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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Won't Start

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Posted By Discussion Topic: Won't Start -- page: 1 2 3 4 5     Dream38v8 05-30-2024 @ 7:20 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 177 Joined: May 2016 Same, I tested the village as you suggested. The attached picture shows how I had the bolt meter set. The reading was 1.59v with the key on. I tried several different ground locations and had the same reading. Was the bolt meter set correctly? Thanks Ray Drbrown 05-30-2024 @ 7:55 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 569 Joined: Nov 2013 Try this .... You can do a functional check on condensers using a simple analog volt meter, the kind with a meter that has a needle. Set the meter to the olms setting and measure the resistence. With a good condensor the needle should jump towards zero then move towards infinity as you make contact with it. Then switch the meter leads and do it again. This time the needle should jump about twice as far because the first time you are putting a charge of 1.5 volts on the capacitor. When you reverse the leads, you are reversing the charge so the needle will jump further. One end of the capacitor must be disconected from the circuit. If the meter has some selection, choose a high resistence range. If the needle stops at a resistence value other than infinity, it is leaking the charge and is bad. Regardless, as noted, lots of NOS and reprodution condensersits often are defective due to aging or otherwise. As you've discovered sometimes best to just replaceit. Regarding plugs .... my car came with Champion H-11's (hotter that stock H-10's) and they have been working fine ever since. Go figure. This message was edited by Drbrown on 5-30-24 @ 8:00 AM same 05-30-2024 @ 8:02 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 90 Joined: Jun 2020 Ray, your conversation about testing voltage at the coil was with carcrazy. Tom. and another thing the new plugs might be a big part of carbon fouling solution for you. like someone else said in this thread,that their plugs just were not firing any longer after 9,600mi. dont quote me on that miles. keep on keepin on. Tom. This message was edited by same on 5-30-24 @ 8:05 PM Dream38v8 05-31-2024 @ 4:31 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 177 Joined: May 2016 Same and et al, yesterday I determined no spark is getting to the plugs. I removed a plug wire and connected it to a plug. Tried to start the car and there was no spark at the plug. I discussed this with our local V8 guru. I am going to remove the distributers. He will replace the points (he has all the necessary equipment and good points). I purchased the car in 2016 from a friend who purchased it in 2002. I am not sure when the points were last replaced, but it was prior to 2002. I will update the Forum once the distributers are back in the car. Thanks to all! Ray Robert/Texas 05-31-2024 @ 7:18 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 108 Joined: Dec 2009 This could be your problem. About two years ago when my '37 Ford behaved like yours I discovered that the nibs on the inner caps were rubbed off. Some previous owner had used thin paper gaskets instead of cork ones. When I replaced these with new caps and cork gaskets the engine fired right up. Dream38v8 06-01-2024 @ 12:43 PM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 177 Joined: May 2016 I will be removing the distributor tomorrow. Is there any hints or tricks I need to be aware of before I start? It looks straight forward. - disconnect the battery - remove the coil - remove both distributor caps - remove the bolts holding the distributor to the block Probably need to remove the fan first. How long is the distributor shaft? Thanks, Ray RAK402 06-03-2024 @ 9:38 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 436 Joined: Jul 2015 One thing (that probably isn't it, but is worth looking at) is to check that the band around the distributor rotor is clean and that the brush on the bottom of the coil is making solid contact with it. A few months ago, I was going through distributors and setting the timing on a K.R. Wilson fixture. I always use a coil when I do this-not for electrical reasons but because the spring on the bottom of the coil exerts pressure on the breaker plate and can affect timing. I noticed on two of my old coils (that I thought were bad) the brush was worn to the point that it just missed touching the band on the rotor. This is very easy to see on the bench, but very difficult to see when the distributor is installed on the car. This would have prevented any spark from the distributor. This message was edited by RAK402 on 6-3-24 @ 10:18 AM carcrazy 06-03-2024 @ 11:51 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1650 Joined: Oct 2009 You can check to be sure the brush on the bottom of the coil (or coil replacement adapter) is making contact with the metal ring on the rotor while the distributor is still mounted on the engine. Simply remove the inner and outer side distributor caps on one side of the distributor and look inside using a small mirror and a flash light. Dream38v8 06-12-2024 @ 5:12 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 177 Joined: May 2016 Follow-up to my latest activities attempting to get the '38 started. 1) New (different) distributor with new points set according to spec using the correct procedures 2) Different condenser used when adjusting the points on the new (different) distributor 3) Reassembled distributor, coil (Coil from Skip in 2016) and condenser 4) Car still wouldn't start 5) Put a jumper between the (- black) battery terminal and the coil 6) Car started, but ran extremely rough. When I tried to rev the engine the car stopped running. 7) Since I jumped around the ignition resister to get the car to run is this the issue? 8) Is the coil the issue? I had a similar issue with my '69 Dart GT years ago. The car would start and when I put a load on the engine it would falter and quit. Replaced the coil and the car ran with no ad issue. I wanted to drive my '38 on "Drive Your V8 Day", but the outlook is not good. Thanks Ray same 06-12-2024 @ 7:15 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 90 Joined: Jun 2020 ray,what i have done may or may not help your start problem and some here and on the ford barn may not agree with my solution. when i got my '37 flathead 4+yrs ago it came with a remote modern coil and condenserwhich worked for about a year or so. i could tell they were failing. it was becomming harder to start. i then ordered a new coil from either dennis carpenter or macs/ecklers and a new condenser from NAPA this combo worked for a yr maybe. found through some research that that the coil from macs/ecklers produce about 10,000 volts.i don't know what the distributor mounted coil from skip put out. i have within 2 mo. ago gotten a hotter coil 25,000 volts blue streak UC14T standard motor parts. and i went to a FD-72 condenser from same co. i was getting a couple bad condensers from napa. so far for me the fd-72 have been good. Tom.

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