my cars been down for 6 months WON"T SPARK

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mopowermatt

mopowermatt
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I posted a thread on this like 4 months ago. I thought I fixed it and ended the thread but I didn't so I'm going to give it another shot.

i have a 360 in a 64 dart. I had it running for a while then I drove it for the first time and it only lasted 3 mins and then broke the ignition wouldn't work.

I'm positive I have the ignitioin wired correctly because when I spin the distributer by hand it sparks but then when I put it in the motor it won't spark when I crank it.

Today I took apart the front casing water pump and all of that to take a look at the timing chain. I knew it would be fine and it was.

with the dist. cap off the rotor spins fine. It seems like the motor isn't sparking it because it's not spinning the dist. fast enough. because it will only spark in my hand when I spin it faster.

please help I've taken a 6 month break but I want to get it started now. I was too worn out and aggrivated before.
 
You checked the timing chain, but did you actually check to be sure the cam is in time? Have you put a timing light on the number one wire to see if the ignition timing is correct? Do you have electronic ignition? MSD? Is your charging system working properly? Have you checked the battery voltage while cranking?

Ok, that's enough questions for you. The reason for last four questions is that some, if not all aftermarket ignition systems fail to operate under about 10 volts.
 
they got these pepole called mechanics...they work on cars for a living..after 6 months of trying to figure this out..I think id find one localy that knows old cars and get the car to him. If I can't figure out something after 6 days my car is there :).
 
I never checked the voltage while cranking but I know it has like 12 volts when it's not cranking the cam is timed right and so is the ignition or it was when it stopped working
 
Matt,

I'm going to start from the beginning to be sure we don't miss anything so don't get insulted if I seem to over simplify.

With the distributor in the block and the cap off, does the rotor turn when you crank the engine over? If it does, pull the coil wire out of the cap but not the coil and check if you get a spark to ground (the engine) while a friend turns the engine over with the starter. Umm, be careful, you may get zapped by the coil wire if the wire is in poor condition.
 
Are you spinning the rotor by hand with the distributor out of the engine? If it's still in the engine, and you can spin the rotor by hand, you have some issues. Maybe the distributor drive gear?

Greg
 
ramcharger- I've tried that and it won't spark to the ground if the dist. is in the motor. I've done that test. But then I took the dist. out and spun it by hand and it sparked to the ground perfect.

440 duster- when I spin the dist. by hand it's out of the engine.

could there be a problem with the dist. grounding to the motor.

I broke one of the gaskets for the waterpump today so I'm going to go get another one soon put it back together and make sure I have 12 volts even though I'm pretty sure I do.
 
You didn't answer what type of ignition you have.

As for having 12v, you should have 12.6 with no load (each cell is 2.1 volts). Voltage WILL drop with a load and the starter is the biggest load the battery will see. You need to measure the voltage at the battery AND on the terminals WHILE cranking.

My son's Barracuda had an MSD AND an alternator problem. When it cut out it acted like it was running out of fuel and would not restart, even though it would crank.
 
mopowermatt said:
ramcharger- I've tried that and it won't spark to the ground if the dist. is in the motor. I've done that test. But then I took the dist. out and spun it by hand and it sparked to the ground perfect.

440 duster- when I spin the dist. by hand it's out of the engine.

could there be a problem with the dist. grounding to the motor.

I broke one of the gaskets for the waterpump today so I'm going to go get another one soon put it back together and make sure I have 12 volts even though I'm pretty sure I do.
Click to expand...

OK, Matt. When you say that there is no spark with the distributor in the engine, are you checking from the spark plug wires or right from the coil wire? If you get no spark from the coil wire, you probably have a short to ground in your inductive pickup circuit. If you have spark from the coil, but not to your plug wires, your rotor is shorting to ground. Make sense?
 
What about your ground straps?
Back of head to firewall, battery neg. to core support.
Seems small time but my dad got called over to a friends shop who had a hemi bird and it wasnt getting any juice, he noticed they forgot the ground straps and after the fix it fired right up.
 
I have an msd digital 6.

about the alternator I'm not too sure what to do with two of the wires. The big black one goes to the main plug on the firewall but the other two small ones I don't have hooked up to anything right now because I took the ballast, and that little stock ignition box.

there is no spark at all from the coil or the plugs.
 
With the distributor in the engine, disconnect the two wire lead from your distributor and with a ohm meter, check resistance from one of the two wires to ground. You should have "infinite" resistance. If not, you have a short to ground.
 
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