Advice on no start. What I have done.

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Max10

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1962 Lancer, Slant 6.
Was running. Parked two months, no start.

- Replaced: ballast resistor, coil, cap, rotor, and condenser (able to do that with the distributor on car), and plugs.

Current situation:
Checking coil wire output shows a thin white spark what will jump 1/2 inch. Spark out of distributor to plugs is weak or non-existent, depending how how I rest. Inline tester shows small orange flash. Clip on tester with grounded spark plug shows nothing.
Test light shows shows bright light to one side of ballast resistor, dimmer light on other side, and matching dimmer light at coil positive.

I am testing by using a remote starter and the key in the on position. If I run a 12v lead from battery positive to coil positive, it sometimes starts smoking and melting. Trying to start it with battery positive to coil positive makes no difference.

Resistance checked from coil negative to battery negative shows almost no resistance if points are closed, and open if points are open. (Using remote starter to bump it back and forth).

After changing the coil yesterday, the car fired up and ran. Gauge showed good oil pressure. I shut it off and haven't been able to restart it since.

Most recent thing is I pulled the distributor to have a look. Nothing seems burnt, and the points open and close when I rotate it by hand. I also stupidly didn't mark the rotor position, so I'll need advice on how to reinstall properly.

Thoughts?
 
I would check all your grounds first. Make sure they are making a GOOD connection. Kind of sounds like that might be your problem. It also sounds like your ballast resistor is working as it should.
 
So you did or didn't pull the distributor?
Did you change the parts out one at a time or all at once?
 
I cleaned the negative battery ground and checked both cables continuity. I'll need to start looking at other grounds. Any specific ones to check?

I did pull the distributor. It's currently out. I replaced the parts one by one, but I have been learning as I go, so I haven't done it the most efficient way. Condenser was among the first. Starter needed to be replaced anyway as the old (large) one was cranking slowly and not helping matters. Cap and rotor were relatively cheap, etc.

The condenser is new from Napa, but I could try another one.
Used this: https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/ECHAL869
 
Have you put a dwell meter on it to see what the point dwell is? Should be 28-32 degrees.
 
I've never done dwell, but have an old Sears meter still in box from a garage sale. So, I'll learn how. Does the car need to be running for that?
 
Some of those point sets had insulators/plastic washers, that if out of place, would ground the circuit, shorting the feed wire, and making it in-operable.
Not sure if it applies here, a pic might be helpful ?
 
Easy to see when points are opening, but make sure the points are actually closing. Check by dist rotation or by inserting paper between dist cam lobe & points rubbing block. You do not need to check dwell at this point if points are opening & closing.
 
Max10 said:
I've never done dwell, but have an old Sears meter still in box from a garage sale. So, I'll learn how. Does the car need to be running for that?
Click to expand...
No. Just hook the meter up and spin the engine by the key.
 
IMO;
>As to your ignition system;
If the points are making and breaking, as you say they are, and if
the coil produces a half inch spark, like you say it does;
then your primary ignition system is not your problem.
>That just leaves the Secondary System; and
with new plugs in, properly gapped, as you say; that just leaves these things;
insufficient voltage during cranking, or
distributor way out of time, or
wrong rotor/cap set, or
bad wires, or
plug wires out of order.
all of which are easy to check.

But IMO,
I sorta doubt your Ignition System was ever the problem.
>If I had to guess, I'd say, one of two things happened.
1) the fuel in the carb evaporated, and whatever the pump pulled up, it didn't want to burn, so
2) you then pumped the gas pedal, or poured gas down the carb and then, together with the choke being "full-on", that combination flooded the engine, which washed the oil off the cylinders/rings, driving your cylinder compression into the basement, and now, you get to start over. Sooooo

>I would start with a compression test.
Charge up the battery
Disable the ignition system.
Remove all the sparkplugs
Set the throttle to WOT
Screw in the tester
>Crank until you get at least two consecutive pulses that are about equal
Right the number down.
Repeat on each cylinder, until all are done.
If you get numbers less than 90 psi;
inject a half a teaspoon or so of any engine oil, into each hole. Walk away for 10 minutes. Come back, hand crank or slowly bump the engine over, about one revolution and repeat. Walk away for ten more minutes.
When you return; by now, that oil has, by capillary action, coated the top ring, where ever it needs to be coated, and the oil has climbed up/down onto the cylinder walls; but, there is way too much oil in the cylinders, which if you leave it in there, will drown your sparkplugs later. The only way to get it out, is to crank the engine and blow it out. Yes it will make a bit of a mess. So just do it.
After that's done; repeat the compression test looking for numbers closer to 130/140.. If you get something like that, it will make firing it up easy.............. assuming your spark occurs even close to the right time and gets delivered to those brand new plugs, in the right order. But if you don't get at least 120psi, and/or the numbers are not all very similar, then you might want to check/adjust the valve lash, and then redo the compression test.
So;
put the plugs back in, return the carb to idle, reconnect the ignition system, charge the battery, and now, we are almost ready to crank it up. But, we have to prevent flooding the engine, again.
>Normally, on a flooded engine, with an automatic choke;
when you set the throttle to WOT, and the choke is "full-on", the throttle linkage will open the choke-blade about 1/8th inch or more, which, the combination of, during cranking, is enough to unflood the engine, but it takes a good bit of cranking. And of course, as soon as it lights off, the rpm is gonna start climbing. But, if you release the gas-pedal to idle right away, it may stall due to it sucking up all the gas that is or may still be, laying on the floor of those looooooooooong, horizontal intake runners. So when flooded, you can't just lift off the pedal, which will instantly re-engage the "full-on" choke-blade, and kill the engine. Instead, what you do is gently reduce the throttle-setting while simultaneously regulating the Rpm to a safe number likesay under 3500. In just a few seconds the engine will clear itself, and the choke pull-off will have cracked the Choke blade open enough that you can return throttle to idle, which, if the choke is functioning properly, will be just over 1000 rpm to as high as IDK, maybe 1600. Normally, as the engine warms up, the rpm will climb, and you "kick the gas-pedal", and the rpm will drop each time until when the Choke blade is finally wide open, and then the idle will return to normal. This is how it's supposed to work.
>BTW,
at this time, during warm-up, the engine is not particularly fussy as to what the actual ignition timing is..... so long as it is not too retarded or too advanced. A good window for warm-up might be 5 to 20 degrees advance. Too much and it will rev excessively AND take forever to warm up. Too little and it will struggle to stay running. The more Idle-Timing you give it, the more Idle-Power the engine will make, and the harder it will bang into "Drive".
When you get it right, on the "kick-down, the rpm will drop to say 1000, and be happy when you drive away, and all that choke-stuff will happen automatically, in the first two or three minutes, depending on the ambient temp and humidity.
Again, that is how it is supposed to work.
>But now,
at this time, even if the compression is normalized and the ignition system is perfect, we don't have even a tiny clue what your carb is gonna do, and so we don't have even a tiny clue how, or if, the engine will light off. So,
If I'm right about your ignition system being fine, and that she was just flooded, then, IMO, we are gonna have to check out your carb, beginning with the choke and the fuel.
If I'm wrong;
well I just wasted 90 minutes of typing.... but, all is not lost, as, I couldn't sleep anyway, and now
I'm getting sleepy again....
lol
Best of luck to you.
 
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