Ok,

I have a 79 Ford F150 with a 460 in it. I just recently replaced the head gaskets and have put the engine back together. When I was reinstalling the distributor back into the motor I noticed a large amount of small sparking going on inbetween the engine and the gear/shaft of the distributor. This is with the battery hooked up.

When I attempted to start the vehicle, the engine cranks fine but I'm getting zero firing going on. I checked my coil, which was reading fine (replaced it anyways), and my Ignition control module (also reading fine, but replaced anyways).. I've pulled my distributor out to double check the whole sparking with the engine body and dizzy gears.. still happens.

When I disconnect and reconnect my positive battery terminal with a spark plug light tied inline with my coil wire/sparkplugs the light lights up on the connection with the battery but not when trying to start the truck...

I've checked my positive and negative terminals and major wiring 100 times over for pinches, busts, corrosion and bad connections... and I'm at a total loss...???

Has anyone ever run into this type of thing? An electrified engine block, or maybe my distributor is making some sort of short circuit inside? is this possible?

Any help or suggestions is greatly appreciated at this point.

Thanks everyone,

Devilstone

 

wow never heard this one before....good luck lol hopefully someone will come along with some suggestions or thoughts

 

Only thing I could suggest is to try another battery?

 

I've tried it with 3 batteries up till this point, same result on each battery. I've got 3 mechanics scratching their heads too...

 

You have both small wires connected on the correct terminals on the starter solenoid?

 

My guess is the sparking is caused because untill the distributor is firmly installed and seated the only electrical ground it's getting is where the gear is touching metal.
Be sure the coil itself is grounded then my next guess would be the pick up coil in the distributor.
A distant possibility would be the reluctor, that's the magnetic wheel in the distributor that's under the rotor.

 

Silly question but is the ground strap for your engine hooked up to the chassis?

 

I agree. I has similar issues with a chev I had back in the day. The ground wire that connected the block to the firewall wasn't hooked up. (it attached to the head and was removed to replace the head gasket). As soon as I hooked it up I had spark again.