carmover Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 Can Anybody tell me the proper way to test a coil on a 23 Buick? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Schramm Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 I would suggest that if it is an old coil, just buy a new one. That said, you could put 6 volts (or 12 if 12 volt car) on the positive side of the coil which is usually the ignition feed, put a wire and spark plug on a wire on the coil post that usually goes to the distributor. Ground the plug shell to the battery negative post. Then take a wire from the other terminal on the coil and touch the negative post on the battery. The spark plug should spark. Even if it works with this test, I would still consider buying a new coil as many times as the coil heats up from engine heat it will stop working. Just my opinion and what I have done. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian_Heil Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 With an Ohm meter Lots of good tutorials on google you are looking for an open or a short and if good a specified resistance for the two windings. make sure if it’s a 6V coil you are using 6V coil values for the resistance. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian_Heil Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 Your post says not firing so it used to fire? id hot wire the coil with a known good 6V from the battery with the other 6V lead removed the dash switch can be dirty or have a poor connection. Common issue same with battery leads. Dirty leads at battery or ground or starter will still have enough to crank but not enough Remaining voltage left to fire. A common 6V problem on many 6V cars. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmover Posted November 1, 2019 Author Share Posted November 1, 2019 (edited) What happened is last week I took the car to a show and when I got ready to leave the ignition switch acted like it was frozen in the off position.I put a little force on it and it freed up and started to turn on and off like it was supposed to but the car would not start.I went to get my trailer and when I got back to the car I heard the electric pump running at the back of the car.The ignition switch was off at that time but when I switched the ignition on the pump shut off opposite of what it is supposed to do.When I got home I decided to bypass the ignition switch to see if it would start and ran a jumper wire from the hot battery terminal straight to the coil and have no spark at the points.The battery is fully charged and the terminals are clean and tight and I had a good connection at the battery and the coil.I won't to get it firing first and then work on the fuel. it has several wires hooked up to the hot side of the coil and it may not be getting a good connection there. Edited November 2, 2019 by carmover (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian_Heil Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 A guess would be there is something wrong in the switch and it is now acting as a ground path. Hot wire the coil but remove the other leads at the coil See if you then have spark at the points or plugs. What is new is the switch acting up, I would pull that switch out too. There is a primitive circuit breaker on the center of the back side of the switch that has given me issues before. Is it clean and in contact? Check the sweep arm switch contacts and connections etc. WD40 the lever pivots. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmover Posted November 2, 2019 Author Share Posted November 2, 2019 2 hours ago, Brian_Heil said: A guess would be there is something wrong in the switch and it is now acting as a ground path. Hot wire the coil but remove the other leads at the coil See if you then have spark at the points or plugs. What is new is the switch acting up, I would pull that switch out too. There is a primitive circuit breaker on the center of the back side of the switch that has given me issues before. Is it clean and in contact? Check the sweep arm switch contacts and connections etc. WD40 the lever pivots. Brian, There is a good possibility that you are right about the ground as I left the switch hooked up but in the off position for the test.I am going to take all of the wires off of the positive side of the coil and run a jumper wire from the positive on the battery and see if I get spark. will let everyone know how it turns out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmover Posted November 2, 2019 Author Share Posted November 2, 2019 (edited) 14 hours ago, carmover said: Brian, There is a good possibility that you are right about the ground as I left the switch hooked up but in the off position for the test.I am going to take all of the wires off of the positive side of the coil and run a jumper wire from the positive on the battery and see if I get spark. will let everyone know how it turns out. I got the points to fire and cleaned the coil connections on both ends and hooked up a jumper wire from battery to the coil and a test light showed power to the distributor.I filled the carb bowl up and it fired up and ran until the fuel ran out.I have got to get the fuel pump situation figured out and it should be good to go.It has a green and a yellow wire disconnected right now and I can't figure out where they go to as they go into a harness and I can't see them come out anywhere.All lights and dash light and horn is working through the switch and the car is running with the coil straight wired.The fuel pump runs with the switch off and turns off when you turn the switch on even with these 2 wires disconnected. Edited November 2, 2019 by carmover (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian_Heil Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 You will track it down Not a fan of electric fuel pumps Based on the height of the stock vacuum fuel