could there be 12 volts going to the coil all the time? That would explain it. It might have had an HEI on it at one time.
railguy

 

I will second this. I changed my points with an integrated points/condenser I got from CarQuest about a year ago and it fired only intermittently. Spent hours under the hood trying to get this POS to work tweaking the gap and checking wires. I finally went out and got a separate set of points and used them with my old condenser and it fired right up and still runs fine. Also the CarQuest part (50-3541) is "no longer available." Wonder why

 

At least you've narrowed it down. It has to be in that area.
Railguy

 

that thought has actually been the main thing in the back of my head as to why this is happening. Its a cheap Chinese set. The fact that the car acts up randomly might also back this up. How would i go about testing the condenser?
I also noticed that one of the wires had rubbed against maybe the advances enough to wear the black off the wire. points dont look burned. I also included some photos of the wires going to the coil. Is this enough for you to be able to determine wether it has hei wiring in it?

 

That's the stock resistance wire.

I don't see any wires with damaged insulation there.

What I can see of the points connection looks okay.

- Eric

 

in the first picture to the left where The 2 hoses make an x the 18 gauge wire looks like it's bear on the end.
Railguy

 

Things look OK but if I were you I'd be very suspicious of the condenser (based on my personal experience).

Eric contributed a test to check the condenser (a sticky topic in the Electrical form) but I'm telling you I've been through this and I will never get an integrated points/condenser like this one again!

I actually held onto the POS - does this look familiar?

 

You mean here? --




I think that's just the light.

- Eric

 

Yes

 

they are integrated from autozone...... i should probably invest in some quality parts. are they lesser quality when integrated? the acdelco set oreillys sells is integrated as well

 

also yea thats just light.

 

I always prefer Standard Premium Blue Streak ignition parts, back in the days of points and now. Rock Auto handles them.

 

also not sure if i did this correctly but the car shut off on me today and i pulled the ignition coil wire from the distributor and grounded it while cranking the car and got no spark whatsoever

 

If it was touching ground, you will get no spark - there is no gap for a spark to jump.

You hold the end of the wire about ¾" from ground.

- Eric

 

I just bought a se of points. The place I got them only carry Accel. They seem well built but unfortunately are made in Mexico. Hopefully the materials are descent. They seem much better than some I've seen made in China. Condensors do not last the way they used to.

 

tried again. no spark...

 

So you've got no spark at all.

Follow the troubleshooting instructions here.

- Eric

 

I've seen in the past where some people have put too much cam lube on the wear strip and the excess got into the points causing issues. I can't remember if you checked the harness plug under the master cylinder on the fire wall to make sure its clean and tight?

 

ok so i went out and tried the first test and got no spark out of the #3 wire. I cleaned the area where the harness goes into the fire wall and the voltage regulator seemed loose as well... might that have been my problem? anyways i tightened that up and i also noticed the black wire from the coil to the points was easily bendable at the points end so i cut the loose end and re crimped a new end on it, tightened back up and the car started right away. I re tested the #3 plug and i got a good yellow spark to the block... im gonna run the car and i will keep you guys updated. btw i had re replaced the coil before today and still wasnt getting any spark

 

If the plug at the firewall was loose that could have been the problem.

 

it wasnt

 

When it won't start or you don't have spark, do you have 12v at the coil + ?

 

I would check that with a 12v lamp right? with the ignition on?
earlier the car wasnt starting and i had no spark after i re wired the black wire from the coil to the points and tightened the loose connections at voltage regulator i got spark

 

Yes that would be with the test light. If there is power at the coil+ terminal and you have no spark the issue will be from the wire connected to coil- that runs to the points or something in the distributor. So the wire at the points could have been the issue. The plug at the VR was not.

 

The loose voltage regulator may be the entire problem. I believe the mounting bolts actually ground it to the firewall. I had that problem years ago. Took forever to find it.

 

A loose voltage regulator will cause a charging problem, but not a cranking problem.

- Eric