No Fire, Go Figure?

Today was the day, after two years of restoring, I planned to back the Mach 1 out of the shop. I have been running the car for a year now in the shop while up on blocks. I put the wheels on it and lowered it down off the blocks, try starting it and it will not run. Now ain't this grand? It's not getting any fire. I had bought a Pro Comp distrubutor, coil and 6AL box. A year ago to get it running. It's had no problem for a year. Had it started 2 days ago. The box is lighting up. The coil doesn't light up with a test light. I've checked all the connections. I read that the module in the distributor can go bad if you have a bad ground. Course I had a bad ground. Any body have any ideas?

Borrow a module and see what happens. But that's what it sound like

Ouch, has to be a bad ground! Good luck and let us know when you get that girl out on the road, can't wait to see final pics.

So you think it's a bad ground and it burned up the module inside the distributor?

That is usually the case. But verify all you connections. If it is, you don't want to wipe another one for the same reason

That is usually the case. But verify all you connections. If it is, you don't want to wipe another one for the same reason

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+ 1

I had bought a Pro Comp distrubutor ...

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Unfortunately i think we have found the problem.

I have to agree TommyK.

Just a note to those wiring things up. NEVER,NEVER,NEVER!!! hook up your ground until you verify that you have no short circuits. Hook up the positive cable to the battery. DO NOT HOOK UP NEGATIVE untill you:

A. Verify with a meter from the negative terminal of the battery to grond on the car that there is NO VOLTAGE. OR

B. Do the same thing with your 12V test light and verify it doesn't light. If you have neither you can do the same thing with an extra light bulb and socket.

I've seen too many great projects go up in smoke for not performing this simple test.

Just a note to those wiring things up. NEVER,NEVER,NEVER!!! hook up your ground until you verify that you have no short circuits. Hook up the positive cable to the battery. DO NOT HOOK UP NEGATIVE untill you:

A. Verify with a meter from the negative terminal of the battery to grond on the car that there is NO VOLTAGE. OR

B. Do the same thing with your 12V test light and verify it doesn't light. If you have neither you can do the same thing with an extra light bulb and socket.

I've seen too many great projects go up in smoke for not performing this simple test.

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I've never heard that bit of advice, sounds like good reasoning!

Just a note to those wiring things up. NEVER,NEVER,NEVER!!! hook up your ground until you verify that you have no short circuits. Hook up the positive cable to the battery. DO NOT HOOK UP NEGATIVE untill you:

A. Verify with a meter from the negative terminal of the battery to grond on the car that there is NO VOLTAGE. OR

B. Do the same thing with your 12V test light and verify it doesn't light. If you have neither you can do the same thing with an extra light bulb and socket.

I've seen too many great projects go up in smoke for not performing this simple test.

Click to expand...

I've never heard that bit of advice, sounds like good reasoning!

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That's why no matter what your installing elecrticlly tach, radio whatever, they tell you to remove the negative on the battery. It's in case you accidently short 2 wires. They typically never explain it or tell you how to test when your done to verify. (until you hook it up and let the smoke out of the wire)

Mark

I took the procomp system out and put the stock distributor, wires and, coil back in. I'm getting power to my coil. I'm getting spark at my points. I can pull the coil wire off and ground it and get fire but I'm not gettin any fire to the plugs again. My rotor is turning. When I turn the engine over, the negative side of the coil is pulsing with a test light like it's suppose to.

Did you look around the suspension to see if a wire got pinched in something when you lowered it onto the wheel?

What about other electrical systems? Do the headlights work?

What wire might that be? I checked all my wiring with the procomp system in. Now I just have a wire running from the battery to the positive side of the coil and from the negative to the distributor.

Condensors bad

Some info

Coil- Primary resistence 1.4-1.54 ohms

Secdondary resistence 7.6k-8k ohms

Amp draw not running 4.5 amps

Amp draw running at idle 2.5 amps

Condensor- Capacitance 0.21-0.25 micro farad

10M ohm min leakage

max resistance 1 ohm

Even though your seeing spark at the points, It's supposed be about 7.5kV. A bad condensor and your plugwire resistance will negate what you see at the points, hence no spark at the plugs

OK. I am getting spark at the plugs now. It's tried to fire. The negative battery cable was hooked to the cast iron intake to begin with. When I put the alluminum intake on, I moved the ground to the water pump. Now I moved it back to the intake and I'm getting fire. I thought that the alluminum intake would not make for a good ground.