Pl please excuse any spelling and or grammar mistakes in this post. I'm dictating it on my phone since I am not at home at my computer.
Oh Roy has been at another location and has not been started or driven in about 6 weeks. My I attempted to get my mom to start it and let it run for 30 or 40 minutes every couple of days or so but the turn the key push the button pull the choke step on the pedal etc etc was too complicated and she couldn't get it started.
For the record the truck has operated more or less flawlessly for close to 5,000 MI now.
When I came out today to start the truck, assuming that it was probably a fuel problem like flooding or some such, I discovered that it was getting plenty of gas but that it had a week or no spark.
I checked and cleaned all of The usual suspects such as the contacts inside the distributor cap and the rotor itself. All are essentially new, but I clean them up with sandpaper anyway. At the end of each little test I tried to start the truck but each time it would not start. The truck spins over rapidly as usual the battery is fully charged.
I checked all of the cable connections positive took it off wire brushed everything put it back on. No go. Took off the positive and negative wires on the coil, cleaned the ring connectors and put them back on. No go.
Just to reiterate all of this stuff is more or less new and hasn't been sitting on the truck for 70 years rotting.
I attempted to start the truck after each new connection was cleaned and reattached to see if there was any change, and of course there was not.
I disconnected the negative ground cable between the frame and engine block just below the lever for the stump starter.
After both ends were cleaned and reinstalled including all of the nuts bolts attaching hardware and frame and attaching points to make sure there was clean metal, I attempted to start the truck again.
This time, there was nothing. The starter would not spin at all it didn't click or make a noise.
What happened? While attempting to start this truck, I never let the starter spin and spin and spin, it only went around for a few seconds because it was obvious the truck was not going to fire.
Was the starter already on its last legs? Is this problem related to the no spark problem?
As an added test I ran a jumper cable, an actual jumper cable that you start cars with, from the ground terminal of the battery directly to the frame near the starter. I also ran a jumper cable from the positive battery terminal 2 the starter stud. This had no effect on the starter, as it would not spin or make a noise. Manually moving the stomp starter lever by hand under the hood produced no results. Dead silence.
Battery is fully charged and headlights come on as bright as normal. The battery has been on a battery tender this whole time. Battery shows 6.5 volts after all of this attempted starting.
What is going on? What happened to cause the weak spark or no spark problem, and then what happened to the starter?
I suspect the starter issue is just a coincidence but maybe it is related to the no spark situation. I took some pictures in case anybody needs to see the inside of the distributor or whatnot but I won't be able to post them until I get home.
I want to reiterate that this truck was being driven at least 100 miles or more each week until it took a break a couple months ago it had absolutely no mechanical issues that I was aware of
