Re: No spark 54 Patrician

Posted by HH56 On 2020/6/28 16:54:35

Make sure the yellow wire connecting to the coil has good solid standing voltage of 6.3v to ground and that voltage hopefully stays above 5.5v when the engine is cranking. If the starter is dragging or something is causing a lot of extra load the voltage can drop down as low as 5v and voltage that low will provide no or a just barely adequate spark. The starter does draw a lot of current and if the original battery cables have been replaced with a too small modern 12v battery cable or if the battery cannot provide adequate CCA the electrical system cannot provide a consistent voltage to the coil.

When the points are open the other coil terminal that connects to the dist will also read the same or near the same voltage as the yellow wire. When points are closed that second voltage should drop very close to 0 or just a few tenths above 0. Bump the engine to get a few point open and closes while you watch the meter. If the voltage stays high, the points are not closing and need adjustment. If it stays near 0, points are not opening or there is a short in the distributor or condenser. If the low voltage is more than .5v above 0 when points are closed there is a suspect ground to the dist or a poor connection in the distributor.

Since you did some work in the distributor check the flexible cloth covered wire between the outside terminal and the points. In many cases the fabric insulation on the flex wire is rotten and falls off when the wire is disturbed by changing points etc. The wire is sometimes hidden or out of sight in spots and the damage or shorted section is not easily seen. If you do need a new flex wire be sure to get a proper one and do not use ordinary wire. Regular wire is too stiff and will soon break with the continual motion of the advance mechanisms.