Vice grip Garage 64 Dart Gt

I don't know if I'm all that excited. His stuff seems to be recurring "parked for xx years will it start?" The fact is there are several misconceptions being put forth in that video, including the idea that you can successfully diagnose an ignition coil with a multimeter. There are several troubles that can occur with coils concerning which a multimeter will be completely stupid. The fact is, without specialized testing equipment you cannot really test coils, and even then issues caused by heating may not show up.

He also made the usual mistake by many when trying to check spark, AKA jumpering the starter relay. This is a double edged sword

1....When jumpering the relay, the coil will receive much lower voltage as it's going through the ballast, still. With a non-running car, and possibly a somewhat low battery, this further drops coil power, and can lead you down the "primrose path." IE you might claim "poor or no spark" when the thing is simply underpowered.

2...If you DO convince yourself you have good spark when jumpering the relay, it "might be" that if a no -start condition exists, there is trouble in the IGN2 bypass circuit. Only way to check that is to use the key to crank and check again for spark.

3...Another thing he was going on about had no basis. He had checked coil voltage, which should NOT have been "same as battery" as current through (working and closed) breaker points should have caused quite a DROP at the coil, down to perhaps 6-8V. He may have bypassed the ballast, which is harder yet on the points and coil, or it may just be that the points were OPEN.

4...His comments about "ground bonding" had no basis based on what he was doing there with voltage checks. if you read many of my posts I'm VERY specific about direct testing of voltage drop. What would have indicated a ground bonding problem in his project would be stabbing the meter probe into the battery post, then to the engine block. Turn the key on, points closed. Any reading would indicated some drop in the ground path from battery to block, and I doubt it will be readable. A REAL ground drop test would be same hookup with starter motor running. NOW you can see the drop in the battery clamp, in the cable, in the cable to block connection.

But you don't need that here. Just use your head. What does it "sound" like when cranking? "Why, it spins right over." Of course it does. There is no grounding problem here!!

The point? The point is that breaker points systems are simple BUT they can "gotcha." There are a few little details and sometimes you luck out and sometimes you have to really just think.

A friend of mine and I once scratched our asses for over an hour after he had replaced the points in his Chev pickup. WHY DIDN'T IT RUN? Turns out the OLD points were an aftermarket "uniset" which had an integral condenser/ capacitor which was MINITURIZED, and of course the old, separate condenser had been removed. He had bought a NON uniset which came with NO condenser. This means there was NO LONGER a condenser in the circuit!!!! For some reason neither of us "keyed" on this small fact!!!! In my defense, I arrived "late on the scene" after he had installed the new points. I eventually woke up, but it took time