcha know and watcha donnow.

Hope this helps. Joe

[Guest outlaw car man]

Will do, I'll be on it tomorrow again. Reinstalled the carbs etc today.

I know a bit on the cars but always learning & not afraid to ask questions & appreciate all the knowledge here.

My first rounds with Dodge-

B-in touch-thanks-

OCM.

[yirgaman]

I suspect your timing is off. Somebody had a similar problem last year - found out the timing mark pointer at the flywheel had been bent into a wrong position. Use the pipe plug on the top of the #6 cylinder to determine top dead center of #6 (which is also also #1 at the same time) by stickin a screwdiver down the hole and turn the engine over real slow BY HAND. When at top dead center, the scewdriver will be at it's highest point (DUH!) see if that matches the marks on the flywheel. Be sure ignition is off and coil wire is pulled when you do this or you might put the screwdriver in the ceiling, or worse.

Larry

[Guest outlaw car man]

DL6 fired up fine today after all the good advice- Timing was way out of wack. At TDC, rotor was pointed and #3.

Thanks for every bit of advice provided here, got my second 1932 DL6 purrrring in the driveway.

Need to tweek the timing a fuzz, it's a bit hard to start, but after that it runs great.

Next: brakes-

" I'll be bock "

again, thanks !

OCM