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Posted by David Sherman [24.32.202.83] on Monday, February 08, 2010 at 18:50:25 :
In Reply to: Testing engine (ignition system) posted by Andrew Moore [170.35.224.65] on Monday, February 08, 2010 at 10:38:08 :
Make sure you have spark coming out of the coil, upstream of the distributor. Hold the dist. end of the coil hot lead 1/8" from the block, crank and see if you get spark. If yes, then the problem is in the high-voltage end of the distributor or the plug wire. If no spark, take the dist. cap off, leave the coil wire 1/8" from the block and work the points open and closed manually (make sure the cam is in a position where the points are closed). If you get a spark that way, maybe the point gap is set wrong. If still no spark, use a voltmeter to see if you have 12V at the points with the points open and zero volts when they're closed. If not, figure out why. For example, if no voltage at the points when they're open, disconnect the "dist" wire from the coil and see if you have voltage at the coil then, and check the battery side of the coil. I could spell out all the rest of the flow-chart too, but you get the idea.
When troubleshooting electrical stuff, the key is to break it into pieces, not so much to test each part, but to determine if the problem is in this half or that half, and then keep narrowing down the halves until there's only one part left in the bad half. With ignition, the obvious first dividing point is between the high voltage part and the low voltage part. Then in the low voltage part, it's between the coil primary and the points. Etc...