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nkaminar · 12-01-2021, 05:10 PM

Baba, Do you have an ohm meter? Turn the engine over so that the points are open or put a piece of cardboard between the points. Take out the fuse and measure the resistance to ground at the fuse clip that goes to the rest of the wiring. It should be infinite which the meter should tell you by an OL signal. If you get anything other than infinite then there is a fault. Something close to zero, say a few ohms or less, would indicate a short.

Turn on the ignition and check again. Wiggle the wires to see of you have an intermittent short. If you find a short then start disconnecting wires one at a time until you find where the short is. Start at the distributor and work towards the fuse block. A common short is were the wire (cable) goes into the distributor, caused by screwing it in too far.

12-01-2021, 05:10 PM	#12
nkaminar Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Western North Carolina Posts: 3,900	Re: Vermont Model A Mechanics Baba, Do you have an ohm meter? Turn the engine over so that the points are open or put a piece of cardboard between the points. Take out the fuse and measure the resistance to ground at the fuse clip that goes to the rest of the wiring. It should be infinite which the meter should tell you by an OL signal. If you get anything other than infinite then there is a fault. Something close to zero, say a few ohms or less, would indicate a short. Turn on the ignition and check again. Wiggle the wires to see of you have an intermittent short. If you find a short then start disconnecting wires one at a time until you find where the short is. Start at the distributor and work towards the fuse block. A common short is were the wire (cable) goes into the distributor, caused by screwing it in too far. __________________ A is for apple, green as the sky. Step on the gas, for tomorrow I die. Forget the brakes, they really don't work. The clutch always sticks, and starts with a jerk. My car grows red hair, and flies through the air. Driving's a blast, a blast from the past.