The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Wiring question/frustration

Tomorrow is our state street rod association day at the state capitol. I'm the only elected official with one and wanted to participate with my 53 5 window. I installed a new cap, rotor, wires, and the pro rebuilt carb to be ready. It was running sweet, so I went to buy some gas as my gauge doesn't work. I shut it off, filled it up, and got back in to go home.

No start. Spin, but no fire.... Tried starting fluid, pumping the gas, nothing.

Checked the wires and all, seem placed fine. (checked,seems to be no spark.) I reached in the window to turn the key, touched the turn signal and got shocked.

My wiring has been butchered a bit as the prior owner added an alternator and 12 volts. Any ideas besides re-wire the whole thing? that comes later.

What could cause the short to kill spark and shock thru the ignition switch???

Oh, tried jumping as battery is not much, the gauge shows a discharge while hooked up to the other car.

Any thoughts would be welcome.

At first, I thought you should double-check the rotor and distributor cap ... but that bit about getting a shock threw me!

That's dangerous stuff at a gas station, too, man!!

I dunno ... if your wiring is messy, get after that rewiring job -- see mine Here.

What throws me is it ran perfect until I shut the switch off at the gas station. It seems like the ignition switch is at least a partial culprit.

Jake:
The shock you encountered may or may not be related to any malfunction. My first inclination would be to investigate the lack of spark. Considering all the things you have done, some ideas might be:
1. Since you did do some work on the ignition system just prior to the malfunction, you might want to back-track (a distributor wire loosened, etc.).
2. Does your system have a ballast resistor?
I,m from Minnesota also, I'd be interested in hearing more about your association. Were you at the World of Wheels show at the convention center a couple of weekends ago?

Donsz,

I missed to WOW show. I'm more into the original stuff, but do appreciate a great job on a rod.

MSRA can be checked out at www.msra.org . They're a great bunch of people and will be here at the Capitol at 10am today. I wish I were driving my rusty Chevy and with them, but I'm stuck driving the Taurus and voting on legislation. My line would be that I wanted to be there with them outside in body, mind, spirit and Chevy. In the end, the spirit was willing, but the spark in the Chevy was weak.

Lame line I know, but what do you expect from a politician??

I still can't get my arms around why it ran fine to the station and died when I turned the key off. (You know what I mean...)

I'll pester you later for more advice. I might even invite you over to take a look.

Hey Jake,

Can ya hook a wire lead from the pos. side of the battery to the pos side of the coil? If you unhook the positive wire you have hooked up and use the lead, it should spark, fire, run etc.

By the way, I got my exhaust mani prob worked out. I just need to get an hour or three to put it all back together.

Donsz, howdy from just south of you in plowtown...

John

John,

Hail to the new chief?

Would a direct wire still allow me to shut it off with the key?

Hail to the Chief...interesting week in my world.

No on the shutting it off with a key you will need to remove the wire if it runs, but doing this does tell you if your prob is with engine electrical ie. points, cond, cap, rotor, etc or if the prob is in the wiring harness...like a short somewhere under the dash. If you leave the other wire hooked to the coil, it still might cause a short and cause the truck not to run.

Two aligator clips and a piece of wire will help you diagnose the engine at least.

I need to finish my hardwood floor project so I can get back to the truck!! Two more coats of Poly and I am done.

If the truck wasn't running when you got the shock, it could only come from one source, static. Everything else would not be above 12 V. The only exception to this is if you had a tube radio going and somehow the antenna was live, but you didn't mention that.

No radio in the truck. No antenna either.

Also, I think there was a loose ground on the regulator. I tightened that down after. It seemed like a 12 volt zap to me. Could the ignition switch short out and become a zapper?

Am I nuts? (loaded question...) :confused:

You can't normally feel 12 V , not even 20 V,I would suspect. If you have something like a coil, and you have your hand on the low voltage terminal while making and breaking the circuit, you could feel a shock.

To eliminate running a hot from the batt to the coil, take a test light & check the batt side of the coil. if it lights, your good. The wire from the coil to the distributor may be grounding out
preventing coil saturation. I would check that wire also. You may have disturbed it when putting the cap and rotor on. Also, check the screw where the coil wire connects to the points. I've had problems with corrosion at that point in the past.
You may want to remove the screw and clean it.
Check to make sure the wire isn't behind the insulating disk, causing an intermittant open.
Keep us posted.

Jim Sgrig "Piewagn"

To eliminate running a hot from the batt to the coil, take a test light & check the batt side of the coil. if it lights, your good. The wire from the coil to the distributor may be grounding out
preventing coil saturation. I would check that wire also. You may have disturbed it when putting the cap and rotor on. Also, check the screw where the coil wire connects to the points. I've had problems with corrosion at that point in the past.
You may want to remove the screw and clean it.
Check to make sure the wire isn't behind the insulating disk, causing an intermittant open.
Keep us posted.

Jim Sgrig "Piewagn"

To eliminate running a hot from the batt to the coil, take a test light & check the batt side of the coil. if it lights, your good. The wire from the coil to the distributor may be grounding out
preventing coil saturation. I would check that wire also. You may have disturbed it when putting the cap and rotor on. Also, check the screw where the coil wire connects to the points. I've had problems with corrosion at that point in the past.
You may want to remove the screw and clean it.
Check to make sure the wire isn't behind the insulating disk, causing an intermittant open.
Keep us posted.

Jim Sgrig "Piewagn"

darn, Don't know why thet triple posted.
I must be doing something wrong.
Wouldn't be the first time.
Sorry guys.

JS

I don't mean to go off of the subject but I'm going to go off of the subject. How many of you Minnesotians are going to the Car Craft Supernationals this summer. Maybe I could meet up and put some faces to the display names. Just a thought. I go almost every year. Let me know and I'll ask again when the time gets closer.
Scott

If you're gonna go off topic, expect a stupid question from me. What are they, where, and when?

I've gotten some very helpful tips. If Ican get some free time, I'll try them out today or tomorrow. Worked from 8 am to 8:30 pm yesterday. Followed by dinner and a beer, no truck time.

Thanks everybody. Further advice is always appreciated.

Jake: You could have a wire crossing your turn signal wire causing a short. I would def. look at the dist. and see if the coil wire is be grounded out some way. The Connection may seem tight but may not reaally be. Had a 61 Impala 235 that did that to me turn over no spark the wire was loose and the points open hello shock. popcorn The Truth is Out There (good luck keep us posted)

Okay, further info provided: Charged the battery to full. Put it in the truck. Turn the switch on, instant discharge on the gauge. Pretty good sized too. Touched the switch side of the coil, shows about 11.9 volts. The distributor on the points side (engine NOT turning) is getting about 2. What do I now know and where do I go from here???

When you turn the key on, your gauge will show a discharge. It sounds like you have a shorted coil.
if your discharge seams abnormal with the key on, engine off, this would make sense. I think there should be more than 2 volts on the dist. side of the coil. If you have a stray one hanging around,
hang it and see if the engine starts. You may still have the 6 volt coil, which, after a while,
will short out with the higher voltage. Make sense? Keep us posted.

Jim Sgrig "Piewagn"

Success!!! I tinkered with the wire again from the coil to the distributor. As I jiggled it, it broke free from the connector. I crimped it down solid, and bang! Running truck. I touched the turn signal and the ignition when I shut it off, zap!!! Definitely a short across the non-functional blinkers. They will be removed soon.

Thanks everybody. You guys are the best!

Glad to here it Jake. I hope my input helped.

Jim Sgrig "Piewagn"