QuestionQUESTION: I hope you remember me,i am the one with the 1954 packard clipper that is not getting spark to the points. The last time we corresponded you said it could be either the battery or the starter.I had the starter rebuilt,just got it back.The engine cranks just fine now, but i still only get about 2&1/2volts when i crank the engine.I took the battery to a battery dealer this morning and had it load tested and the fellow said there was nothing wrong with it just a little low.(That car has started for me with an almost dead battery,) but i am having it fully charged anyway.If you know of anything else i can do i am open to all suggestions. thank you jim
ANSWER: Where are you measuring to get the 2.5 volt reading?
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QUESTION: I use a voltmeter and i put the positive wire to the side of the distributor and the negative wire to a good ground and i crank the engine.Before i had the starter fixed the voltage was varying between 3 and 4 volts. Now it's only reading 2 and one half volts but it is steady,not varying. jim
ANSWER: Ok, lets back up here a little bit. Are you hooking the voltmeter to the side of the distributor or to the distributor side of the coil? And then the other voltmeter lead to ground. If you are connecting to the distributor side of the coil the reading will be in the range that you describe as the points are opening and closing. If you are connecting to the distributor body it indicates a bad distributor ground. You need to connect to the ignition switch side of the coil and check the cranking voltage. That should be above 4.9 volts. If this is right remove the distributor cap. connect on lead of the voltmeter to the contact connection where the pig tail and condenser attach. When the pints are open and the key is on the reading should be battery voltage. Now bump the engine over till the points are closed and the voltage should be zero, Let me know,
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QUESTION: You are correct. When i hook the voltmeter to the distributor side of the coil and crank the engine i get 2.5 volts.When i hook to the ignition switch side of the coil i get just a little over 4 volts. When i take the distributor cap off and hook to the pig tail and condenser connection ,with key on i get 6 volts with the points open,and 0 volts when the points are closed. So far so good i hope. jim
AnswerOk, now lets get on to the next steps to find the problem. We now that the primary side of the ignition is functioning. Now pull the coil wire from the center of the distributor cap. Hold it about ¼ inch from a good ground on the block and crank the engine over. The spark should jump the gap and be a bright blue. If this I ok, then remove a spark plug or ue a pare plug and remove one spark plug wire from any plug. Connect the wire to the pare plug and lay it on the cylinder head so that the shell of the plug lays on the head. Now turn the engine over and watch for spark. It will occur less frequently than it did when hold the coil wire near ground. If there is spark here then the problem is not ignition. If there is no spark here but there was spark at the coil wire then you have a bad rotor or cracked distributor cap. If all checks here then get back to me and we will go further. The next things to check are the fuel system, compression and the timing chain.
