Well... I guess Doug was right - thanks for the words of wisdom anyhow.
After replacing my ignition coil with a generic one. I still have no spark
from the coil -frustrating. I don't get it - there is power to the coil -
the positive and negative sides of the coil both have full power. However,
when I turn the engine over and I have the coil wire grounded on the engine
I see no spark (well actually a few minutes ago I had my wife observing with
me and she saw some faint sparks, and when I retried I saw a few glimmers,
but when I tried the third time - nothing. So, either 1) I replaced a bad
coil with a new faulty one, 2) I screwed something up when I replaced the
wires, points, rotor, and cap, or 3) The problem is elementary and simple,
but my brain it too thick to figure it out.
To make things worse I pulled out the ignition switch to make sure that was
okay and in the process of investigating I chipped off a piece of the
plastic that marries with the key mechanism - still works, but I would
imagine it will fail soon so I will be looking for a new ignition switch
too. Hopefully I will have figured out this problem by then.
If anyhow has any advice it would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Jim Cullen
1974 Spitfire
----- Original Message -----
From: <doug@dougbraun.com>
To: "Jim Cullen" <ccullen16@cogeco.ca>; <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Sent: Friday, September 16, 2005 11:48 PM
Subject: Re: Ignition problem solved - now new problem
> At 10:03 PM 9/16/2005 -0400, Jim Cullen wrote:
>>Hi All,
>>
>>
>>Then after figuring this out and getting the seats and carpet done. I
>>figured
>>it was time to replace the plugs, wires, cap, points, the whole shooting
>>match
>>in the ignition. Unfortunately after ordering all the parts except the
>>coil, I
>>now have no spark. I am assuming that my lovely lucas ignition coil waited
>>until I replaced all of it other friends to fail on me. Now I guess I have
>>to
>>replace the coil. The fun never ends.
>
> I bet the coil is still good. Either one of the other new parts was
> defective, or you made a mistake
> installing them. You can check a coil fairly well by measuring the
> resistance of the primary
> and secondary coils. Personally, I hate replacing a part unless I can
> prove that it is actually defective
> (or if I am bored and feel like working on the car).
>
> I drive my car about 1500 miles a year. At that rate, a distributor cap,
> rotor, and wires should last
> at least 12 years. I haven't even changed or adjusted my points in 5
> years or so, and every year when I check the timing
> and dwell, they are fine.
>
> Remember: if you replace an old, grubby-looking, but well-made original
> part with a new, shiny, but
> cheaply-made reproduction, you may just be making things worse.
>
> Doug Braun
> '72 Spit
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