Herv

My 72 cutlass with a 350. I removed the old points and it replaced it with an electronic module. Will not start until I count to 10 and it starts and runs great. I can run a jumper from the positive side of the battery to the positive side of the coil and it starts right away, but without the jumper it takes a while to start. In checking the voltage when in the starting mode it drops from 12 volts to about 9+. I took the center wire from the coil out and added another coil wire with a gap so that I could watch to see when it got a spark. The starter would crank from 5 to 10 seconds before the spark was visible at which time the car starts. I do not know if this delay in spark is from low voltage? I checked the voltage to the starter as well as the solenoid during start mode and both drop to 9+. If while starting I release the ignition from start mode it will start. I have replaced the iginiton switch with no change.

oldstata

With the points system you have a lower voltage you need to run a new wire at a 12 v source or trace it back and replace the resistance wire that ran the old point system

oldsbucket

did you disconnect the solenoid start wire at the coil and check it for 12v during start mode ? i'm guessing that it has two wires at the + side of the coil one is a resistant wire one from the starter that is only hot during start in effect jumping the coil from the battery as you are doing with the jumper

joe_padavano

Your points-style ignition had two wires to the coil, a regular copper wire that should supply a full 12V when cranking the motor with the key in the START position and a resistor wire that dropped the voltage down to 9V with the key in the RUN position. You didn't specify which electronic ignition you have. Some can live with the reduced voltage, some require you to replace the resistor wire with regular copper.

The first question is, are you seeing less than 12V with the key in the START position? If so, this is a problem in the wiring. Depending on the year and model, this START wire will come from the starter solenoid or from the firewall connector. If it comes from the solenoid, chances are the terminals inside the solenoid are pitted, causing the voltage drop. The correct way to fix this is a new solenoid, which requires dropping the starter. The easy band-aid fix is to use a relay that is wired to provide full battery voltage to the ignition but is controlled by the old wire to the starter.

oldcutlass

Some electronic points replacement kits require full battery voltage and the removal or bypassing the resistance wire to operate correctly. However the resistance wire has a bypass from the starter to the coil during cranking. You may have a bad connection.