Can't start, no spark getting to plugs
Why don't we all back up here and do some "actual testing?"
Just EXACTLY how did you test this spark?
"Getting a nasty jolt" is NOT "spark testing."
I ALWAYS use something that I KNOW I can identify with. I use a grounded clip lead with a probe (screwdriver) or test lamp, or a made for purpose test gap.
DO NOT use the factory coil wire, because it's usually a RESISTOR wire. Use a solid core wire, even a piece of low tension wire which you can "carefully" "rig" in the open air to be away from metal.
In fact, if you DO get spark "out of the coil" but 'not at the plugs' it might be just as simple as a bad coil wire. Use your head. Apply a bit of logic. Take a good hard look at the cap and rotor. Are they clean? dry? What have you done to CHECK the coil wire and plug wires? DID you check them? You cannot just stand there and look at them. In this day and age, every hardware, parts, and Sears store on the planet has multimeters at reasonable prices. This is a HUGE change from 20 years ago so there is NO NO excuse why a would be shade tree mechanic cannot acquire and learn to use a multimeter.
You MUST provide good solid battery voltage to the Pertronix and coil during test
This means you must REALIZE the following::
You could have a problem in the cranking circuit. That is, the cranking circuit, the ignition switch, provides the only ignition voltage to the system through what is called the bypass circuit (IGN 2) during cranking. This circuit might have PROBLEM and needs to be checked. YOU DO THIS by checking at the coil + with a voltmeter during cranking BY USING THE KEY to crank the engine
You MUST have within a few tenths of "same as" battery voltage there and certainly not below 10V. You can temporarily jumper a clip lead to coil + from battery
A good spark should be hot, blue, and at least 3/8" and more like 1/2" long. That's inches, not metric.
Even if the cap / rotor "looks" OK, SUSPECT things. Take a GOOD look at that rotor. I've had "interesting" things "happen." I once had a rotor "punch through and did not see it at first. That rotor is normally BLACK and in a DARK garage sometimes you cannot see a CARBON BLACK "punch through UNDER NEATH the rotor contact. ALSO AND PAY ATTENTION One time I ran into an off brand rotor that was built like a GOD DAMMED Jap radio suppressed Colt rotor along-side-my-friend's-sister's-car-that-we-fixed-with-a-hairpin-on-the-side-of-the-road-rotor
THIS THING has a radio suppression resistor inside a trough in a tar encased capsule
Why don't we all back up here and do some "actual testing?"
Just EXACTLY how did you test this spark?
"Getting a nasty jolt" is NOT "spark testing."
I ALWAYS use something that I KNOW I can identify with. I use a grounded clip lead with a probe (screwdriver) or test lamp, or a made for purpose test gap.
DO NOT use the factory coil wire, because it's usually a RESISTOR wire. Use a solid core wire, even a piece of low tension wire which you can "carefully" "rig" in the open air to be away from metal.
In fact, if you DO get spark "out of the coil" but 'not at the plugs' it might be just as simple as a bad coil wire. Use your head. Apply a bit of logic. Take a good hard look at the cap and rotor. Are they clean? dry? What have you done to CHECK the coil wire and plug wires? DID you check them? You cannot just stand there and look at them. In this day and age, every hardware, parts, and Sears store on the planet has multimeters at reasonable prices. This is a HUGE change from 20 years ago so there is NO NO excuse why a would be shade tree mechanic cannot acquire and learn to use a multimeter.
You MUST provide good solid battery voltage to the Pertronix and coil during test
This means you must REALIZE the following::
You could have a problem in the cranking circuit. That is, the cranking circuit, the ignition switch, provides the only ignition voltage to the system through what is called the bypass circuit (IGN 2) during cranking. This circuit might have PROBLEM and needs to be checked. YOU DO THIS by checking at the coil + with a voltmeter during cranking BY USING THE KEY to crank the engine
You MUST have within a few tenths of "same as" battery voltage there and certainly not below 10V. You can temporarily jumper a clip lead to coil + from battery
A good spark should be hot, blue, and at least 3/8" and more like 1/2" long. That's inches, not metric.
Even if the cap / rotor "looks" OK, SUSPECT things. Take a GOOD look at that rotor. I've had "interesting" things "happen." I once had a rotor "punch through and did not see it at first. That rotor is normally BLACK and in a DARK garage sometimes you cannot see a CARBON BLACK "punch through UNDER NEATH the rotor contact. ALSO AND PAY ATTENTION One time I ran into an off brand rotor that was built like a GOD DAMMED Jap radio suppressed Colt rotor along-side-my-friend's-sister's-car-that-we-fixed-with-a-hairpin-on-the-side-of-the-road-rotor
THIS THING has a radio suppression resistor inside a trough in a tar encased capsule
