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bore wash
cheers for that tip, I will do that tomorrow. had been wondering if any particular cylinder maintenance should be done after so much crank with no joy.
had a fellow drop off my son today and he had a nosy at the engine, drew my attention to the score marks inside brand new distributor cap from new distributor arm. could be the cap was not in place right but maybe the repco part is not working right also? they (old and new) are a little different but are what their catalog suggested.
tested the ignition coil and its ballast today and both gave readings that seemed to fit with suggested norms.
the LT terminal came off the distributor when I removed the cap, the wires (copper ones in thick black cloth coating) appear to be perished within the distributor. the point contacts are clean and new and recently set. i was thinking to test the condenser tomorrow. and explore the state of the these cloth-coated tiny wires in this area as they look old (original) and not that healthy.
repaired wires and cleaned up distributor, no change in status.
it might not go, but its extremely clean now
voltage at (+) terminal on coil seems to be between 5.5 and 6.3 volts but fluctuates.
I hoping everything is connecting up and going back exactly where it should.
added small dash of oil to each cylinder as suggested re bore wash and recleaned the spark plugs.
almost sure this is an electrical matter, just sense that most everything else has been tided or replaced and maybe something to do with right voltages reaching right places when required and being sent where they need to go.
maybe issue is locus in the coil, the ballast or the condenser in the distributor. all the wires around these now seem clean, conductive and in the right places.
tried a test on the coil, the neutral setting on the voltmeter for ohms seemed to be 01.0 and the first coil test yielded a reading of 02.3 on the lowest (200) ohms setting. the next coil test on the 20k setting showed 14.72 as a reading. followed an instruction video and hoping these are accurate and make sense.
distributor after clean up. hoping its all back where it should be ..
All i'm seeing so far is the amount of water in the fuel, has that been rectified yet?
Have you tried blocking the fuel feed off and just spraying some "start ya *******" or any form of ether into the intake whilst cranking to see if it fires?
The coil should have 12Volts at the positive as well, trace back the feed wire and check and clean all connections, clean and inspect all relays and earth connections too., or temporarily run a 12volt source to the coil positive to see if that also helps
The volts OUT of the ballast are way too low. I usually look for about 7+.
What I would like to see is what the volts OUT whilst carnking are reading, just to sort a few things in my head.
The fact you still have a NO run with a sepearate 12v supply direct to the coil, is a bugga.
With a spare spark plug inserted into the end of ANY HT lead, and resting on the cylinder head as an earth, what is the spark looking like??.
If that engine is still a no starter with Ether, then you are not getting spark AT the plug.
The scratch marks that I "think" I see on the new rotor are a concern, and sadly the Repco, and any other aftermarket parts references, are crappy in the Jaguar Dept, and its been that way for years.
With the distributor cap off, crank the engine, and observe what is happening. The actual points mounting plate may be soooo sloppy that the points are not opening and closing properly. The centre shaft of the distributor may be bent.
Last edited by Grant Francis; 08-15-2016 at 05:31 AM.
no matter how I look at it, by the end of the process, going or not, the engine will be clean enough to eat off. and if it goes, hot enough to fry eggs on too.
is the ballast bi-directional? its so old I cannot make out markings anymore. does it have a (+) or (-) end of a IN and OUT end or does the coil work in either direction?
I can test continuity on it, which is good, but not certain it I have the spades hooked where they should be if it does have a In or OUT end.
What these systems have is a 2nd wire TO the coil, from the starter relay dedicated terminal, which supplies a 12v boost to the coil during cranking. Details will be done when I know what volts you have AT the coil +ve during cranking.
However, the fact you have boosted the coil with that spare battery, basically eliminates this sytem for now, but it appears you still have no spark AT the plugs, and that is purely the cap/rotor combination.
I will dig out some very OLD parts books tomorrow, as I think you have a 22D distributor, with GL19 points, and a GL103 condensor.
The combination of cap and rotor are many, and the differences are suttle.
Yup, my thinking was developing as to the point and condenser distributor. Then I read the last paragraph in Grant's # 48 post!!!
EXACTAMENTE!!!
The things have and will work, but are very finicky. The "stack' of parts post shared by the red and black wires must be just. right. Insulating the red from the black. O'wise a dead re merely partial short and no HT or weak at best.
The point 'gap" read on a meter as "dwell' must be just right. About .014 as I recall. And stay that way as the distributer shaft
turns. As Grant opines, a loose shaft ort even bent and it all goes to
h....
I had an old Ford V8 pickup. Great Tbird 312. But, it's PO used the original 57 distributor. I never could get it to start with the points properly gapped!!! Shaft wobble!!!! I found that by setting them at barely touching, that a fast crank would fire it and it would run fairly well. A gyroscopic effect centered the shaft and the point gap opened just enough to perform it's "make and break" function. OK for a crutch for a while, til I "rounded up" a better dstributor. After that the
truck never ran better.
Lousy "new" parts confuse the issue. often, the "old" ones are better.
The rotors in your. Simple if they fit right. Just cleaning the contacts
is usually enough.
As Grant and your son say, those marks are not comforting. Sumpin' don't fit right!!!
Do you have a dwell meter? If so, hook it up and crank. What numbers appear??? consistent or all over the map?
If not, just try a small light bulb in series on the - wire from the distributor to the coil - post. crank the engine. The light should blink in rhythm. If not, the distributor is not doing it's "make and break" function.
What does the tachometer in your car do when you crank?
1. Nothing. A short in the tack or it's wiring. Car will not run. An effective "kill switch". Or, merely indicate no "make and break" function in the distributor.
3. It flicks up and down. That is good . Make and break going on.
Yes, contact break points don't appear to move when dist. cap off and cranking.
Looking back at your pic in post #44 after reading what you just said, it does look like the lobes on the distributor shaft arent even close to the block on the points. Looking more and more like the potential problem area as Grant and Carl have suggested.
now the left hand park light comes on as soon as battery is connected just to taunt me
so what's my next move, based on the deductions above.
anything that has been suggested that I have over looked/not reported on trying?
should I replaced the contact breaks points? or do I need pro help to repair this shaft in the distributor?
what is an easy test for the condenser in the dist?
also, the old coil I tracked down get extremely hot when used while the new one employed remains cold. is this a reflect of technology advances, age or function?
i.e is it normal to run hot or cold?
If you have check the distributor shaft as Grant suggested earlier, have you tried just re-setting the points gap? a quick Google say they should be .014-.016 others with actual experience can confirm or correct. The pic looks like the points have been installed but not adjusted.
Test a capacitor? As a rough test, short the leads together briefly then use an ohm meter on a high range setting place it across the capacitor, if good it will pulse toward low resistance as it charges and then settle back. If you just see a stable low resistance, or high resistance without the initial pulse its probably shot.
Coil temps. Theoretically if you have held other things constant (used or not used the ballast resistor, connected directly or via car wiring) and they are rated the same they should behave in a similar way heat wise. Coils generally run warm after a few minutes.
0.014" +/-. If you no got a feeler strip, use your thumb nail. If your thumb nail is all chewed off, use the wifes/girlfriends/whoever is handy.
I would ignore the condensor for now.
The fact the points are not opening and closing as that shaft rotates is the reason the coil is not sparking.
Once set, find a spare spark plug, unplug the coil HT lead from the cap, leaving it plugged into the coil, plug that sparker into the end, and rest it on the engine so as to earth that casing. Turn ON the ignition, rotate that shaft (you may need to turn the engine to get it in the correct spot to do so), and the coil should spark that plug as the points are OPENED and CLOSED.
08-13-2016, 04:30 AM
