Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Hello,

I'm wondering if you all can let me know if my reasoning is sound here. With my 49 288ci deluxe(22nd) I have the very common issue where the car will start and run, but not restart. It has a rebuilt carb, new distributor cap, rotor, coil and coil-dizzy wires, condenser plugs & wires, battery and giant 00 cables. I've gapped the points and also cleaned the spark plugs so they're not fouled.

In my diagnostics based on other threads while the engine is hot, when I pull the main coil lead out of the distributor it sparks very well on a ground, but the spark plug wires show little to no spark. This makes me think it's the distributor where my issues lie. I tried re-gapping with no success/difference. I'm thinking my next step is to replace the condenser again, since it sounds like those can be pretty weak even off the shelf when "new," and this one endured a long, cold, winter outside with good amounts of cranking and engine troubleshooting. Though I know there can be many electrical things drawing more current while hot, I would think that the coil lead spark would also be weak were it something outside the distributor like a failing starter or a major short (which hopefully I've found all of). Electrically otherwise the lights and everything, even when hot running/not running are working better than they ever have.

Is there something else I'm missing here?

Apologies, I haven't read carefully thru your entire post yet, but first just a quick question, is the coil polarity correct?

Cars will run with it reversed, but poorly especially under load or stress which would include hot starting. Assuming your battery is properly installed (+ ground), power from the ignition switch should go to the coil's (-) terminal and the coil's (+) terminal should connect to the distributor.

I had a problem similar to yours. My car started cold but not when hot. After weeks of frustration, I discovered it was the ignition switch.

I too had the same problem with my '41. Went to a Pertronix and found out I only had 4 volts at the distributor. There was too much current drop at the ignition switch. Installed a number 10 wire directly from the battery to coil with a toggle switch in the middle. Solved the problem.

I'll have to take a look at the ignition switch, I think I installed the coil correct but worth a double check.

Update on this, I'm cleaning all things electric and she's restarting better than ever now. I drove around the neighborhood a bit last night, and was able to start and stop 3 times with no issue. During an unintentional restart (stalling, still getting used to manual steering and column shifting) at a gas station, it wouldn't fire. I think this was because the charge was low from the previous restarts, but that being said, previous comments must be onto something too because hotwiring straight to the coil got her going again!

All this electrical has me thinking I might actually be able to handle a new wiring harness some day.