yet another won't start

[TulsaSpider]

I got up this morning to go get some coffee. Wouldn't hit, no spark. No power to the brown/white spots wire. Blue and black wire has power. I am looking at Brad's diagrams and I have always had trouble reading these things, it's just me I guess. Where should I look? Where does the brown wire get it's power? It ran fine last night.. why me?

I found this in another post

all you need is power to the + side of the coil. Try running a jumper wire from the + side of the battery to the coil and see if it starts. It sounds like you don't have the ign switch connected properly

My power is to the neg side of the coil. , the lt blue/black wire. I guess I should correct that but not sure why not sparking still.

Still looking at it.... does the brown wire with white dots that goes from the coil to the relay under the dash where (which I have done the conversion) jumpers the brown/white dot wire to the green/black wire to the dizzy? is that all it is? Why not go straight to the dizzy? I am thinking maybe my coil has gone bad or something... heeelp!

I got a new stereo for her I am dying to put in but I don't want to touch anything till I get this issue fixed!

[rlux4]

Not sure what you're missing Clark. Is there no power from the coil to the dist.? Have you pulled the cap to check out the rotor and pick up wires?
The fuse for ign. is #1, but sounds like you have 12V to the coil, right?
I see how you're wiring diagram can be confusing, somehow the light blue with black wire leaves the connection off the pink wire at the ign. switch as light blue with white and then magically becomes light blue with black by the time it gets to the coil.
Ron

[TulsaSpider]

Ron I have power to the Neg side of the coil. I don't think this is correct, shouldn't it be power to the pos side? or is there power to both however it has been running like this.

Pickup wires are new.

I don't have power going to the dizzy.

AND I don't have any speaker holes behind my map pocket s!

[So Cal Mark]

you must have power to the + side of the coil, otherwise you couldn't have power on the - side. Do you have points or electronic ign?

[TulsaSpider]

points

no power on the brown wire side I have power on the -side the blue/black wire

I think the coil hooked up reversed. I have no power to the points.
Ran fine when I parked it.

[majicwrench]

Tis possible to have the coil hooked up backwards, with power going to the (-) terminal, and it will run fine. The way it SHOULD be wired, power goes to the (+) terminal, thru the coil, out the (-) terminal to the dist, where the points open and break the connection to ground, which collapses the field in the coil and creates the spark.. Might as well take the wires off the coil, then see which one has power with the key on. That one should go to the (+) terminal, put it on, leave the other off. You should now have a wire with power on the (+) term, and the (-) terminal should now show power as well (since the power is going thru the coil), with it's wire OFF. Now connect the wire on the (-) side off coil, BE AWARE THAT IF THE KEY IS ON IT MAY NOW SPARK as you connect the wire. Now check for power again on the (-) terminal, if there is none it is because the dist is grounding that wire WHICH IS WHAT IT IS SUPPOSED TO DO as the points close. Now with the cap off, use a small screwdriver to open the points, without the screwdriver touchin anything else, there should now be power on the (-) side of coil, and it should creat one spark as the field collapses in the coil.
That is how it should work, does it make any sense?? Check it out and let us know at what point it doesn't work as described.
Good luck!
Keith

[TulsaSpider]

Kieth thanks I went out and took off the wires and tested them both. The switched hot wire (blue black) was on the neg side. ALSO on this side was a condensor? attached to the firewall (see pic it's to the right of the coil) which side is this supposed to be on?


I re attached the 12V hot blue/black to the + side of the coil leaving off the other cable. turned the key on and there was hot going to the + side but nothing coming out of the -neg side.

[TulsaSpider]

Well I don't mind walking 4 miles to the parts store... who am I kidding.. anyway .. I am still not sure if I have a bad ignition coil...
I have had a bit of trouble finding one. Anybody have a suggestion on a cross ref?

[So Cal Mark]

the condensor attaches to the + side of the coil. Are the points opening? If not you won't have spark. While the engine will run with the coil hooked up backwards, the potential spark output is only half what it would be if the coil was wired properly

[TulsaSpider]

The points (the set I am using) seem ok, they are opening. I wired up the coil the reverse of how it was. There is no power on the neg side of the coil when I am cranking or just have the ignition on. So assuming I get it running again I should have improved performance? That sounds good! What do I do next?

[rlux4]

Mark, it does sound like Clark's coil was hooked up backwards, even though it would work that way (albeit not as well) would that cause the coil to fail prematurely, as it appears has happened?
I sure would think you'd get a much better performance with a hotter spark, Clark. Hey! that rhymes.
Ron

[TulsaSpider]

So is my coil the problem???? It's getting dark soon!

[So Cal Mark]

with the key on, points open you should have power to the - side of the coil and also at the points. If you don't have power there try disconnecting the condensor at the points. If you then have power, you have a bad condensor. To test the coil, disconnect the wire on the - side. with the key on you should have power to the - side

[TulsaSpider]

Key on brown wire off coil I got just a wee little bit of light off my drop light/test light it baaarely glowed.

Put brown wire back on. Turned key on opened points. Nothing no light

Undid condenser tried again, nothing on the light, however, I noticed some small sparking there while I was tightening things back up.


I buttoned the dizzy back up and it fired up.... ok..... I tied to see if the neg coil would light up my light and when I tried that it killed the motor.

Make any sense to anyone?

[So Cal Mark]

the coil has some resistance in the primary windings, so the light will be dimmer on the - side, but it shouldn't vary much. Are you sure you're getting 12v to the + side? You may have an ign switch problem or burnt connector near the ign switch if you're not getting 12v to the coil.
You wrote "drop light/test light", are you using a standard 12v test light or something different?