I'm still chasing this ignition gremlin... I have replaced every ignition component from the battery to the coil...and the issue continues. When I try to crank, the car turns over fine. Its getting fuel, but no spark. When I release the key and it falls to the "on" position, it attempts a spark, kinda spudders without the energy to go on. I pulled the coil wire off the distributor and checked for fire...nothing until the key is released, the a quick spark. I measured the voltage at the positive side of the coil with the key on, 6-6.5V. Measured again while cranking, 9.5V-ish. The car occasionally cranks. Thought i was flooding it out, so I removed the electric choke. It cranked 5 or 6 times right after, even drove it for a 10 mile loop to the gas station, ran perfect...well, as good as its going to. I reversed the big wires on the solenoid, same thing. I reversed the little wires on the solenoid...don't do that. I'm totally lost guys. Any ideas? I need to get this thing on the road again.
Is this with a ford duraspark distributor? If so, this may help. Don't remember a lot of details being this happened 20 years ago or so. I had transplanted a 429 into a 4x4 truck. Everything hooked up, hit the key and it fired immediately. As soon as I released the key to on/run, it would die. Took some head scratching to figure it out. By accident once, I didn't release the key all the way back. Enough to stop the starter, but the key was almost in the start position. The truck would run, but not very good. The part of the pickup in the distributor that retards the timing a bit for starting worked, and the truck would fire up right away. When the key was released and the timing went back to normal, that part of the pickup appeared to not work for whatever reason. A junkyard distributor change later, it ran like a top. Perhaps the cranking/retarded timing part of your pickup doesn't work, but the run/regular timing part does?
This one? This was 10 minutes out of the auto parts store. Theres a newer new one in there now. And I've swapped wires from side to side with no change.
In the 1976 electrical Trouble Shooting Manual it states the system will produce a spark when switched off after cranking... I suspect that a good sign the module and wiring are OK, I'm betting the pickup inside dist... Make special note of #3 on page two.. Here's the test procedure, note the manual is calling the ign module the modulator(even Ford has flub ups)...
spray a little electrical contact cleaner in your ignition switch, not a lot let it dry then crank it
Old Goose, that was it... i greased the cables and them lectrons started flowin like hot lightning....well, and i replaced the coil with a newer new one... Was jumping a hot wire from the battery to the hot side of the coil and heard a pop. After playing around, found the coil had a crack. Replaced the BW with MSD...ta da' I hate it when bad parts make me question my troubleshooting. Thanks for all the help along the way...next project...power steering delete.
Update for "Lessons learned" The new coil did not fix the problem...in fact, over the last 6 months I've changed every piece of the ignition except the distributor. The ignition switch has two bolt holes on the side for mounting. They are cut long for adjustability...and when it wasnt sparking during the crank cycle, it wasnt activating the switch far enough to make contact every time... It wasnt fun, but I made the adjustment and now it fires sharp on every key turn. Northern
I replaced mine when I had the column out, the new one died...got another one...it died. put the old one back in and it's still cranking so far. lesson..."if it ain't broke don't fix it."
That's good info... No doubt there is going to be wear in the linkage and switch, if adjustment isn't centered I can easily see how intermittent problem could develop...
I replaced my switch a few months ago when I had the steering column out, no issues so far. Next I need to do the neutral safety switch.
Thats not an issue for me 'today' so I'll leave it be till nect time. Is that just a matter of cutting 2 wire from a switch and connecting together?
