Buick/Olds: Wiring, buick park avenue, alse

Question
Ok I have a 1977 buick park avenue with a 403 and it sounds like it's not getting any spark to the motor. It is turning over and everything but no spark. I just changed the plugs and it has ran great until now. I was thinking either voltage regulator, coil or distributer but I don't know where the voltage regulator is or if the car even has a coil. So where is the voltage regulator and what might the problem be? If you can help any than thank you.

Answer
Berkley

This sounds like an interesting problem, and I think there's 2 ways of approaching this, one being the distributor and the other being the regulator.

As for the regulator, you can find by finding where the distributor is, follow the main line down, and at the end you will see it, it is black plastic likely and will have 2 wires, one is a ground and the other is the main line to the distributor. You can test the main line with a volt meter or multi meter. If you are not getting accurate readings or if the readings are too low, you may need a new one.

The distributor is an easier and less expensive start. Open it up and look to see if all the points are clean and not blackened. Make sure that your timing is accurate and also, if you need, replace the distributor (or just the cap or rotor button) and see if it makes a difference. You say that it ran fine after you installed new wires, perhaps it could be that something alse was disturbed, like the wires. It is possible (i have seen it before) where the wires were actually blown because of a faulty ground or distributor.