No start Woody
 

Perplexing problem - 1931 Woody, good runner, completely stock except for modern upper plate. Came home at night a week ago and left the dash light on, next day battery was pretty well dead. Removed the battery and put it on the charger. Charged up fine and put back in the car.

Restarted OK, but running very rough then would quit. Could keep running if throttle set at higher RPM, but would almost die, then pick up and run rough for a few seconds, almost die, repeat until turned off. Starter turns over very strongly.

Checked 6v at both terminals of the junction box, both poles on the coil, at the breaker points, good spark at the points and from the center coil wire. Good fuel flow to the carburetor, removed and cleaned the carb. No change.

Thought maybe the dash light had developed an intermittent short and was shorting the ignition so disconnected it and checked connections behind the dash. No change, still running very rough.

Did a minor tune up, points had closed up a bit and were regapped to 0.020, plugs a little sooty so cleaned and gaps checked, timing was slightly advanced so readjusted to light the test light at 2 clicks.

Still turns over very strong, but now won't even fire. 6v at all the right places. I'm running out of ideas. Seems like something is shorting the ignition circuit.

Any help gratefully accepted...

Re: No start Woody
 

I'm always suspect of the modern upper plates. Check that area closely. There shouldn't be any connection with the dash light, but I've learned that problems often come in twos and aren't necessarily related.

Re: No start Woody
 

Check for spark at the plugs. If you have no spark there but you do at the coil center wire you have a problem in the distributor body or rotor. Check for cracks in the distributor body.

Re: No start Woody
 

Do you have the brass wireless plate or could be a bad plate wire.. bad condenser??
I would run it with a inline spark tester and see if it stays uniform or drops out....
just checking it to a head nut is not the same

Re: No start Woody
 

Hi Wayne,

Could lead to a very common problem with the "open" distributor body on a Model A mostly in the Fall & Spring, with cooler nights and warmer days with humidity.

Do you have a point file? If not get one.

If you have a point file, try thoroughly cleaning the points with a point file, followed by passing a piece of manila folder between "closed" points.

Re: No start Woody
 

Open the gas cap and listen for a hiss.

Re: No start Woody
 

Just ordered a point file. Do I need to remove the points to file them properly, or can that be done in situ?

Re: No start Woody
 

You don't have to remove them. I close them then spread them enough to get the file inbetween. That files both points evenly at the same time. It doesn't take much to dress them sufficiently.

Re: No start Woody
 

Vintage mechanics were aware that a point file removed the metal oxide semi-conductor coating accumulated on points which causes an engine to run poorly ... or not at all.

They were also aware that a point file removes very little metal from the original two (2) "aligned" surfaces of the points.

If on can find original Model A points on Ebay, accompanied with a good original coil and a good original condenser, and a well lubricated distributor cam, points will perform trouble free for years if carefully cleaned and maintained with a point file.

Re: No start Woody
 

Had the same problem. Turned out it was the condenser. Cheap easy item to replace.

Re: No start Woody
 

So, the points file and new condenser arrived just before Thanksgiving. Just used the point file and checked the result - she started OK, which was a big improvement over before, but still ran rough (maybe not as rough). Swapped the new condenser in and voila - back to running like a watch. I've about concluded a new condenser is good for what ails you.

Thank-you all!