In a message dated 5/15/99 12:32:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time, oliverp@gte.net
writes:
> Hi,
>
> My 64 TR4 has not been stored for 7 years. It ran the day I put it away. I
> have for the past week been trying to bring it back to life. After doing
all
> my fluid changes, lubrication and putting fresh gas in the drained tank I
> tried to fire it up. First there was nothing working. No lights, no
movement
> from current meter. I finally after jiggling key and turning it got the
> warning light on the dash to appear. I also opened up the regulator and
> moved stuff around. This fixed the headlites and stuff. Though the engine
> would not crank over. I tried the starter button under the hood and it
> cranked. I then left the key in the run position and tried to start from
> under hood with the starter button/relay. It would not run. I appear to be
> getting no spark. I measured 10.6 volts coming into the coil from the wire
> harness. I checked points but they looked fine, and were opening and
> closing. I'm going to try and get the ignition switch working tonite.
> Anyone have any ideas where to look, or the best method of tracing the
> problem?
Oliver,
10.6 volts is a bit low, but you should at least get some sign that the
engine is trying to start. What did the voltage measure at the battery? If
the engine cranked, I'll bet it was over 12, or very near. That high a
voltage drop from the battery through the wires to the coil indicates some
pretty bad wiring connections. Go through them all, cleaning them, and
removing any signs of corrosion. Replace if they are real bad. Unfortunately,
this also includes internal switch contacts.
To eliminate any starting problems from your wiring, follow Bob Kamholtz's
advice, and connect the coil directly to the battery. As Bob said, this will
completely bypass your car's wiring, but you'll have to pull the wire to stop
the engine.
The first thing I would do after this would be to make sure the points are
installed correctly, and the plastic isolator is not cracked or broken.
Remove the wire from the coil to the distributer, and measure the resistance
of that wire to ground. With the points closed, it should be zero, and with
them open, it should be infinity. If you get zero resistance open or closed,
the isolator is broken, allowing the points to stay grounded, or the
capacitor is shorted. If you get infinite resistance open or closed, either
the wire to the coil is broken, or the wire from the points to the
distributor body is broken.
Next, replace the condenser (capacitor). After 7 years, yours has probably
gone bad. If that doesn't do the trick, replace the coil, as they can go bad
too.
The only thing left after this, ignitionwise, are the plug/distributor wires.
Dan Masters,
Alcoa, TN
'71 TR6---------3000mile/year driver, fully restored
'71 TR6---------undergoing full restoration and Ford 5.0 V8 insertion - see:
http://members.aol.com/danmas/
'74 MGBGT---3000mile/year driver, original condition - slated for a V8 soon
'68 MGBGT---organ donor for the '74
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