Sure enough the condenser was the culprit.
Had fun figuring it out though.
Parked under a tree with 6 pack in tow, while scratching my head the
neighborhood "codger" stopped by on his walk to aid my efforts (mostly to
help me with the 6 pack). He is a great wealth of information about old
Dodges and the kind of guy that takes 30 minutes just to say hello.
Anyway I was going to check the color of the spark coming out of the coil by
holding the high voltage lead from to the distributor while holding it with
a pair of insulated channel locks and keeping the end of the wire a small
distance from a ground point, while someone turned over the engine. I had
been told if it was anything but blue the coil was bad or going bad. "The
codger" agreed this test was valid, however while pushing me out of the way
said "You young'ins got to have a tool for everything don't ya? Just hold
the damn wire with your hand boy, here let me show ya........ now turn it
over."
You can probably guess what happened. No sooner had I turned it over than I
heard a thump as his head hit the hood. "Codger" comes jumping back giving
me a refresher course in 4 letter vernacular, ..... in the middle of which
he deems the coil to be fully functional.
Still no spark to the plugs so replaced the points first..... still no
spark
After replacing the condenser ...... bingo..... nice purin' 235 again.
Codger and I finished off the 6 pack while he proceeded to tell me how he
used race harley's on dirt tracks.
Great afternoon spent in the shade.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Keith [SMTP:kvdurand@mail.esc4.com]
> Sent: Friday, July 02, 1999 7:27 PM
> To: oletrucks@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: [oletrucks] Ignition/distributor info wanted
>
>
>
> Could be a bad condenser. Also I was going to say check the wire from
> distributor to coil. Looks like you covered that in part C. Just remember,
> 90% of all carburetor problems are in the ignition! Bad condenser gets my
> vote.
>
> >While sitting here waiting for my battery to charge I figured I'd see if
> one
> >of y'all could assist me.
> >
> >Started the truck in a parking lot, got about 100 yards, a small puff and
> NO
> >GO. pushed it back to a parking space and lifted the hood
> >
> >1. Gas squirts into carb when I pump accellorator
> >
> >2. No visible spark across the points.
> >
> >3. Using a volt meter
> > a) juice from battery to coil +
> > b) juice across the + and - terminals of the coil
> > c) continuity from the coil - to condenser
> > d) with ignition key in on position + lead into plug type wire from
> >coil and - grounded, only getting about 6 to 8 volts.
> > e) no decernable spark through grounded plug (battery getting very
> week
> >at this point from repeated attemtps to start or view spark)
> >
> >Had it towed home (damn I hate that)
> >
> >
> >4. How does one tell if a coil is or is going bad?
> >5. What should I try next (once the battery has a full charge again)as a
> >diagnostic?
> >6. Anyone know of a good book/website on distributor/ignition basics?
> >
> >
> >Thanks for any and all assistance
> >
> >Bob in Chico
> >oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
> >
>
> oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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