QuestionDick,
Boy, am I happy to find this service you offer on the web. I am 60 yr old, write software for a living, and my wife is mad as a hornet because I bought this Packard and put it in her car's spot in the garage.
Basic problem: No spark from the coil.
I have known-good points and condenser, and the coil appears new. However, I just bought the car and have never seen it run. With the distributor cap off, holding the tip of the center hi-voltage lead near a ground, I can get no spark when the engine cranks. I do have -6 volts on the side of the distributor (ignition on), and 0 when it is off.
I can see the points open and close. I see no spark between them when they do this.
Can you offer any suggestions? I was not able to find the proper resistance for the coil so I could check it, but it is supposed to be an Autolite CE-4033.
Jay Faubion
AnswerI can guess at what the problem is, and I will, but I think you need to get yourself some test equipment if you are going to enjoy working on old cars yourself.
My guess would be that the points have not been in service for a long enough time that they have built up an oxide coating on the contact surfaces, and that all you need to do to get the car running is to take some very fine sandpaper, fold it so that there is grit on both sides, and draw it through the points a few times so as to burnish off the crud. Then blow the grit away and put the cap/rotor back on, it should fire right up.
If this doesn't work or if you want to learn more about the problem, get yourself a test light. If you are handy with a soldering iron, you can make one with a small bulb, say a #51 or #53, and two peices of wire. Solder the wires to the center contact and the brass outer case of the bulb, and attach alligator clips to the other ends of the wires. Test this by putting the aligator clips on both posts of the battery - the bulb should light.
Now, put the test light on the wire from the coil to the side of the distributor. When the points are closed, there should be no voltage there, and when the points are open, there should be voltage there - simple as that. If there is voltage there when the points are closed, you have proven that the points are not grounding the coil primary, and thus there will be no spark. If it isn't caused by dirty point contacts, there must be an open wire in the circuit from the coil + terminal to the distributor side terminal, or else inside the continuation of that wire inside the distributor, or perhaps the grounding wire that grounds the metal plate on which the points are mounted.
The other possible problem, although much less likely, is that this same wire is grounding out to something metal somewhere, thus simulating points that are always closed. either way, you get no spark, because the coil depends on the points opening and closing to produce the spark.
You can trace the voltage with your test light, and find out what is happening.
Good Luck, and let me know if I can help anymore.
Dick (still driving his 48 Packard!)
