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I've been mucking around with the ignition stuff on my 1970 360 since it doesn't want to spark for me.
12 volts of power at the coil, 12volts at the points, 12volts going to the top of the distributer cap with points closed(not being turned over at the time).
Power seems to go all the way through to the cap but won't make it from the rotor to the spark plugs.
this means a lousy coil doesn't it?
While trying to figure this out I tried the coil and condenser from a motor that was running fine 2 weeks ago. Could they have just died alluva sudden or something? I'm really stumped right now
If you have 12 volts at the cap, it can't be the coil, can it? I thought the juice came from the coil to the cap.
I also suspect the cap and/or rotor. The good news is that they are both cheap to replace.
I was out messing around some more, tried 2 more coils, another condenser, rotor and cap.... Still not working.
I noticed that I can pull the dizzy shaft up a 1/4 inch or so. Is this normal? Its gotta be something odd that happens once in a blue moon cause right now I'm trying to fix something that was working like a charm the last time I used it.
if youve had the dist, out and didnt seat or drop it in all the way it wont rotate. also on some engines if the oil pump goes bad it will shear a pin and the distributer wont turn, these are jess guesses. i also am not sure but does it have an ingnition modual?
If your rotor does turn, and everything else checks out, have you checked your plug wires.(Have spark at plugs?)
After my old 66 rusted away, I put my motor into the 72, fired up ran great. Took it up the street, barely made it back. Couldn't get it to start up again. Just about pulled my hair out. Had spark everywhere, but not enough at the plugs (new). Wires decided to go south (had them on for 5 years). Put a new set of wires on, fired right up, no problems since.
Take the dist cap off. Place the coil wire near a ground, (within 1/8 to 1/4 inch) Rotate the crank to get the points CLOSED. Turn on the ignition. Using a PLASTIC or wooden popsicle stick or other insulated tool, open and close the points. THere should be a little 'tic' sound and a small spark a the points. There should also be a spark at the coil wire when the points are opened. It there is no coil spark, you have a bad coil, or coil wire or condenser. If there is no spark at the points, you may have a bad condenser or the flexy wire inside the dist can fray and break (a REAL problem driving down the Dan Ryan expressway in Chicago I KNOW!!) and cause loss of spark.
tom
I put new plug wires on today, still isn't sparking.
the coil worked pretty good when it was on my other motor. I dunno, I think Im getting another coil+condenser today... If that doesn't work I'll probaly go insane,not quite but the truck better hope there isn't a large blunt object within my reach!
try tomw's idea it could very well be the culprit. check voltage on the wire itself giong to the points even a weak coil will still have a spark jump thru the wires