Spark Problem

[Rolling Thunder]

If it's not one thing it's another. At least these cars are easy to work on.

My 351 Cleveland is not starting. When pulling the coil wire at the distributor cap and turning over the engine, there is no spark until I release the ignition key. Then, when the engine is no longer turning over, one or two shots of spark will come through.

I don't get it. Especially since the car ran fine last week.

Anyone have any ideas on what the problem is? Is this the sign of a coil having gone bad? And if so, what may have caused it?

Thanks for your help,

Keith

[Dominik]

keith,

I probably cannot come up with a perfect answer, but that looks to me that you did not get any voltage to the coil while cranking via the ignition switch.

The ignition switch should let 12 Volt pass at ignition "on", which it does, and while cranking also.

I am not sure if the starter maybe the culprit here as well.

Ols starters where supposed to let 12 Volt pass to the coil during cranking (with pointer ignition) and let the voltage drop to 9 Volt via the resistor after cranking as soon as the engine is running.

The points would burn with 12 Volt applied constantly.

Good luck,

dominik

[Rolling Thunder]

In looking over all the wires running to/from/around the coil, there is one 10 GA labeled 'Solenoid Pwr' (the car has an E-Z Wiring harness in it) that goes to the positive battery cable side of the solenoid (presumably from the fuse box). At the solenoid end of it is a 2 - 3 inch piece of 14 GA wire labled 'Fusable Link'. The main 'Solenoid Pwr' wire and the 'Fusable Link' are connected together with a push together clip (?? don't know what else to call it ??). The plastic cover/retainer around this clip is somewhat melted and the inside of both sides is fried. Both wires themselves look fine.

Any clues? I did just have to replace the solenoid due to the starter never shutting off. Previous to that I replaced the ignition swicth, thinking that was the cause of the starter issue. Other than those two items, nothing else in the wiring has been touched since I got the car 3 1/2 months ago, and it was trouble free until the starter problem. Would this melted/burned connection prevent power from getting to the coil properly? As near as I can tell, there is nothing wrong with the 'Coil POS' wire.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Keith

[DaveSemko]

With the ignition switch in the run position, use a test light and check to be sure you have power on both sides of the fusable link. If you don't have power on both sides, then this is your problem. You can check for sure by putting a jumper wire in place of the fusable link. If it runs, you know for sure that you need to replace the link.