After a long journey interrupted by by both work and family health issues, I finally got the gas tank back into my 69. Since it has been a year since it had been started. I pulled all the plus and spun it over by hand to make sure the motor turned freely. I also changed the oil. Once I made sure the fuel pump was working and I had fuel at the carb, I tried to start it.

It spins well, but sounded like it was not getting any spark. I used my inline spark tester to check, and there is no fire to the number one plug.

I pulled the cap and rotor and the points look good, and are gapped appropriately, and the distributor turns when I "bump" the engine with the remote starter.

I next checked the coil. Measuring terminal to terminal I get about 2.3 ohms. Terminal to center tap is 10.7 kohms

Is this about right for a coil? Seems like I remember they should read less than 10k for terminal to center cap. I cannot find anything definitive in my searching.

If this coil is good, what else should I look for since it is not getting fire. The car ran fine before I pulled the tank.

 

Turn the ket on, check for voltage at the Plus side of the coil. Go to the points and see if that voltage is there too. When the points close and open, you should see a little spark. Points are probably corroded. Run a little sand paper or file through them if they are not conducting. Those figures for the coil are about right.

 

There is nothing I hate more than an open-ended thread. I apologize for being guilty of it myself. I did the checks suggested by Wombvette, and had 12 volts at the coil, and fire at the points. Suspicious, I checked for spark on a couple of other plugs. Still no spark. I tried the old fashion way of using an old plug and grounding the threads, but I have never had luck with that method. I bought a second spark tester, thinking that I had somehow damaged this one, even though I had recently used it to fix a friend's lawnmower. Still no spark. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm Time for a beer!

Bill Cosby once said "There will come a time of desperation, when you will give the ridiculous a try". I reached that point. I could not understand why I was not getting fire from the distributer to the plug when I know I had 12 volts at the coil and spark at the points.

So, I set my VOM meter to ohms and measured the resistance of the coil wire. It was completely open. I had a new set of plug wires I was going to install as part of a tune-up, once I got her running again. So I put on the new coil wire and had plenty of fire. Sadly, with all of my "fooling around" I ran the battery down so it is in the garage on the charger and I will not get a chance to start it till Saturday (unless I can slip out of work early one day).

I am still baffled how a coil wire can go completely open when the car has not ran in a year. I would never have believed it, but it sure enough happened.

Wombvette, thanks for your response.

 

Who knows. $#!t happens. Glad you found it.

 

I can relate to what problems you are having, my 73 was parked for about a year, got it started initially but running rough and backfiring. I've since replaced points, plugs, condensor, wires, and coil. The new coil is reading 1.7 ohm post to post but only 7.71kohms post to tap. Read an article on Corvette fever website and am within range on post to post but they recommend 11-13.49kohms anything below that they recommend replacing the coil. The new one I bought according to this needs replacing....still no start, weak fire. New coil going in tomorrow, might even bring my meter to check it in the store before bringing another "dud" home. Hope this helps.

 

Midtex. I looked at buying a new coil, and I did take my meter with me. The new coil they set on the counter was 2.3 post to post and 9.4k post to center tap. I decided it was not different enough to get a new coil.

While I have spark now, it did not look bright enough (using my in-line spark tester) to me, but I did drain the battery spinning it over, so it may have been a low battery. Just in case, I am researching how to test the condenser as a possible next step. Good luck on your search as well.

 

Carbon core ignition wires are fragile compared to stainless steel or copper wires. But that's the price you pay to be able to listen to your radio.

 

Good point. Still, would not expect it to fail sitting and doing nothing.