Re: 51Packards....52 Packard 200 Deluxe!

Posted by Charles On 2014/5/14 7:00:27

5-13-14

Between the thunderstorms I checked my wiring. All the wiring under the hood looks right. The 2-RG wire is attached to the BAT side of the regulator instead of the circuit breaker behind the instrument cluster. This is how the '51 was wired from the factory even though it does not match the '51 wire diagram. Should not be a problem though.

Wires to the ignition are correct.

Since the '51 harness was made for an automatic, I had to take the two wires that go to the neutral safety switch and wire them together.

Bought a new multimeter since I still cannot find the old one (thank you Harbor Freight!)

When I turn on the ignition, the bat and oil lights still do not illuminate. The oil pressure sender is missing (aftermarket oil pressure gauge was put in it's place) so that may be why it is not lighting. The bat light should though.

Car now turns over when I press the gas pedal down. I guess the starter button under the dash was to bypass bad wires.

As the car turned over, the spark tester still showed no spark. I added a jumper wire from the distributor to the + side of the coil to confirm I had a good connection there. I also added a jumper wire from the - of the battery to the - side of the coil to give it direct power. Car still had no spark.

I couldn't run Howard's voltage drop test because I ran out of time and didn't have a helper to turn the car over while I checked.

Went back in for the rest of the night. Just before bed, I figured I would go out and try turning it over again in the dark. Maybe the spark tester had some spark but I couldn't see it or maybe I would see a flash from a short. Car turned over twice and suddenly came to life! That was exciting!

When I tried to turn the car off, the ignition switch would not do it. Then I remembered I had a direct connection the the coil so I pulled the + battery cable and jumper wire off. Car still ran! I guess that means the generator is working too. Finally had to put my hand over the carb to get it to die. Getting closer! I have no idea why the car suddenly decided to start. Still have a lot of things to check over.