Engine died during break-in

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I agree, if the rotor wasnt seated, it could have chewed up the carbon button on his last cap too. Id suggest to manually turn the crank with a wrench until you get a spark out of the coil to ground (lay it on a manifold with a screwdriver stuck in it, give it a distance to spark) and then pull the cap and note the rotor location in relation to any plug tower. It should be on it. If its not, the rotor is not seated becasue as Beast said, phasing doesnt just get up and go, its physically tied to the the flat on the rotor shaft. I tried to find a pic of a rotor on a shaft to see where it landed, looks like its right on a reluctor vane.
I got some time today to work on this some more. Replaced rotor, rotated engine to TDC on compression stroke , ensured rotor was seated all the way down. Rotor was pointing at #1 tower on cap. Carbon button on cap intact. Spark at coil lead but not at grounded plug. Anyone have any more ideas?
 
I got some time today to work on this some more. Replaced rotor, rotated engine to TDC on compression stroke , ensured rotor was seated all the way down. Rotor was pointing at #1 tower on cap. Carbon button on cap intact. Spark at coil lead but not at grounded plug. Anyone have any more ideas?
I’m not sure if this helps but I installed a new steering box and when I bolted my steering column back up I pinched my Rpm tachometer positive wire that was connected to my (+) side on my coil. It caused the car to not get any spark through the coil to the plugs. I took the green tachometer wire off the coil and car started right up..I installed a new coil, ecu, ballast resister before I finally figured it out. You might have something similar happening.

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I’m not sure if this helps but I installed a new steering box and when I bolted my steering column back up I pinched my Rpm tachometer positive wire that was connected to my (+) side on my coil. It caused the car to not get any spark through the coil to the plugs. I took the green tachometer wire off the coil and car started right up..I installed a new coil, ecu, ballast resister before I finally figured it out. You might have something similar happening.

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I have a tach wire that goes to the neg side of the coil. Someone else had said something similar so I disconnected the tach wire to the coil but it made no difference. Thanks for responding.
 
I have a tach wire that goes to the neg side of the coil. Someone else had said something similar so I disconnected the tach wire to the coil but it made no difference. Thanks for responding.
My tach wire is connected to the negative side as well I don’t know why I was thinking (+) Positive side.. lol..Opps.. Well Sorry it didn’t work, it was worth a shot.
 
so you got spark at the coil and nothing at the plug? have you Ohm'd out the spark plug wires? You should get continuity and an ohm value thats close for all the wires footage (device ohms by feet and then use that X wire length) all should be pretty close per foot.
 
I rarely try to see spark at the plug electrodes,of used plugs; it can just become too frustrating.The gaps are too small to see properly, and the spark all too-easily leaks away up the soot to the shell.
Instead, I install a couple of spark testers in the ends of the wires. Mine have an adjustable air-gap, that I crank open to at least 1/4".
My Accell square-top yellow SuperCoil easily fires .5 and more.
 
so you got spark at the coil and nothing at the plug? have you Ohm'd out the spark plug wires? You should get continuity and an ohm value thats close for all the wires footage (device ohms by feet and then use that X wire length) all should be pretty close per foot.
I only checked the coil tower lead for continuity. I did check 2 different wires with the spark plug attached and grounded for spark. As someone suggested earlier I did pull the distributor and check that the roll pin was in place. I do have new set of wires I could swap out but just didn't see that as a possible problem since they had worked during initial and second fire up. Didn't think they would go bad while the engine was running.
 
It would be extremely unlikely for all wires to simultaneously fail
It is exponentially more likely that the spark is being lost in the cap, or the coil just can't jump the gap inside there. Your coil should have zero troubles jumping 1/4 inch. And most will jump 3/8, and many will go 1/2 and some will go 3/4.

The thing is this, you can measure the voltage at the coil and find it adequate, just like you can measure your water pressure in the house, and find it adequate.
But when you turn on the tap, you might find nothing but a trickle coming out, like at the toilet; that's why it has a flush tank. And so it is with electricity, you got the pressure, but do you have the flow?
This is why my first test is always bypassing the entire electrical system, by jumpering the battery directly to the ignition system,with a 10ga wire, and then engaging the starter, usually, also with an auxiliary start switch. In this way I am guaranteed both pressure AND volume.

