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its been a while but I'm back okay so I picked up a 73 olds 98 with a 455. Car is clean 1 owner with 72k miles. Problem starts with it's a points car. It ran a year ago but I have no spark. I bought a new coil since it hadn't been changed since 73 but same problem occurred. I've cleaned points which look to be brand new along with and rotor button the only thing I'm left to figure is the condenser is bad? Any thought
Motor is a bit crusty and I believe the odometer stopped working so it may have more than 72k won't know till I drive it Factor power everything
Had to improvise I had a gauge light so I know I'm getting spark just don't know the voltage left my volt meter at the house points were set using a matchbox had a couple old timers tell me this would get me in the right direction dwell meter is at my dads I heard I can check the condesor by putting the positive lead on the end wire of condensor and the negative touch to the body and the meter should jump or something can anyone clarify
Welcome back Bill. I notice a receiver hitch on the car so somebody has probably used it to pull a travel trailer or a boat. That is a pretty nice looking car.
Your best bet may be to replace the points anyway . If they sat for more than a year there may be corrosion on them . It's very hard to see just looking at them .
While you are at it you may as well get the "uniset" that has the condenser with it . This simplifies installation .
Usually new points are set so that if properly installed , the gap will be close enough to get the engine started .
The dwell is then set to 30 degrees with a dwell meter with the engine running . Through a "window" in the dist cap with an allen wrench .
Pay the extra for a premium point set , Standard/ Blue Streak etc. It's worth it .
Last edited by Charlie Jones; Aug 27, 2017 at 10:14 PM.
Welcome back Bill. I notice a receiver hitch on the car so somebody has probably used it to pull a travel trailer or a boat. That is a pretty nice looking car.
yessir I was told something about these cars might have been sold with a camper any idea about this there's some kind of resistor for trailer lights under the hood
Your best bet may be to replace the points anyway . If they sat for more than a year there may be corrosion on them . It's very hard to see just looking at them .
While you are at it you may as well get the "uniset" that has the condenser with it . This simplifies installation .
Usually new points are set so that if properly installed , the gap will be close enough to get the engine started .
The dwell is then set to 30 degrees with a dwell meter with the engine running . Through a "window" in the dist cap with an allen wrench .
Pay the extra for a premium point set , Standard/ Blue Streak etc. It's worth it .
headed to the parts store early this morning for this
So new points condenser and coil and still not getting spark out of the coil could this new coil be bad? Still haven't got got a voltage reading of 12 on both pos and neg side of coil
I have a Summit HEI ignition on my 71 98 and while it works ok, I'm actually considering going to a Pertornix kit in a points distributor so I can really dial in my timing.
Slow down Bill. Disconnect neg wire at coil. (this is wire from coil to Distributor)
Turn on key and check volts at + coil wire.
let us know what you have, should be 7-12 volts.
If volts are found, reconnect neg wire and check again.
Let us know what you saw for volts after re-connecting neg wire.
Somewhere MD posted a good explanation of point ignition on this site.
Slow down Bill. Disconnect neg wire at coil. (this is wire from coil to Distributor)
Turn on key and check volts at + coil wire.
let us know what you have, should be 7-12 volts.
If volts are found, reconnect neg wire and check again.
Let us know what you saw for volts after re-connecting neg wire.
Somewhere MD posted a good explanation of point ignition on this site.
will do it won't be till tomorrow after I get off work luckily I work at advance so I didn't really spend a lot on the coil and points and condenser so far with everything hooked up today I had 12 on both sides of the coil with key on
I am sure you are chomping at the bit!! But it is better to do a few tests and try to find the root cause of a problem before doing something to repair it. You can get very lost once you make changes.
Are you using a voltmeter, or a test light?
I am sure you are chomping at the bit!! But it is better to do a few tests and try to find the root cause of a problem before doing something to repair it. You can get very lost once you make changes.
Are you using a voltmeter, or a test light?
back to my ingenuity had an old bolt gauge I was gonna put in my camaro one of them equus gauges and strapped two wires on it and used that also used a gauge light as well just some in the moment stuff to get some readings but I used both a light and meter
The light should go out if the points are closed and light is connected to neg side and ground. The points when closed ground the neg coil wire. When the points open, the coil then fires out the high voltage wire. If you installed the points and the gap is staying open when cranked, it will not fire.
When you set the gap on points, you did have the high spot on the distributor cam aligned with the rubbing block of the points? (><)
I am not the best at explaining this.
The light should go out if the points are closed and light is connected to neg side and ground. The points when closed ground the neg coil wire. When the points open, the coil then fires out the high voltage wire. If you installed the points and the gap is staying open when cranked, it will not fire.
When you set the gap on points, you did have the high spot on the distributor cam aligned with the rubbing block of the points? (><)
I am not the best at explaining this.
I honestly can't recall I hope to have Some help tomorrow after work will get back on it then as far as i know I could have everything backwards which wouldn't be a first
So I heard this 98 was sold with an airstream camper which would explain the factory towing can anyone offer me a history lesson
That would be very cool!
Perhaps it was a package offered by the dealer that sold it... Do you know where your Olds was purchased? If you had documentation and could find an identical Airstream that would be BOSS!
I've often thought it would be cool to tow an Airstream with my 71 98.
So I went in and got dirty with it apparently I had the points waaaaay off so I adjusted them in and viola she fired up I'll be uploading some videos later
Way to go Bill. Likely you had them opened so far they would not close. Now get a dwell meter on it. Get them set then move on to check the timing. But set dwell first, it affects timing and will not drive well until it is right.
Sometimes you gotta talk dirty to it.
Congrats Bill !
Aren't you glad you didn't go off on a tangent and try to install HEI ?
There is NOTHING wrong with points , if they are properly adjusted and replaced once a year .
Congrats Bill !
Aren't you glad you didn't go off on a tangent and try to install HEI ?
There is NOTHING wrong with points , if they are properly adjusted and replaced once a year .
yessir now my next question it doesn't have. Dipstick how can I check oil level till I get one and where is the dipstick supposed to be I topped her off with a quart of Lucas and some vr1 I'm gonna hook up my oil pressure gauge hopefully tomorrow
yessir now my next question it doesn't have. Dipstick how can I check oil level till I get one and where is the dipstick supposed to be I topped her off with a quart of Lucas and some vr1 I'm gonna hook up my oil pressure gauge hopefully tomorrow
If it hasn't ran in a year , it may be a good idea to change the oil and filter anyway . Especially if you have no idea of when it was changed before that .
The engine takes 5 quarts of oil if you change the filter .
The dipstick tube should be on the left side of the engine . Near where the head meets the exhaust manifold.
An oil pressure check is a good idea . Normal oil pressure is 35 PSI at idle with the engine fully warmed up .
I will get at that next Friday then okay so next issue is the fuel gauge reads way past fuel but there's no fuel in tank that's just a bad sending unit I guess turn signals will now flash probably a relay but my real concern is power antenna will not work any ideas with this one is there a fuse or a relay I can start with or are the motors prone to giving out
Bill, if your fuel gauge reads FULL then the circuit is open. If you check the wiring at the tank you may find that it isn't properly grounded. You can always clean the underside of the car with a wire wheel and attach the ground without dropping the tank.
