Ignition Troubleshooting-What am I missing?

[1931 flamingo]

Do you have a fuse installed??
Paul in CT

[roccaas]

Originally Posted by 1931 flamingo

Do you have a fuse installed??
Paul in CT

30 amp on top of the starter. Have 6.24 volts on the battery cable to starter lug, and both sides of the fuse. Have power to headlamps which I run through Relays and the battery power to the Relays is off of the "downstream" side of that 30 amp fuse.

[roccaas]

How does one effectively test for grounding of the wire-to the armor-to the head?

I guess I figured out this one with some thought. I know I have full continuity from the ignition switch to the new bottom plate and through to the new pigtail, so the wire is carrying the load, but I'm concerned it is shorting against the armor casing.

I'll check continuity between the armor casing and each end of the wire, and twist the wire around to see if I've gotten a hidden break in the wire insulation.

That and the condenser replacement....

[Mitch//pa]

did you CLEAN the points ? that can give you an int no spark.

[midgetracer]

I agree with Mitch. Scaled points are insulated and do not complete the circuit. That is why I usually short across the points with a screwdriver to see if points are making contact.

[roccaas]

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I'll replace the condenser, check for spark, if no spark, I'll replace the points, then the ignition armored cable.

[Tom Wesenberg]

I agree with Mitch. From what I just read, it sounds like the points should be filed. If they don't clean up, then replace them. BTW, you might want to try hand cranking the engine. Twice after setting for weeks in humid weather my points had very light corrosion and even after sanding them the car didn't have spark while cranking with the starter, but fired right up as soon as I hand cranked it. Then after running a couple minutes, everything was fine. The hand crank is a GOOD thing.

[Mike V. Florida]

Originally Posted by roccaas

Won't start, will crank over, no spark when grounding the coil wire.

I've followed Les's Troubleshooting guide, and I've got 6.24 volts:

across the battery
at the battery wire to starter
each side of the 30 amp fuse on top of the starter
both poles of the terminal box
both poles of the coil
and at the points arm when the ignition is ON and the points are OPEN with a piece of paper.

What do you get when the points are closed?

[Purdy Swoft]

Tom makes a good point about using the hand crank. A weak 6 volt battery won't always have enough power to run the starter and have a strong enough spark at the plugs for the engine to start, I've had this problem.

[roccaas]

Well, it is finally FIXED.

Several problems cropped up at once:

Point was badly worn. When I finally looked at it without my contacts in, I saw that the points had burned through so that I had a hole the size of the rivet through the face of the point contact surface. These old eyes work best without glasses or contacts when working close, so this is on me.

I'd assume that the condenser had been going bad, leading to the point destruction. The car never ran badly, but I'd expect the condenser was going bad.

Also, my ignition switch had over time moved closer to the dash/gas tank. The connection screw to the wire to the armored cable and distributor had eventually grounded against the steel. I noticed that the spade terminal was bent back along the switch.

Once I fixed all that, she fired right up!

What is the Engineering term for a chain of small failures that lead to a disaster? This was no disaster, but a real pain in the brain.

Thanks for everyone's help!

[Mitch//pa]

Originally Posted by roccaas

Well, it is finally FIXED.

Several problems cropped up at once:

Point was badly worn. When I finally looked at it without my contacts in, I saw that the points had burned through so that I had a hole the size of the rivet through the face of the point contact surface. These old eyes work best without glasses or contacts when working close, so this is on me.

I'd assume that the condenser had been going bad, leading to the point destruction. The car never ran badly, but I'd expect the condenser was going bad.

Also, my ignition switch had over time moved closer to the dash/gas tank. The connection screw to the wire to the armored cable and distributor had eventually grounded against the steel. I noticed that the spade terminal was bent back along the switch.

Once I fixed all that, she fired right up!

What is the Engineering term for a chain of small failures that lead to a disaster? This was no disaster, but a real pain in the brain.

Thanks for everyone's help!

cluster f***k
snowball

glad its going thanks for the update