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The 55 Super 88 was running fine after my last set of problems until it wasn’t. If you have read any of my previous posts, you’ll know the car would run but it had trouble shifting and had little power when climbing small hills. All that was cured when I found and repaired a vacuum leak. So, I was driving around the other day when the car suddenly died. It would not restart (and still hasn’t) and I had to have it towed home. I found that there was no spark at the number one plug nor could I get a spark from the coil to the distributor. Seemed logical to get a new coil and coil wire, which I did. After installing them, the car would still not start. I am getting a reading of 11.90 volts at the input end of the ballast resistor located close to the coil. About 5 volts is coming out going to the coil. I understand that a coil is designed to operate on 5 to 6 volts on the positive side. But I’m still not able to start the car and still no spark at the plug. Any ideas??? And by the way, yes, I’m sure it has gas in it and the fuel pump is delivering gas to the carb.
As a secondary question, I know there are at least three condensers on the motor; one on the coil, one in the distributor, and one on the voltage regulator. Are these all the same part? Or is each one a different part number? Thanks in advance for your help.
Just take off the wire from the top of the coil that goes to the center contact on the distributor and turn the engine over, you should get a nice bright spark to ground the same as testing a single cylinder when you take out a spark plug and ground it.
Replace the points and condenser. Go to ebay and get some of the old genuine Delco Remy stuff. I don't trust any of the chineseum stuff and the new Delco stuff is made in Mexico.
Yes my mistake in directions, thanks Eric. There must be an air gap for the spark to jump. The only way for the spark to jump is if the points are opening and closing, the spark interval will be eight times faster than when you check a single plug.
Oh. I don’t understand that. If the coil wire is not even attached to the distributor, how could it make any difference if the points are opening or closing. That being said, there are so many things about how a car actually works that I don’t understand. And this is just another one. I’ll open the distributor this afternoon, crank the engine and watch to see if the points move. If they don’t, I know how to fix that. If they are moving, I’ll do the coil wire grounding test again holding the wire close to but not touching a grounding point. I’ll report back later today.
The distributor cap is a distribution device that transfers the spark from the secondary side of the coil through the center lug on the cap through the rotor and back out each wire terminal to the plugs. The points sets when and the duration of the spark through the primary side of the coil.
In other words, there are two circuits in the distributor. 1. Primary circuit ground to coil through the points. 2. Distribution of secondary voltage at distributor cap to plugs.
OK. Here’s the final (I hope) report. I opened the distributor, had my 7 year old granddaughter turn the engine over while I observed the points. They were working but weren’t opening very far. I reset them to .016. Then I held the coil wire near a ground and voila! I saw a massive spark. I closed everything back up, crossed my fingers, and turned the key. It started right up - no pumping the gas pedal, no grinding on the starter. Now the question is “What did I do that fixed the problem?” Would the points being too close have caused it not to start? And what caused them (the points) to get out of proper alignment? And could those points have slipped suddenly causing the car to suddenly die?
If the points moved then the fasteners were not tight enough or the cam follower strip is wearing down.. Remember, the point gap is the dwell setting, as the points gap closes up the timing gets retarded.
Last edited by oldcutlass; July 24th, 2023 at 03:02 PM.
When I had my 54, one of the best things I ever did was to replace the distributor with one from a 56 which has external adjustment points. It doesn't make it run any better but it sure is a lot easier to maintain.
This is a pretty, common issue with points and a solving problem for those who grew up without points. Not only have you learned something new you have educated many who will read this post in the future..... Lost in the fifties...Tedd
July 23rd, 2023, 01:55 PM
