Re: [AMC-list] The big tow of shame

[tom jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

Car dying like turning off a switch is often electrical. Fuel problems, you
usually (not always) get a sputter, starvation, white smoke, popping,
sputter on cranking/start, etc.

Pull the coil wire out of the distributor cap, hold it near the fender or
valve cover 1/16" off. With the ignition on, if you ground the "-" side of
the coil it should spark when you RELEASE the ground wire. (This works with
points, but the points have to be open. But with points closed, you can poke
them with a screwdriver to open/close.)

Or just get someone to turn the key.

If no spark, see if there's battery on the "+" coil terminal. That car has
no resistor wire, so it's full battery there.

Without being able to see, I'd suspect the wire connections at the coil
first. Bright, shiny, tight, crimped and soldered. If you have the old
factory spade lugs with the fat black rubber insulator, those seem to hold
up electrically and mechanically very well!  But you can't trust anything,
un-tested, that's pushing 50 years old...




On Sat, Apr 25, 2009 at 14:13, Bruce Griffis <bruce.griffis@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> Well, after pulling the plugs, cleaning them and cranking - my oldest
> son and I decided it couldn't be getting spark. It was getting air. It
> was getting fuel. It was cranking and cranking - and nothing. We
> reseated all the cables one by one, and it wouldn't start. I pulled
> the front plug, put it against a bolt on the chassis and had my son
> crank it. Didn't see a spark.
>
> We'll be checking the wires to the coil and from the coil to the
> distributor. I might have pulled something loose while checking it out
> at the conference center. Right now we'll leave it for the night -
> then in the morning start tracing cables and wires.
>
> Distributor cap is fairly new. Spark plug cables are fairly new. Spark
> plugs are pretty new. Pertronix worked fine getting there.Coil is
> pretty new as well, as is the battery.
>
> So - it was running rich. Now it won't start at all - but I think I
> can figure that out. Thanks everyone for the encouragement.
> _______________________________________________
> AMC-list mailing list
> AMC-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://list.amc-list.com/listinfo.cgi/amc-list-amc-list.com
>



-- 
All of your arguments are invalid.
Enjoy your unstable system.
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