Hello everyone, I have a 1972 Plymouth Satillite Custom 4 door, 318 2 barrel, all original, I replaced the points and the dwell is at .33, which is within spec, i replaced the cap, rotor, plugs and wires, my firing order is correct, 18436572, wires are correct and correct on the cap, the plugs are gapped at .035, and the points are gapped at .018, which is in spec, I have a no start condition, cranks over fine, but will not fire, could I have done something wrong or over looked it? Or should I start looking at other things electrical? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

Could be bad gas or 180 off..

 

Where in Nor Cal are you? I'm in Sacramento..

 

id start there dont know how many times ive done that and thats what happens

 

Thanx to you guys I'm gonna give it a try now, I'm out west of Woodland, in Esparto. Thanx again guys

 

See if it will start with engine starting fluid.

 

Start with a test lamp on the neg. side of the coil. See if it "blinks" when you crank it over, or look in the dist. for sparking at the points. You MAY have a bad condenser----new does NOT equal "good"---or may have shorted the connection, etc.

 

I started out with source voltage from the battery (12.50v), with ignition on at the coil positive lead of voltmeter on hot side of coil and negative lead on negative side of coil, I got nothing, so now ignition off, I disconnected the negative side of my coil, with ignition on I put my red lead back on hot side of coil and my negative lead to the ground terminal of the battery, I got 12.43v, bad coil? Thank you all for all your help.

 

Your test is flawed. By putting your meter on both sides of the coil, you are measuring "across" the coil, and it may fool you. You MAY have an "open" on the negative side of the coil. That is, you may have

the points not closing

the points are closing but are defective, dirty, and not carrying current

the dist. low voltage "primary" wire is damaged and open

or the coil is open, unlikely if all you did was change points.

You need to find out if the points are switching.

Put your meter on the coil pos, and GROUND (the block) and key in "run." If you get "same as battery" (about 12V) at least you have voltage

Now with no other changes put your meter on coil neg. If you get 12V there, the points are open. ONCE AGAIN the best way to "see" this is use a TEST LAMP from the neg. coil terminal to ground.

If the lamp lights, points are open. Now crank engine and light should "blink." If it does not, look over the points gap, dist. low voltage wire, etc.

Do you understand how to gap points? You must "bump" the engine until the points are on the "high" point of the cam.

I never gap points very carefully, I just "rough" them in, and then use a dwell meter "on the starter." You can get them close with practice, then check them when running.

 

Good advice 440. Alot of folks dont realize the coil circuit is negatively switched. It is actually kind of hard to explain how it works, even if you know how it works.

 

Not too out from me.. i'm in West Sac, go to school in Natomas. But i'm out in Davis quite a bit.

 

Great info fellas, I replaced the points in class at Whyotech, and I drove the car out of the shop and commuted to school for two days before doing the plugs, wires, and cap, It was my grandpa's car and he gave it to me to commute with, it gets 18 to 20 mpg! My Dodge truck gets 8 mpg, The points were gapped by my instructor he watched me install them and I watched him gap the points and he showed me how to find the dwell, well the wife said thats enough with the car tonite so I'll get at it in the morning, Thanx again everyone you all have been helpfull.

 

I go to Wyotechs rival school! :-O