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I went to take a my truck ('48 - 216) out yesterday and sitting in my garage it started just fine (once I charged the dead battery - my fault left it on over night), I then drove over to friends to pick up a few yard games. I had the truck turned off for about 10 minutes. Went to start it up again and the starter would go like normal, but nothing would happen. While trying different things I ended up killing the battery again.

Eventually found a loose wire coming off the coil, it was hard to tell were it went so I stuck it to the starter. After doing that I pushed the truck down the hill, popped the clutch, and it starts right up.

Back home in the garage, it has the same problem, starter goes but will not start (original loose wire is still attached). I have had some starter issues in the past, but until yesterday, whenever the starter was going the truck always fired.

Outside of new plugs, and messing with the starter, I have not touched any of the starting system since buying the truck a year ago... any ideas?

First of all you should refer to the wiring diagram to see where your loose wire should go. What side of the coil is it attached to? There's several on line wiring diagrams to refer to. Perhpas someone will post a link. I have them on my home computer.

Next, if you have an original setup in your distributer (points/cond/etc) then if you leave the key in the 'on' position and depending on the position of the distributer shaft, you could damage the points as there would be a stead supply of current going through them.

You might want to crank the engine can check to see if you have spark at the plugs?

IF you do have spark, then I would look to see what the fuel sitituation is. Perhaps there is some trash in the fuel causing issues?

Hope this helps.

Sorry for the late response I have been pretty busy with an upcoming wedding.

I cleaned all the contacts in the distributor and right after that it started right up. So I thought I was good....

Today I drove over to my cousins Corvette shop and talked to him for about a half hour... then it would not start. After about 15 minutes of trying it finally caught a spark and it started up (I brought a battery charger with me).

What is your method for cranking the engine? (I think this is a basic questions but I do not want to mess something up)

Could it be it has a problem starting when hot?

Thanks for the help.

What did you mean that the battery went dead over night because you "left it on" ? Did you leave the ignition on? If so the points may be shot.

left foot on the gas, push to the floor quickly and hold, right foot hits the starter pedal at the same time, don't let off either til it starts

your carb may be boiling enough fuel off when shut down it's not getting gas at first

Bill

I was under the impression that the clutch has the be in when starting... is this wrong?

I left the ignition on when I was working on the headlights. How can I tell if the points are shot? I cleaned them up a little bit and they look good (no pitting or wear marks).

well, it can't be in gear, but neutral works fine - or you can learn to "heel and toe" and work the gas and starter with one foot .... if the points look good they probably are, but if you used a file on them recheck the gap

Bill

I used some steel wool and they cleaned up fine.

I want to make sure I am talking about the right thing here...
The points are the electrical contact that points that are mounted into the distributor cap, the other portion of the distributor rotates around comes into contact with the points to send a charge to the plug.

There is also a contact point in the lower portion of the distributor... Fig 31

Which points should I be checking? What is the method to crank the engine to get the distributor in the right location to set the points?

Sorry about some of the general questions. I am not very familiar with distributors.

steel wool is not the thing to use in/around the distributor, you do not want any fine bits of metal fluff in there

the points are what's being adjusted in fig 31, they have a block that rides on the central shaft, which is hexagonal shaped down there - as the distributor shaft turns those points open and close, when open they have a specified gap, and they should only be 'dressed' with a points file [very fine] - the plastic doobie on top the shaft that rotates to make contact with the cap pins is the 'rotor'

to get the points to an open position, at the top of any high spot on the distributor cam, manually turn the engine via the fan [plugs out if tough to turn with them in], or bump the starter until you luck onto a high spot - with a foot start you can usually do that by levering the starter button with a large screwdriver or bar against the floor

Bill

I used the steel wool on the cap pins, probably not much better but still not in the distributor.

I was looking at the distributor points today but was not having any luck getting the high spot (using the foot starter), so I decided to come here. I will mess with it more tomorrow.

How fine is the points file, can I pick it up at my FLAPS? After filing, I then just loosen the screw and set the gap to 0.018"

very fine you just want to 'burnish', they might have one, or if the points look bad, just get new, should be available locally - if they look flat but dirty, use a match box striker strip to clean them .... finding the right spot by hand turning will be easiest

Bill

yes i agree with red..turn the engine by hand to get the dist. cam in the right position. if the points are damaged like pitted or something it is best to install new ones.. when you left the key on you may of damaged the coil also.. if there are any signs of swelling or oil leakage best to replace that also. on your truck there should not be a wire from the coil to the starter unless it has been converted to a electric start solenoid or something. the wire from the coil neg - should go to the points the coil + should go to a resistor or ing. switch.. if you put the wire from the coil positive+ to the starter the engine will start. but not turn off and will burn the points

You can also leave the truck in gear and rock it a little to get the points in the open position on the distributor cam lobes.

I have one wire on the distributor that goes to the coil. The other wire (the one that was lose) is just bolted to the distributor wall and looks like a ground. Is their a ground on the distributor/should they both be going to the coil?

For $10 bucks I might go a head and replace the points, see if that fixes my problem.

I think the coils grounded. Wouldn't the distributor be grounded by the block/engine ground?

Is it possible the condenser might be bad after it gets hot? I'm just reaching...


There is no ground on the dizzy. The wire inside the dizzy goes from the condenser (which stores energy) to the points. The dizzy itself is gounded.

The wire that goes to the distributor is the power feed. Where it goes through the distributor there is an insulator so it can't short against the body of the distributor. This insulator can go bad and cause intermittent problems. You should check it and see if it may be the cause of your problem.

The interior parts of the coil are not grounded. Isn't the coil outer-body isolated from the internal components and the two lead posts?

The distributor body should be grounded to the engine block. The engine block should be grounded to through the clutch housing which is grounded to the frame.

New points and coil (as posted above) and checking the insulator around the lead-in bolt on the distributor (as posted by Don) seem to be your best first steps.

The primary windings of the coil ground through the points when they close. The windings inside the coil are electrically isolated from the coil's container. The coil is basically a stepup transformer.
On the coil the pos terminal should have battery voltage when the key is turned on. The neg terminal of the coil is where the wire that runs to the dist-points and condensor connects. The only time that primary ignition circuit is grounded is when the points are closed.
With the key on and the points are closed, current flows from the battery, through the primary coil windings, to the points to ground. This same current also charges the condensor.
When the points open, the current flow through the coil stops and this causes the voltage that was produced in the primary coil windings to be induced into the secondary (high voltage0 windings of the coil. The secondary windings have exponentially more windings than the primary and this is what steps up the voltage to 1000's of volts. The secondary windings ground through each spark plug and the high voltage produced by the coil is large enough to "jump" the gap at the sparkplug tip to ground. Ofcourse the arc produced by the high voltage jumping the gap is what ignites the fuel/air mixture in the cylinder.
The condensor is basically a capacitor and it's function is to prevent the points from arcing when they start to open.
And IMHO, the condensor also helps in collapsing the field in the primary windings by reversing current flow from it back to the lower voltage potential of the battery voltage when the points open but this is just my humble opinion based on basic principles of DC voltage/current and capacitor operation.

Basic battery ignition at its most basic

Dave

Excellent feedback. Seems great for a tech tip!