Re: distributor condenser

Posted by HH56 On 2019/2/16 15:22:09

What year and do you have an OD? If you have an OD there is an ign ground out circuit as part of that assy which if there are certain problems in the OD could cause the ign to stay grounded and not fire.

Are you getting a spark at the dist terminal when you connect the wire from the coil to the dist or if not, what leads you to believe there could be a short in the dist?

If no OD and no spark when connecting wire can you remove the wire from the dist and using something insulated so as not to touch the wire terminal directly, ground it against the block and get a spark from the high voltage lead when the terminal is removed from the block? If you can do that and get a spark from the coil high voltage lead then there could be something grounded in the dist. It might be the flexible wire, the condenser, or points misadjusted or not on the high point of cam so closed. It could even be a wrong length screw or wrong points or something else in the points or condenser installation. If you get no HV spark when grounding the wire directly to the block then look to the voltage from ign sw supplying the coil.

If a 6v system and you have a low battery or too small of battery cables or a high current draw from the starter or poor connections somewhere then there could be enough of a voltage drop that the coil no longer has enough primary voltage during cranking to deliver a decent spark.