The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay No spark at plugs

Okay, this is frustrating! I may have a 2-part problem. Here's part one: No spark at the plugs (and past experience has shown it to be tiny). I have a tested, proven good 6v coil with 6.8 volts at positive. Ground is good. I parked my 53 Chevy 3100 in the shed running perfectly a year ago. Cap was new, rotor and points new and I checked and cleaned the points again, put in a new capacitor, just to be sure. I get spark at the points and coil pos. I even tried a 12v booster to get plenty of spin on the starter as I know it takes juice away from the system to turn the starter. I checked and cleaned the neg and pos wires to the coil. I've made a good ground from a pulled plug to check spark, and not even the tiniest pinpoint of spark.

Part two baffles me also. My plugs should be getting wet with gas, and they're not. I've pulled the gas line to the carb and it is pumping gas to the carb. The only thing I can think of is that the float is stuck??
And I'm stuck on this one. I parked the truck up against a wall real close so I'd have more room in the shed, but, now I can't get at the right side very well and pulling it out is going to be difficult, so I'm asking for ideas before going to extreme to get it out and in my mosquito free car shop.

welcome to the garage traveler - if you've got spark as far as the points, and the coil and condensor are shown good, then the only reason that there's no spark at the plugs must be the dist cap/plug wires - might pull all the wires and clean the metal on both ends [incl the coil primary] and try to clean in the cap holes, oxidation might be the problem after sitting that long - might even try a new cap

for the fuel thing, pump the linkage and see if you're getting shots into the carb from the accelerator pump, might have dried out after a year - and just in case it's actually that [bad accel pump, so a fuel problem] and you're just not seeing the spark, put a splash of gas in the carb and see if it fires

Bill

Thanks, I will try another cap. Plug wire ends and dist cap wire all clean, and even switched dist cap wire. I think I will start from square one with points and cap, etc. Then with the fuel, I had done the splash of gas several times into the carb, and have the saturation appear where the carb bolts to the manifold, but, I'm really perplexed on the "no wet plugs part". Maybe I'll try really flooding it.
I've had dozens of old vehicles over the years, and most of them would start no matter how bad a shape elecs were in, or at the worst, clean the points, plugs, cap, splash some gas, and away they go. So, first time ever like this.

Pull the coil wire out of the distributor and check for spark there, pull the boot back and touch the wire end to the block.
If it sparks then coil is good.
Do the same thing with one of the plug wires, just touch the wire end to the block, never mind the plugs for now.
If no spark there its definitely cap/wire/or rotor issue.
If it has a spark there then only thing it can be is wrong plug gap.
You didn't blast the 6V coil with the 12V charger did you ?
Also does the block have a good ground ? 6V systems love good grounds!
Good luck!

I just thought of something else, it maybe a shot in the dark, but have you checked to see if the rotor even turns on the distributor?
Could be a sheared rotor button, or dist gear.

Andy46, some excellent info. I'll check that next (with an insulated pliers).

Got it started. Purrs like a kitten.

I never did see a spark. Rotor turned, tried for spark with several coil wires and nothing. Tried new distributor cap, nothing. Took the oil filter off the carb and pumped till I got gas squirting. The last thing I did was turn the ground strap to frame bolt. Then I said the heck with it, turned the key, pulled the choke and it started right up. I guess the connection to ground could have been corroded just enough so it couldn't get up the wire to the coil strong enough.
I pressure washed the whole truck today, and tomorrow it goes into my car shop. I have to replace the clutch, so I will probably be in that forum soon. I believe I will also switch to 12 volts!! Thanks for all the help, it kept me perservering.