The Ford Barn

IrishHills · 06-20-2011, 08:42 AM

Fast Check....with the points closed and ignition on, pull the coil wire out of cap, place wire close to ground, then open and close points with your thumb.... have fire?

willobs · 06-20-2011, 08:48 AM

The best quick test, The Amp Meter should jump towards - when cranking and the points fire.

bogdonj · 06-20-2011, 09:07 AM

awesome information guys! When I get home from work Im' going to try what is mentioned above.... I will let you guys know!

bogdonj · 06-20-2011, 01:15 PM

Ok we by passed the amp meter and still no spark coming from the high tension wire... I even cleaned the head bolt right up to make sure we get a good contact. Got 6 volts everywhere including the points.....I hooked up the tester and opened the points and it read 5.89 and snap the points and nice spark came. At this point it has to be something small. Did the coil test on it by putting the high tension wire into the dist and the other end against the head not and still nothing.

After trying this we noticed the starter acting really slow and it's completely dead now.. battery is still charged right up... going to take the starter off and look at it.. COULD the slow cranking of the starter cause not a spark at the high tension wire???? possible cutout on the generator?

IrishHills · 06-20-2011, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bogdonj

Did the coil test on it by putting the high tension wire into the dist and the other end against the head not and still nothing.

Did it backwards there... wire in coil and other end against head, then open and close points. (no starter required)

bogdonj · 06-20-2011, 02:44 PM

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Quote:

Originally Posted by IrishHills

Did it backwards there... wire in coil and other end against head, then open and close points. (no starter required)

wire in coil and other end against head, then open and close points..this is what we've been trying to get achieve but not luck.. we read in a book to do it the other way also to check and still nothing..... more thought later tonight when I get home from work

Steve Wastler · 06-20-2011, 03:33 PM

Was in a discussion with an ancient electrician about 6 months ago who got very animated when I said current traveled thru the wire, he insisted the current flowed around the wire. By the end of the discussion he had convinced me I was incorrect. I should have rechecked my information before posting as I was correct when it came to our discussion in the fact that current does flow thru the wire. Thanks for the correction.

Dave72dt · 06-20-2011, 04:59 PM

If you're getting spark at the points, you either have a bad coil or bad coil wire.

bogdonj · 06-20-2011, 08:47 PM

well for a few hours after work we finally got the car running!!!!! it ran for about 1 min and then nothing...It ran rough and I had to keep the throttle down.... looked back and had a big white cloud of smoke behind me( years of built up tension maybe??? hahha)... tried again and would catch then die.... tried a few more times and the battery started to lose power... (have to recharge it).... back to the problem....

we finally got power out of the high tension wire. As mentioned above the starter seems to turn over weak and then died right out. So we took it off and cleaned it up and put it back in the car. Seem to crank the car a little better and bingo we had power coming out of the high tension wire against the head nut. Maybe a grounding issue? We noticed once it was running rough we had some white smoke coming from in between the manifold and block... so we are thinking that's why it was running rough...too much air being sucked in?

will order some parts and try it again soon...

Pilotdave · 06-20-2011, 09:20 PM

Manifold may be warped slightly so that mating surfaces are not true to those on the block. Best solution is to have the manifold machined so that all mating surfaces are parallel and in the same plane.

MN Stumpjumper · 06-21-2011, 05:00 AM

Black smoke is fuel, Blue smoke is oil, White smoke is coolant. Usually!

06-20-2011, 08:42 AM	#21
IrishHills Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Brooklyn, Michigan "Home of M.I.S." Posts: 398	Re: Need Help----Trying to fire the new Roadster Fast Check....with the points closed and ignition on, pull the coil wire out of cap, place wire close to ground, then open and close points with your thumb.... have fire? Last edited by IrishHills; 06-20-2011 at 08:47 AM.

06-20-2011, 08:48 AM	#22
willobs Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: SW Fla Posts: 202	Re: Need Help----Trying to fire the new Roadster The best quick test, The Amp Meter should jump towards - when cranking and the points fire.

06-20-2011, 09:07 AM	#23
bogdonj Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Walkerton, Ont. Canada Posts: 623	Re: Need Help----Trying to fire the new Roadster awesome information guys! When I get home from work Im' going to try what is mentioned above.... I will let you guys know!

06-20-2011, 01:15 PM	#24
bogdonj Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Walkerton, Ont. Canada Posts: 623	Re: Need Help----Trying to fire the new Roadster Ok we by passed the amp meter and still no spark coming from the high tension wire... I even cleaned the head bolt right up to make sure we get a good contact. Got 6 volts everywhere including the points.....I hooked up the tester and opened the points and it read 5.89 and snap the points and nice spark came. At this point it has to be something small. Did the coil test on it by putting the high tension wire into the dist and the other end against the head not and still nothing. After trying this we noticed the starter acting really slow and it's completely dead now.. battery is still charged right up... going to take the starter off and look at it.. COULD the slow cranking of the starter cause not a spark at the high tension wire???? possible cutout on the generator?

06-20-2011, 03:33 PM	#27
Steve Wastler Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 1,987	Re: Need Help----Trying to fire the new Roadster Was in a discussion with an ancient electrician about 6 months ago who got very animated when I said current traveled thru the wire, he insisted the current flowed around the wire. By the end of the discussion he had convinced me I was incorrect. I should have rechecked my information before posting as I was correct when it came to our discussion in the fact that current does flow thru the wire. Thanks for the correction.

06-20-2011, 04:59 PM	#28
Dave72dt Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: SW WI Posts: 359	Re: Need Help----Trying to fire the new Roadster If you're getting spark at the points, you either have a bad coil or bad coil wire.

06-20-2011, 08:47 PM	#29
bogdonj Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Walkerton, Ont. Canada Posts: 623	Re: Need Help----Trying to fire the new Roadster well for a few hours after work we finally got the car running!!!!! it ran for about 1 min and then nothing...It ran rough and I had to keep the throttle down.... looked back and had a big white cloud of smoke behind me( years of built up tension maybe??? hahha)... tried again and would catch then die.... tried a few more times and the battery started to lose power... (have to recharge it).... back to the problem.... we finally got power out of the high tension wire. As mentioned above the starter seems to turn over weak and then died right out. So we took it off and cleaned it up and put it back in the car. Seem to crank the car a little better and bingo we had power coming out of the high tension wire against the head nut. Maybe a grounding issue? We noticed once it was running rough we had some white smoke coming from in between the manifold and block... so we are thinking that's why it was running rough...too much air being sucked in? will order some parts and try it again soon...

06-20-2011, 09:20 PM	#30
Pilotdave Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Grafton, MA Posts: 1,226	Re: Need Help----Trying to fire the new Roadster Manifold may be warped slightly so that mating surfaces are not true to those on the block. Best solution is to have the manifold machined so that all mating surfaces are parallel and in the same plane.

06-21-2011, 05:00 AM	#31
MN Stumpjumper Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 203	Re: Need Help----Trying to fire the new Roadster Black smoke is fuel, Blue smoke is oil, White smoke is coolant. Usually!