I have a 1932 Ford street rod with a 1979 Chevy engine with points type ingition. What would make it lose spark while driving. Nothing was wrong while driving, then I "got on it" a little bit, then it shut down. Had to coast to the side of the road. Thought it was out of gas, but it is getting plenty of gas. No spark is coming through to the plug wires when I pulled one of them off to see if it had spark. Help!
2007-08-23 01:40:13 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
I have a 1932 Ford street rod with a 1979 Chevy engine with points type ingition. What would make it lose spark while driving. No spark is going to the plug wires. Brand new points, just adjusted, ran fine last time I drove it. I had electronic ignition system before, but I was always burning up the ignition & coil.
2007-08-23 01:59:42 · update #1
Did you check the points? The reason that the point type ignition system was replaced is the points do wear out.
Remove the distributor cap and look to see if the points are opening and closing. If not, you will need to either replace or adjust the points.
If the points are working, look at the wiring to the coil, and the coil itself.
Good luck
If the distributor rotor is not turning, you have a more serious problem. You may have popped the timing chain!
2007-08-23 01:53:02 · answer #1 · answered by fire4511 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
1979 Chevy engines did not have points type ignition. There is either an older factory points type or aftermarket distributor in there. If it's factory, there should be a ballast resistor in the power wire to the distributor. Check the resistor first. Pertronix makes a retrofit electronc replacement that works extremely well. It is designed to replace the points in a distributor. Or you could go with a reman HEI unit or any number of aftermarket electronic distributors.
2007-08-23 08:59:45 · answer #2 · answered by Michael C 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Does this 'beast' have a mechanical tachometer? I had a '70 Corvette once, same thing happened to me. The mechanical tach' gear is/was on the distributor shaft. I had been 'playing' with the timing ( turning the distributor ) and didn't tighten it up really good afterward. That night, same thing happened to me. I checked under the hood & noticed the distributor cap had turned almost 180'. I turned it back to it's orginal position, from memory, and it started right up. Needless to say, I had no tach' but it still ran like a 'Vette should! Good luck.
2007-08-29 08:06:46 · answer #3 · answered by Mack 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check ignition coil it maybe getting hot and opening up, not allowing enough buildup of charge to form a spark. The distributor may have a defect that is making it to misfire.
2007-08-28 22:30:49 · answer #4 · answered by richpena2 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if the points and condensor and coil are ok-- i.e you have spark at the points---- check the rotor arm and H T lead from the cap to the distributor for continuity
2007-08-23 09:09:49 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If it has points chage them along with the condenser. Check all connections and be sure your getting power and ground to your coil it also could be bad. More than likly the points though. make sure you gap points right
2007-08-23 08:50:48 · answer #6 · answered by mjllohr 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check the points for proper gap and re-gap if necessary. Make sure everything is tight so they don't loosen up again.
2007-08-23 08:45:40 · answer #7 · answered by remowlms 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