pump and the specific gravity of fuel it works out to something like 1/3 of a PSI at the carb Don’t know of any electric pumps delivering that low. Have seen two bad fires where an electric pump pressure overwhelms the float and needle. Both cars were a total loss. The Stewart Warner vacuum pump/tank is rugged as heck if clean and and set up properly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmover Posted November 2, 2019 Author Share Posted November 2, 2019 1 hour ago, Brian_Heil said: You will track it down Not a fan of electric fuel pumps Based on the height of the stock vacuum fuel pump and the specific gravity of fuel it works out to something like 1/3 of a PSI at the carb Don’t know of any electric pumps delivering that low. Have seen two bad fires where an electric pump pressure overwhelms the float and needle. Both cars were a total loss. The Stewart Warner vacuum pump/tank is rugged as heck if clean and and set up properly. Brian, This electric pump was on the car when I bought it and one time out of curiosity I took the top off of the vacuum tank and it has no parts in it.What they did was put a double fitting where the fuel line enters the tank and the fuel line goes through the tank so the tank is just for looks.It has been working perfectly ever since I bought the car although it will flood easily if you don't warm the car properly.On my 25 Buick I had a shop set the marval up to handle the pressure.It runs well set at 1 pound of pressure.I could never get the vacuum tank to work properly no matter how much effort and money I put into it.The 25 Starts and runs perfectly and never floods and has no fuel valve to turn off.The problem I had with the vacuum tank was it would never shut off the vacuum and would suck raw gas into the intake manifold and would not gravity feed to the carb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyfamily Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 On 11/2/2019 at 2:36 PM, carmover said: Brian, This electric pump was on the car when I bought it and one time out of curiosity I took the top off of the vacuum tank and it has no parts in it.What they did was put a double fitting where the fuel line enters the tank and the fuel line goes through the tank so the tank is just for looks.It has been working perfectly ever since I bought the car although it will flood easily if you don't warm the car properly.On my 25 Buick I had a shop set the marval up to handle the pressure.It runs well set at 1 pound of pressure.I could never get the vacuum tank to work properly no matter how much effort and money I put into it.The 25 Starts and runs perfectly and never floods and has no fuel valve to turn off.The problem I had with the vacuum tank was it would never shut off the vacuum and would suck raw gas into the intake manifold and would not gravity feed to the carb. My 1927 Model 27 “Standard” sat for at least 20 years before we found it, I ordered a rebuild kit for the SW Vacuum Fuel System and afternoon blocking off the vacuum operated wiper, it had a vacuum leak there, the Fuel canister worked perfectly and knock on wood, it hear a nice click, click, click about every 3-4 minutes when it is idling while it turns on and off drawing fuel and dumping it to the carb via gravity! I have not heard of many people having LONG TERM success when using an electric pump, they seem to constantly cause fuel leaks! I will add, I did use KBS fuel tank lining kit to insure there were no vacuum leaks within the canister it’s self, even sealing the inside of the lid as well before reassembly! Good luck getting her fixed up.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Shaw Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 11 hours ago, Crazyfamily said: I will add, I did use KBS fuel tank lining kit to insure there were no vacuum leaks within the canister it’s self, even sealing the inside of the lid as well before reassembly! This is good for anyone with vacuum tank issues... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimy Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 If it were mine, I'd search for a complete vacuum tank and rebuild it. In the meantime, I'd install a **high** quality fuel pressure regulator (I use a Holley #12-804, about $65, as a supplemental, but not on vac tank-equipped cars) dialed down to ONE psi inside the vac tank body. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmover Posted November 5, 2019 Author Share Posted November 5, 2019 5 hours ago, Grimy said: If it were mine, I'd search for a complete vacuum tank and rebuild it. In the meantime, I'd install a **high** quality fuel pressure regulator (I use a Holley #12-804, about $65, as a supplemental, but not on vac tank-equipped cars) dialed down to ONE psi inside the vac tank body. I don't know how it is set up but the tank is just for looks and the fuel line goes straight to the carb.It seams to have a good regulator and is doing good on its lowest setting.I use a Holley regulator on my 25 and am very satisfied with it.As I stated I had my carb professionally modified to work with the electric pump and runs well on 1 psi.It has a larger rochester needle and seat in the carb but looks original.I just took the car on a 62 mile trip with no problems.As for the 23 I don't know how it was set up and by whom so I am a little More concerned..All I know is right now it is doing like it is supposed to do but I am keeping a good eye on it. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimy Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 carmover, the main thing is to AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE the cheap offshore regulators sold in blister packs, some of them under the otherwise-esteemed Purolator name. These WILL fail and leak, usually sooner than later. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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