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I have a 1934 12 cyl victoria and am having a very hard time starting the car. Is there a secondary ignition switch which may be turned off?

No, there is no "secondary" ignition switch.

Your problem is unclear; are you having a failure of the engine to crank over, or does it crank over normally and a failure to start? There are quite a few things to check on so and each symptom has it's own list of candidates so it's really important to have the symptoms correct first.

Thank you for your response. The car started and ran a week or two ago in Scottsdale. It was shipped here. It turns over slowly, but does not fire up. There is an auxiliary fuel pump, which I now think is for problems with vapor lock.

Have you tried to charge the battery?

battery is fully charged - do they have automatice chokes or is there a manual choke? or any other secrets to starting it?

G'day willb,
to PackardInfo and hope you track down the reason for the hard starting. And I have a request for you, could you please include your '34 Twelve Victoria in the Packard Owner's Registry here on PackardInfo?

willb:

First requirement for starting is a good, potent battery, NAPA 7212 or equiv, something with about 1000 cold cranking amps. That's a lot of engine mass to turn over and still leave enough reserve for ignition.

Yes, you have an automatic choke. Depress and release the gas pedal once to set the choke. It's a Stromberg Model C mounted horizontally on the intake manifold forward of the carburetor - you should be able to see the linkage going to the choke valve. You can check it's position by the counterweight arm on the choke shaft - as I remember it's on the driver's side of the carb. Counterweight in the up (approximately horizontal) position means it's closed and positioned to start a cold engine. Counterweight in the dropped position is correct for warm starts.

Two primary things to check - (1) is there fuel in the carburetor, and (2) is there spark at the plugs. Do you know how to check these things?

With a Twelve in good internal condition (good compression) and in good state of tune, it should start easily within perhaps 2 or 3 revolutions of the engine.

The Fuel bowl is full and there is an auxiliary pump as well. Do they all turnover real slow?

In comparison to modern cars they do turn over more slowly; it's a function of the # of teeth of the flywheel, the number of teeth of the starter pinion, and the rpm of the starter motor so it's inherent in the original design which was completely adequate. Of course if the starter motor is in less the good condition, it may be even more slowly. It's an extremely strong starter motor, gives 39 ft-lbs of torque.

If the starter motor is in poor condition, it's current draw will increase, leaving less of a reserve for the ignition. If you put a voltmeter across the battery, while cranking you should have 4.5 to 5 volts. If less, perhaps the starter needs servicing. There is a regular correspondent here who specializes in rebuilding these units if that's indicated.

Why not just check the spark while cranking? With one of the plug wire's metallic end (you may need to insert a short screw into the terminal end if you have the OEM type), place it about 1/4 inch from the engine block. The spark while cranking should easily jump the gap with a good, strong blueish snap of a spark. If the spark is feeble or yellow, you probably have a weak ignition system which could be the result of any number of things.

PS - and the presence of gas in the fuel in the glass bowl does not assure that there is gas in the carburetor. Since on a Twelve even with the filter removed you can't see down the throat of the carburetor, the conventional way of testing isn't available, but there is an alternative way. With all sources of open flame or spark removed, disconnect the end of the fuel line near the carburetor and with a small cup or can under it, have someone crank the engine for a second or two - gas should be discharged.

Thank you. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond, Those options are somewhat obvious, i was just wondering if there was a special trick to starting the cars.

I assume that this website and forum is the spot to find someone who can direct me points, condenser, coils,plugs, Etc., that will be where i will need to go if we have no spark