Coil maybe?

[Oaf]

After sitting tarped for 3 weeks in mild weather, my "55 650 is having starting and running difficulty that it didn"t have before I parked it.

She fires and sputters and dies. Occasionally she fires, starts, runs good for a few to several minutes, then dies.

I drained gas and refilled, thinking it may be condensation--no real difference.

There is spark because when it runs it really purrs as usual. This is a 12V conversion with a Delco 293 BR coil that shows 2.4 ohms primary and 11.5k secondary resistence. The coil has been around the block a few times and I am wondering if you gents have any suggestions for me. I don"t know whether this coil has an external resistor or not--if so, where would it be installed--at the after market starter switch or in a wire somewhere?
thanks for all your help as usual.
O

 

[CAROGATOR]

Dry it out really well. Sitting under a tarp makes condensation. may be your problem.

 

[old]

Just because it has spark does not mean the spark is as good as it should be and also can be not sparking on all 4. Check you spark and make sure it jumps the 1/4 inch it needs to at all 4 plug wires. Coils by the way do not just go bad out of the clear blue but distributor caps and points can and if you have humid weather good chance of that and a tarp is not always good. Also it could be a bad ignition switch of a loose wire. You might also try hot wiring it and see if that works and if it does then the problem is from the distributor back

 

[Texasmark1]

WD-40 is a moisture displacement formula which was developed specifically for drying out ignition systems. Spray it all over the top of and inside the dist wire cup, inside and out of the dist cap and rotor, in the wire holes and all, and along your SP wires where they go by a metal support and around the spark plug caps and insulators. Works wet or dry.

Mark

 

[souNdguy]

man.. whay is the condensor the go to item for any starting trouble.

do you know how easy it is torule that out?

crnk over.. does it have GOOD spark? if yes.. go on to fuel.

post back

 

[Oaf]

The WD sprayed inside and outside the dist did the trick for starting it and running. Looked dry before and I wiped with a cloth but not good enough I guess. Funny, but now I remember my Dad doing that to his JD Model40 when I was a kid. I remember because I was just tall enough to get some in my eyes and he told me not to tell my mother.

I looked at my new points and they show a lot more arcing wear than what I"m used to after only a few hours of run time. I replaced the wire from ignition to coil this winter when I removed the front loader and could raise the hood, and I wonder if I also removed an inline resistor wire at the same time.

There is 12.4V coming to the coil w/key turned on, and after I zeroed the multimeter there is 1.9 ohms resistance between coil poles.

Would getting a new 3ohm 12V coil that doesn"t need an external resistor hurt anything at this point?

 

[Texasmark1]

Glad the guys that developed the stuff knew what they were doing. Point pitting is either a bad condenser or too much current. Current for most points is 5 amperes max. For a 13-14 volt charging system when you are running and recharging your battery in normal fashion, 5 amperes is 2.7 to 2.8 ohms.

Mark

 

[Oaf]

Put a Napa IC14SB coil ($17) on as been recommended on this site and the wee machine starts and purrs along like never before.

Thanks for all your help. One more problem solved by the team of specialists!! This site is priceless for its good-natured info and support.
o

 

[Texasmark1]

Funny you mentioned that. I have been mechanicing primarily for myself since the 1950's. I always changed the condenser (capacitor) when I changed the points, but I never lost an engine due to it. I never changed P and C to directly solve a problem.

I did however have a funny problem on a '77 Toyota Celica with the 20R engine. It had a transistor ignition but still used points. The points didn't get enough current to keep them clean and would develop a green scum on them and it would kill the engine; couldn't get enough current thru it to trigger the transistor.....sometimes on the way to work.

But the solution was simple. Take a business card and wipe it through till there was no more green, put the cap and rotor back on and be on your way. Just took a couple of minutes once I figured out the problem.

Mark