maybe someone can give me some advice on this .Ive been tinkering with my recently acquired 350 olds .Ive got it all set up on my walmart run stand and tried to fire it tonight.No dice ,i have no spark at the spark plugs .i do have spark at the coil and the points are sparking. I swapper out the rotor and no luck . This is the distributor i had in my 72 before i converted to hei and was working good ,all new components. I had my 455 on this stand but was running hei so it was an easy hookup.im wondering if i have something wired incorrectly ? right now i have a switch wire running down to the s terminal of the starter and the run wire is direct to the positive side of the coil (i know i will need a resistor wire for the coil eventually but this was just to hear it fire up) it must be something simple im missing.

 

It's either the hi voltage wire from the coil to the center of the cap or cap is bad from your description.

 

your thinking although i have spark at the high voltage coil wire its just not enough to distribute to spark plugs? they are all new wiriness as well but i could try a new coil wire .Got late last night and i had to throw in the towel, thank you

 

after morning coffee and some reading about condensers i went out and swapped the coil mounted condenser and walla! got spark . i dont know how a condenser sitting in a box in the garage goes bad but changing it did the trick. thinking on the wiring hook up if i run a wire from the r terminal of the stater through a resistor then to the positive side of the coil that should give me reduced coil power in the run position ? .but for now its off to work.

 

I had a similar thing happen on my '69...the car just started idling very rough and I barely got home before the car would not start at all. After going through a number of checks, someone on this site, along with a mechanic friend that I know, suggested that I change out the condenser (which I found out is actually a capacitor) in the distributor. A little over $3 later, the car started right up. A condenser/capacitor going bad is probably a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence but changing it out made all the difference in the world.

Randy C.

 

No longer a once in a lifetime event. Condensers being made now aren't very good. I had two go in less than two years. I Carry a spare and also have it mounted on the coil for easy replacement. I did find a NOS Delco condenser.

 

When I swapped out the rotors I couldn’t believe the different in the cheapo I had and the one that appeared to be nos . It was twice the weight and just felt some much more solid .

 

I'll add that I had an oddball failure once that drove me crazy. I had a brand new rotor, and there was a short from the rotor terminal through the rotor body to the distributor shaft. That grounded out the spark from the coil. Replaced every other component in the ignition system until I finally figured that out.

 

Condensers going bad may not be a rare occurrence in the future. My Toronado suddenly quit running as I was headed down the highway, to the car show. A "help" call to friends with tools..... We changed the coil condenser and no spark. Changed the coil, no spark. Changed the condenser in the distributor and it fired right up. The condenser we replaced looks brand new !!!!!!! I was told to get a new spare for the glove compartment.