<VV> 66 Corsa 140 - No Spark

[FrankCB at aol.com]

Or, if you don't have a voltmeter handy (but you  should) simply run a jumper 
wire from the positive post of the battery to the  positive post of the spark 
coil.  Then try to start the car.  If it  starts easily and runs, you know 
that the equipment DOWNSTREAM of the place you  tied the jumper to is OK (i.e. 
the coil and distributor and points and  condenser).  So the problem lies with 
the stuff UPSTREAM of that point  (i.e., the ignition switch, the wiring, the 
resistor wire, etc.)  I call  this the "divide and conquer" approach to 
solving electrical problems.
    Just use a moderately heavy wire (gauge 16 or  heavier) and do NOT keep 
the engine running very long under these conditions  since this setup puts the 
full 12 volts (more like 14+ with the alternator  running) constantly on the 
points and will quickly wear them out.
    Good luck and let us know what you find.
    Frank "likes sneaky shortcuts" Burkhard
 
In a message dated 8/29/2006 11:17:54 AM Eastern Standard Time,  
tonyu at roava.net writes:

Dirty  connections on the firewall plug?   Popular spot for corrosion  
and plain dirt, makes for intermittent spark among other things when  
unplugged and then reconnected again...  you might pop it apart and  
spray it bigtime with WD-40 or PB Blaster, maybe even give the  
contacts a bit of a scrub with a stiff brush, and then see if your  
no-start problem goes away.

If no help, dig out the volt meter and  start chasing down the missing 
voltage to the coil.    Expect 12  volts with points open on both of 
the terminals of the coil, switch  ON.    Points closed, the coil's  + 
terminal should have ~8  volts, give or take a volt or so, and of 
course the  -  terminal  should be zero.



tony..