Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Do not be so sure about your condensor - the works or does not work principal is often quite WRONG here.

Also, on our drivers we use 00 welding cable for battery to starter lines. make sure battery is well grounded to frame with clean rust free surface area and it does not hurt to run a ground strat from the starter to the frame (but do not do so in your pre 1934 cars w.the single starter bolt - "say" have you ever seen a cracked crankase from a loose starter bolt connection ?

And, a toy battery does not cut it - you need a good strong battery - I use an Optima for the drivers.

Never hurts to have good distributer bushings (i have a 32 to work on this week w/too much shaft play.

Just looked at a 38 shop manual and sure enough on the super 8 the timing marks are on the front pulley. Are you sure that you had #1 piston on the compression stroke and not the exhaust stroke?

Piston was definately on the compression stroke I put my finger over the spark plug hole and felt the compression on my finger coming up to top dead centre. I am then aligning the distributor rotor with # 1 cylinder, # 1 cylinder being the front of the engine.

Not sure if the rotor on that distro can be installed 180 degrees out of phase, but that may be something to check.

Finally I have found the problem, it seems that after several turns of the starter the spark to the plugs is lost. Each time I checked the spark was there, I just did not turn it over long enough. The battery is good, the points, condensor and cap are new. After the spark is lost I check the coil and that has a good spark but no spark at the end of the spark plug wire. The points are set at 15 thousandths, any ideas, Kevin.

Can you clarify just when the spark is lost? Is it after a few minutes or seconds WHILE the starter is engaged, or after the starter has been engaged and is no longer engaged? If the former, symptoms indicate undersize battery cables (12 volt cables), poor ground, or a starter motor that is worn to the point where it is drawing excessive current, thus heating the cables, increasing the cable temperature and further dropping the voltage available to the coil. Cables should be "O" gauge at the least, "00" if it's a particularly long run.

Don't know what model 38 you have, but assuming it's not a Twelve, the starter current draw, running free, should be between 60 and 65 amps, and locked it should be 670 to 730 amps, depending on model. Specific current data for different models is in older Motors Manuals. Simple enough to check if you have or can borrow a starter current tester like the enclosed.

If you mean you get no spark after a few cranks and the starter motor is not engaged, I'm not so sure where to check but will think on it.

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The Packard I am working on is a super 8. The spark from the sparkplug wire which I am holding next to a cylinder head nut while I press the starter solonoid has a good spark while the starter is engaged. I then put the wire back on the sparkplug and the engine does not fire. I put the wire back next to the nut and see that there is no spark at that wire or at any other wire while the starter motor is cranking the engine over. When I remove the coil wire going into the distributor cap and put it next to the same nut and then press the solonoid to engage the starter there is a good strong spark from the coil. If I go back to the sparkplug wire there is no spark. I have replaced the cap, rotor and points. Kevin.

Not sure what you used for replacements and might not explain why firing one time not the next but there have been reports of replacement mismatches here and on AACA in last year or so.

New supposedly correct caps were not making contact with rotors--either due to length of rotor tip or depth of cap--either the center button wasn't making reliable contact or tip to plug output too far or high. Another was of new rotors looking identical but upon turning upside down and checking, the index to shaft point was off by a few degrees. If you still have the old ones might be worth comparing very carefully.

There was a discussion here not more than a month ago about engine not starting and problem turned out to be old plugs not firing for some reason. Replacing them solved that problem.

I think you are on the right path. I did compare the old rotor with the new one and they are the same, I do not have the old cap anymore so I cannot compare. I think we can rule the plugs out as it is not firing from the plug wire, meaning it is not reaching the plug. I bought the parts from Max Merrit packard, but that does not mean anything. I think like you that the problem now is in the distribution of spark through the cap to the plugs. Either a faulty cap or bad sparkplug wires, which the latter is unlikely as they are of solid wire. I did check that the sparkplug wires are in good contact with the spike on the cap. Does anyone know of any other supplier of parts.

Check your condenser also, and recheck the point faces to see if they have suddenly gotten pitted.