Not enough spark

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scampy72

scampy72

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Hey all.

Got a 225 ran fine one day then nothing the next. I put points in it and gapped them then it fired up and idled but would not take any throttle(sputtering spitting etc) I have a very weak spark even with a new coil. Was wondering if the condenser could cause this as I did not replace that. Any other suggestions would be great. This is my daily car right now so I really need to get it running.

Thanks in advance

Marc
 
Marc, always change points and condenser as a pair, one is just as important as the other. New "coil" replaced before or after points change? May want to check wiring going to the coil, just maybe the wires got crossed....or the coil tower wire may not be inserted deep enough.
 
Condenser is worth a shot. I've seen them keep a car from running all together. I'm assuming timing is good? And cap and rotor have passed a visual inspection?
 
Coil was replaced after points. Weird thing to me is it ran after the points were in then gave out. That's when I did the coil. Cap and rotor passed visual. Points are set at .020 and timing was fine when it was running. I did try and adjust timing a bit while my wife cranked the car to see if it would fire and got nothing. I'm going to try the condenser and see if that works.
 
I'm not a great mechanic, but let me throw my thoughts in here. If you have spark, then the distributor and coil are doing their job. If it is a weak spark, what is the voltage you are reading at the coil? Did the ballast resistor fail and now you have no voltage at the coil? Check the whole circuit from the beginning to the end. IE ignition to ballast, ballast to coil, coil to dist cap, cap-rotor to plugs. Good luck. Doug
 
When you replace a point set and reset the gap, this automatically changes the timing. So you may have to reset the timing. Then;
If it still won't take throttle,however gently you roll it in, the first test is cam timing. Well, actually a close second would be a plugged muffler, but checking cam timing is easier, and faster. If the cam timing is good, then reset the valve lash while the valve cover is off.
After that,check for a plugged muffler.
If the engine runs, the condenser is doing it's job. When the condenser quits, so does the running. If the capacitance is wrong it usually just burns the points up prematurely. In the old days, I ran the same condenser for many years.
 
Last edited:
AJ/FormS said:
When you replace a point set and reset the gap, this automatically changes the timing. So you may have to reset the timing. Then;
If it still won't take throttle, the first test is cam timing. Well, actually a close second would be a plugged muffler, but checking cam timing is easier, and faster. If the cam timing is good, then reset the valve lash while the valve cover is off. After that,check for a plugged muffler.
If the engine runs, the condenser is doing it's job. When the condenser quits, so does the running. If the capacitance is wrong it usually just burns the points up prematurely. In the old days, I ran the same condenser for many years.
Click to expand...

Disagree. Had one fail on a kz1000. Got me home barely running...sputterting all to hell and break up. Had weak ugly yellow spark. Replaced condenser and all was well.
 
Condenser could for sure cause this. Try the old one if it was running befor points replacement.
 
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