Consider this; your starter cable has how many strands in it? You can cut all but one strand, and still measure battery voltage. You can cut the last one too, and solder in a single strand of the thinnest wire you can find, and still measure battery voltage. But that wire will not pass enough current to crank your starter, power your coil, or light a headlight or maybe not even light your dash bulbs; even tho it reads battery voltage.
If you suspect you have this problem, pull some amps thru that blue wire and see. Hook a headlight up to it and see if it will light, and how brightly does it shine? Jumper wires are your friend,make some.
 
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do you have a timing light? Put it on the coil lead, then move it to the spark plug lead. IF you have trigger at coil lead and none at spark plug lead, your "open" between them or your coil is not strong enough to jump the 1/32 gap of the rotor/cap.
 
do you have a timing light? Put it on the coil lead, then move it to the spark plug lead. IF you have trigger at coil lead and none at spark plug lead, your "open" between them or your coil is not strong enough to jump the 1/32 gap of the rotor/cap.
I'm starting to think a weak coil may be the problem. Found out specs for coil and will test it and run your test with the timing light also. Thanks
 
do you have a timing light? Put it on the coil lead, then move it to the spark plug lead. IF you have trigger at coil lead and none at spark plug lead, your "open" between them or your coil is not strong enough to jump the 1/32 gap of the rotor/cap.
I have a pertronix flamethrower 40111 epoxy coil listed in specs as 1.5 ohm and 10.60k secondary resistance. However, the label on the coil itself says 0.6 ohm. I removed the coil from the car for testing. With my free harbor freight meter on the lowest ohm setting of 200, I got 3.0 ohms for primary resistance checked from the pos to neg terminals. I got 8.89 ohms secondary resistance checking from the coil tower contact to either pos or neg terminal. Using a Greenlee meter, I got 0.9 primary and 8.88 secondary. I'm assuming the harbor freight meter is not calibrated well. Are the 0.9 and 8.88 numbers far enough off to assume the coil is weak?
 
Here's how to test the coil since it's out of the car;
Lay a strip of cardboard or other electrically insulated material on the fender. Go find a big flat-bastard file and lay it on the cardboard.
Jumper battery volts to the coil positive.
Ground the file to the battery negative.
Insert the hi-tension coil wire and near ground it to the file; about .25; .375 is better.
Grab another Jumper and one end goes onto the coil negative, while you hold onto the other end.
Now just drag that free end over the file, fairly rapidly, don't stop! Keep it moving, while watching the coil wire.
You should be seeing a stream of sparks.
This is how I test an inductive coil.
Didn't I tell you jumpers are your friend,lol. Your jumpers should be at least 14ga,
 
Here's how to test the coil since it's out of the car;
Lay a strip of cardboard or other electrically insulated material on the fender. Go find a big flat-bastard file and lay it on the cardboard.
Jumper battery volts to the coil positive.
Ground the file to the battery negative.
Insert the hi-tension coil wire and near ground it to the file; about .25; .375 is better.
Grab another Jumper and one end goes onto the coil negative, while you hold onto the other end.
Now just drag that free end over the file, fairly rapidly, don't stop! Keep it moving, while watching the coil wire.
You should be seeing a stream of sparks.
This is how I test an inductive coil.
Didn't I tell you jumpers are your friend,lol. Your jumpers should be at least 14ga,
If anyone is interested as to what the problem was it was a bad engine to firewall ground. I had cleaned both contact ends and tested the wire for continuity but evidently the wire itself was bad because I replaced it with a parts store braided ground strap and finally got spark to the plugs. Was previously getting spark from coil wire but not to plugs. Very strange that the ground wire gave out while the engine was running. Thank goodness problem finally solved. Thanks everybody for your help.
 
If anyone is interested as to what the problem was it was a bad engine to firewall ground. I had cleaned both contact ends and tested the wire for continuity but evidently the wire itself was bad because I replaced it with a parts store braided ground strap and finally got spark to the plugs. Was previously getting spark from coil wire but not to plugs. Very strange that the ground wire gave out while the engine was running. Thank goodness problem finally solved. Thanks everybody for your help.
Glad you got it figured out:)
 
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