Hello all,

New member here from The States. I apologize if this specific issue has been discussed already. So my issue is the car quit running after a wash, it appears there is no power coming from the coil, I don't see anything disconnected or corroded. It does crank however, just no ignition. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

Assuming a 420'G'? Most likely you have gotten the dist. wet. Remove the cap and dry with a hair dryer or similar.

 

You are correct, 420G. Cap is dry as a bone now, running into the same issue.

 

did you use a pressure washer and was the hood closed at all times ? Does the car have a heater intake in front of the windshield ? This covers a plenum chamber with drains, so water in there could have got into somthing it shouldn't have.

 

I did use a pressure washer. Looking behind the center panel inside the car it appears there are some things disconnected. I suppose figuring out what goes where wouldn’t hurt either.

 

Alright so it ran for about two minutes and it was unexplainable. I didn't do anything. I had someone come over to see if they had any ideas, cranked the car and it just ran. Turned it off and it won't start again. Now, pardon my lack in electrical savvy but I was using a light tester and the coil shows power to both the positive and negative when the ground end of the tool is on the battery terminal. I would think one side should show power and the other not due to them being opposite polarity. Thanks in advance!

 

Alright everyone I think I'm getting closer. Seems like the ignition relay may be to blame. Anyone have one of these go bad? Looks like it's also a window lift relay for other vehicles. I'm speaking of the part that has the wire clip holding the plastic cover with "C2/C1 / / W1/W2" stamped on it.

 

You say that you used a test lamp and got power to both sides of the coil. That is correct if the points are not closed.
Put the lamp on the distributor wire connection side of the coil and rotate the engine. The lamp should go on and off as the points open and close.
Pull the main coil lead out of the distributor . Put it about 3/8 inch from an earth like the cylinder head and spin the engine over on the starter. You should be getting an intermittent but regular spark.
Also did you blow out the spark plugs with air pressure or even a hair dryer? Wet plugs will not work!
Its a pity you did not let the engine run for 10 or 15 minutes after the wash as that would have helped dry the system.
Best of luck
Bill Mac
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X300
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