oldolds51

Little confused with this oldsmobile all stock. Ran perfect when I bought the thing I swapped out the transmission for a rebuilt hydramatic and since then it's ran worse and worse wouldnt even idle in gear, I have'nt adjusted the timing at all but I did clean the points and set them to .016, changed the 2 condensers, and replaced the ignition coil. Now the engine wont start it just sputters. I checked for spark and it doesnt have any spark on the drivershand side of the V8, my best guess is the timing is off does anyone have a better idea? I really dont want to dig out my timing light and reset the timing. I'm hoping it's something real simple and stupid.

70 cutlass s

Have you replaced spark wires, cap, and rotor.

Oldsguy

x2

salvaged88

Just went through this as well make sure the condensers are properly secure look for spark at the points as well I ended up being sold a bad condenser 2 days of bs over 5 dollar part

oldolds51

I'll check the condensors but even if one is bad I should still be getting a decent spark. This is the first engine i've seen with two condensors. I checked the resistance in the wires and theres about .01 ohms of resistance. The rotors and cap are newer but dont have any carbon buildup.

salvaged88

Are you referring to the resistor on the coil as well? other than that I only know of 1 condensor in the distributer and perhaps a noise surpressor I think it is the key point is start from the begining see if you got spark at the points if not go back towards the coil

Also are you saying you have spark on the passenger side or only tested the drivers? If you do then its cap rotor/wires probably

oldolds51

The condensers check out, Well I fixed the problem of getting spark to all 8 cylinders the brand new ignition coil was kaput so I went and swapped it with a good one but now the thing is back to just trying to start.Every turn of the engine and it fires a little. Point gap is .016 from what I've read that's correct. I'll look into the vaccumb advance next I suppose.

redoldsman

A bad vacuum advance won't keep it from starting. It may run like crap after it starts. I am going to guess the timing is way the heck off.

oldolds51

Thats what it sounds like while turning over, sounds like the point just before you have the timing right on, but It doesnt make sense for the timing to magically change. I'm going to check for compression in all the cylinders maybe some valves are sticking.

Bluevista

Engine ground good? No wires loosened up or got stretched or broken when you did the tranny like from the starter? Didn't disconnect any grounds straps and leave them off?
Otherwise like said but unless it was a coincidence I would go back to make sure it wasn't something from doing the trans that messed it up.

oldolds51

Alright I think I figured out what happened, turns out the timing was way off, my best guess besides a gremlin getting inside my engine is, when I had the engine lowered down to slide in the new transmission the vacuum advance is pretty close to the firewall so I figure while the engine was down about 4-5 inches the distributor was forced to turn from the diaphragm pushing agianst the firewall. Readjusted the timing just have to find my damned timing light. Thank you all for your suggestions.