Sounds like you have a direct short to ground with your hot wire.
Get a light on that coil so you can clearly see the + and - on the coil terminals.
1972 dart - stopped running while at 50 mph ? no warning
- Thread starter moparjon
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Sounds like you have a direct short to ground with your hot wire.
Get a light on that coil so you can clearly see the + and - on the coil terminals.
first go was wrong terminal , went to the negative on coil by mistake , instantly melted . second try hot wired to positive terminal for about ten seconds . turned the key , but nothing happened . no crank . using small wires though
You still need to have your battery cables hooked up to the battery from the car so you can crank it over with the key.
Hopefully your starter relay, and neutral safety switch are working correctly providing power to the starter when you hit the key.
The Hot Wire to the coil is just isolating the Power from your car in case you have ignition wiring problems up the line with the ignition system.
Have you pulled the rotor off and reinstalled it ? My neighbor had a 68 GTX that died all of a sudden and after jacking around with it for a while we found the rotor had jumped up and was just spinning on the shaft. It would turn with the cap off but stayed stationary with the cap on . Never seen that happen before .
tried it again with the remote starter switch , it just cranks , no start . using small alligator clip lead though for the hot wire , do i need like jumper cables or something bigger than these ?
You are fine with the alligator clip on the Hot + post of the coil.
Put an old spark plug in the #1 cylinder spark plug wire and ground the body of the plug.
Now crank it over with the remote starter to see that that spark plug is sparking. may have to turn the lights down to help see the spark.
Put an old spark plug in the #1 cylinder spark plug wire and ground the body of the plug.
Now crank it over with the remote starter to see that that spark plug is sparking. may have to turn the lights down to help see the spark.
i think i covered this earlier today with a spark tester attached to the number 1 wire . there was NO spark .
OK, then you have to start back tracking to where there is spark, like the coil wire.
see if you can get that coil wire snapping as you hold it 1/8" from ground as you are cranking it over.
see if you can get that coil wire snapping as you hold it 1/8" from ground as you are cranking it over.
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yes ok , there was spark from the coil wire , just not after that . i remote started with cap off as well and though the points were opening and closing , there was no sparks or sparking sounds from them .
Points are just the Switch that breaks the circuit to the Coil Power. The Coil is what generates the spark as it builds energy between the points opening again on the next cylinder.
Sounds like you are chasing it back to a bad distributor cap and or a rotor that is not conducting electricity to the cylinder terminals in the dist. cap.
Distributor caps can fail. They can also establish hairline cracks from heat. or carbon spark trails inside that redirect the current to the wrong cylinders or just straight to ground.
Rule number 1: Electricity follows the path of least resistance.
So make sure all contacts and terminals are clean, good proven plug wires too.
Rule number 1: Electricity follows the path of least resistance.
So make sure all contacts and terminals are clean, good proven plug wires too.
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Take us a few pictures of the top of your engine and the wiring coil layout so we can see what you are doing.
Post them up here.
Post them up here.
AJ/FormS
68 Formua-S fastback clone 367/A833/GVod/3.55s
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The Charging System has nothing to do with the cranking and running, so don't bother going down that road.
Here is a quick-check for a jumped chain.
Find the plugwire that goes to #1 sparkplug. Mark the side of the distributor in a direct line, with the center of the tower. Pop the cap off. Make sure your rotor is fully seated. Turn the crankshaft, until the rotor comes to the mark you made. Remove the #1 sparkplug. See if the piston is close to TDC. If it is not, make it so. After you have done that as close as you can, read the balancer. You are looking for a matching TDC mark on the balancer , that is aligned with the TDC on the timing tab. We are not looking for perfection yet. When you find it, Move the crank to indicate about 10 to 15 degrees advanced.
Now go back to the rotor and see where it is relative to the mark you made;
a) If the rotor is less than 1/4 of the distance between towers, this is a good indication that the chain has not jumped. but
b) If the rotor is more than half-way towards either next closer tower, the engine will not run no matter how ferocious a spark it has.
c) If the rotor is even more than this, farther away, then the chain has jumped
d) if the rotor does not move with the crank, then the chain is likely broken.
If you suspect no spark;
Turn the crank until the points are open. Near ground your coil-wire, .25inch should be good.
Find a small screwdriver with a small shank on it. remove the rotor. Turn the key to run.
Now short the backside of the point arm to the base plate, with a plunge and recoil action. That is to say, your screwdriver will be acting like the points. You should see a tiny spark on the screwdriver tip during the action, and a simultaneous spark at the near-grounded coilwire.
If you do NOT see a spark at the screwdriver, one of five things is wrong;
1) there is no power at the coil negative
2) the point plate is not grounded.
3) the condenser is internally shorting to ground.
4) the screwdriver is non-conductive.
5) the wire from the coil to the points is defective.
Figure out which it is and fix it; easy-peasy.
Here is a quick-check for a jumped chain.
