Spark

[700 man]

Cant get spark out of one of holes of the distributor,checked all the stuff,wires,plugs,just seems not to be sparking on that one hole,what do I check or how and do they just get bad? never seen on just one like that.

 

[Frank V LOOMIS CA]

Do you have a volt ohm meter by chance? If you do, put one lead on the contact inside the distributor cap and the other in the spark plug wire hole. This should tell you if you have a bad distributor cap or not

 

[Indiana Ken]

If I understand your problem correctly, the enigine misses on one cylinder...? Assuming you are correct and the problem is within the distributor cap I would look for a crack in the distributor cap or a "carbon track". Either condition can allow the spark to jump to ground without firing the plug. A carbon track will show as a fine black line which can be seen under good light and careful inspection.

The solution in either case is to replace the distributor cap. In fact the solution to most any problem with the distributor cap is replacement.

 

[700 man]

Ive changed the cap twice doesnt seem to help any other ideas?

 

[Den N Ms]

700 man,You say you have changed the cap. Have you checked/changed the rotor?It could be shorting to the distributor shaft and causing your problem.Or it could also be the lobes worn on the distributor cam.

 

[Frank V LOOMIS CA]

So you are saying that if you plug a wire into that hole in the cap connect a spark plug to the other end and have it touching ground there is no spark?

 

[Stephen Newell]

I am currently working a similar problem. I have replaced the points, distributor cap and rotor and still there is one or two plugs that don't fire and they take turns which ones fire and which ones don't. I'm beginning to believe its the coil going bad on mine.

 

[700 man]

Yeah just in that hole no spark I guuess I'llcheck the lobes closly and see if thats possibly it.

 

[Ken in AZ]

is the distributor shaft worn badly? Sometimes you can have a bent or worn shaft that won't get the points to fire on all cylinders. If you have 20 thousandths wobble on a shaft that's opening the points 20 thousandths, it's going to affect timing at a minimum and maybe even stop a cylinder or two from firing.

Hope this helps.

Ken in AZ

 

[700 man]

I checked the lobes, they looked good,the shaft seems tight,Ieven rotated the cap 180 degrees and tried that,same hole not firing,looks like the rotor might be touching on that one would that do it?