Find the plugwire that goes to #1 sparkplug. Mark the side of the distributor in a direct line, with the center of the tower. Pop the cap off. Make sure your rotor is fully seated. Turn the crankshaft, until the rotor comes to the mark you made. Remove the #1 sparkplug. See if the piston is close to TDC. If it is not, make it so. After you have done that as close as you can, read the balancer. You are looking for a matching TDC mark on the balancer , that is aligned with the TDC on the timing tab. We are not looking for perfection yet. When you find it, Move the crank to indicate about 10 to 15 degrees advanced.
Now go back to the rotor and see where it is relative to the mark you made;
a) If the rotor is less than 1/4 of the distance between towers, this is a good indication that the chain has not jumped. but
b) If the rotor is more than half-way towards either next closer tower, the engine will not run no matter how ferocious a spark it has.
c) If the rotor is even more than this, farther away, then the chain has jumped
d) if the rotor does not move with the crank, then the chain is likely broken.
If you suspect no spark;
Turn the crank until the points are open. Near ground your coil-wire, .25inch should be good.
Find a small screwdriver with a small shank on it. remove the rotor. Turn the key to run.
Now short the backside of the point arm to the base plate, with a plunge and recoil action. That is to say, your screwdriver will be acting like the points. You should see a tiny spark on the screwdriver tip during the action, and a simultaneous spark at the near-grounded coilwire.
If you do NOT see a spark at the screwdriver, one of five things is wrong;
1) there is no power at the coil negative
2) the point plate is not grounded.
3) the condenser is internally shorting to ground.
4) the screwdriver is non-conductive.
5) the wire from the coil to the points is defective.
Figure out which it is and fix it; easy-peasy.
Your main Coil Lead to the the Distributor is bad, it is folded beyond 90 degress is thin and flat and broken internally.
Replace with another proven coil wire.
Replace with another proven coil wire.
hi , thanks . its not it just looks that way in the picture , its curved there and it works in the other car .
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
What does the spark at coil output look like? Is it good and blue and how long does it get?
Also, have you tried starting it with everything "normally" connected but with a jumper right to coil +?
Does the rotor look good? clean? Any sign of carbon through the middle to the shaft?
As clean as the cap / wiring looks I'm doubting that.
Also, have you tried starting it with everything "normally" connected but with a jumper right to coil +?
Does the rotor look good? clean? Any sign of carbon through the middle to the shaft?
As clean as the cap / wiring looks I'm doubting that.
it was hard to see from where i was . described it a bit in above posts on page one , but it looked good from where i was , pretty sure it was blue and i had the adjustable tester at about 3/8" . also got spark out of the coil wire too , everything from today i posted above , well , on the first page .
yes did try jumper to coil , same result , no start . rotor / cap look good to me , i didn't check the underside of the rotors shaft yet .
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Well if you have spark at the coil, you need to get it to go through the distrubutor cap and out the spark plug wires.
3 things make an engine run:
1. Compression
2. Ignition
3. Fuel
Simple especially with a points distributor. Try putting in a new set of points and condenser. Spray down the top of that distributor with wd-40 then blow out with compressed air. dry dirty mess in there. Should be clean and lightly lubed.
3 things make an engine run:
1. Compression
2. Ignition
3. Fuel
Simple especially with a points distributor. Try putting in a new set of points and condenser. Spray down the top of that distributor with wd-40 then blow out with compressed air. dry dirty mess in there. Should be clean and lightly lubed.
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
Let's try it this way. You may not have hot enough spark. Jumper power to the coil direct. By the way do NOT leave this connected any longer than necessary than to make the test. If the engine fires and runs, you can leave it connected for a minute or two. This is hard on the coil and points
Now with the jumper connected, crank the engine by using a screwdriver between the two bare terminals on the starter relay, the "big stud" and the "big square" terminal"
Now you can see the spark and see how good or how bad it really is.
I am "assuming" this because you say "no spark at plugs." The rotor, cap and wires do not look too bad. The only thing left in that mix is the coil wire. You can check it (and the other wires) with an ohmeter
Now with the jumper connected, crank the engine by using a screwdriver between the two bare terminals on the starter relay, the "big stud" and the "big square" terminal"
Now you can see the spark and see how good or how bad it really is.
I am "assuming" this because you say "no spark at plugs." The rotor, cap and wires do not look too bad. The only thing left in that mix is the coil wire. You can check it (and the other wires) with an ohmeter
Bend up the tab on the rotor a bit to make sure it is making contact with the cap.
By the looks of things, you probably have the old heavy slow turning Original mopar starter In it yet too. They suck a lot of electricity away from the ignition system especially after 50 years of age wear and electrical internal corrosion.
Put in a new Mini Starter that fit the Dodge Dakotas, they start like they have fuel injection with those.
Spins them fast and draws way less juice. More juice to power your ignition.
By the looks of things, you probably have the old heavy slow turning Original mopar starter In it yet too. They suck a lot of electricity away from the ignition system especially after 50 years of age wear and electrical internal corrosion.
Put in a new Mini Starter that fit the Dodge Dakotas, they start like they have fuel injection with those.
Spins them fast and draws way less juice. More juice to power your ignition.
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