I am trying to figure out how many wires are supposed to go to the coil. So far there is one black that runs to the distributor and then just one orange?? wire going to the other side. My question is, should there be two? I cant get my car to fire up and I know I have spark and fuel and it was fine last time I parked it so I have no idea why it wont start. It cranks fine but o No: I thought maybe the spark was to weak which is the reason I am asking about the coil wires. It has been parked for two months but I drove it to its resting place but now it just cranks and doesnt even think of starting. Figured I would ask just to get some ideas. Jason
All else being stock, two wires are correct. The black one comes from the dist. and goes to the - side of coil. The red one comes from the wiring harness that runs along the pass side valve cover. This probably looks orange due to age. It goes to the + side of the coil. The one exception I know of for a stock points type dist. would be if you have a factory tach, in which case you would also have a brown wire attched to the - side of the coil. This would not effect whether or not the car runs, however. The reason I emphasize stock is because some electronic conversion systems use a third wire, but I'm not certain what their function is.
there are 2, one from the ballast and one from the "I" terminal on the starter selonoid. but they are combined into 1 sometimes before they get to the coil. i would be more inclined to make sure your points are opening and closing correctly... and try a new/different condensor also. keep us posted:TU:
Only one wire makes it to the coil on a stock Buick wiring harness. The two are connected in the middle of the harness where it passes over the valve cover. This should be inside a plastic sleeve on the top side of the valve cover. Just curious, but how did you verify spark and fuel? I had a similar problem once. Car ran fine when I parked it but when I went to start it several weeks later, it wouldn't start. Turned out to be the fuel pump. I've also had problems with the positive wire to the coil shorting out where it is connected the wires from the starter and ballast in the harness. This also caused the car not to start. Also make sure your choke is closed.
Where is the balast resistor located? It is a totally stock 71 skylark with points and distributor. I pulled a spark plug wire and checked the spark there and cracked a fuel line to check for fuel. I was thinking balast resistor but wasnt sure, also, would there be any problems if one of the wires to the starter were bad. Fusable link or something?
Jason, There is no ballast resistor. The stock wiring uses a calibrated length of resistance wire to the coil. There is also a circuit that runs through the starter solenoid to supply full battery voltage to the coil only when cranking the motor. Take a voltmeter, and attach the red lead to the + side of the coil and the black lead to engine ground. With the key in the run position, you should see about 6 volts. Have someone crank the motor. The reading should jump up to 9 volts or more. If not, that part of the starter solenoid is bad, replace the solenoid. As far as checking for fuel, cracking a line is not enough. You could have fuel in the line, and not in the carburetor. A better way is to work the throttle back and forth and look for a fuel spray from the accelerator pump in the carb. You may have a float problem or clogged filter. Hope that helps.
Thanks for all the help everyone. I decided to do what Larry said and check the voltages to the coil, turned the key and and got the 5 volts then told my wife just to turn the key and yes, you guessed it, the stupid thing started right up. So I dont really know what was going on yesterday but now it is starting fine. I do still have a question though, the generator light is staying on and I know that the alternator is good but when I pull the negative cable off, the car shuts off. Is there a wire that may not be hooked up that I am missing. I had the motor out to replace the exhaust manifold gaskets and have had this problem since I put it back in. I checked all the wires going to the starter and they are right so???? Jason
Jason, Check all the connections on the alternator, and the voltage regulator on the firewall. Then put the voltmeter across the battery with the engine running. You should see 13.8-14.6 volts. How do you know the alternator is good?
I took the alt. down to autozone and it tested good. I will check the voltages tonight when I get home. It has to be something I missed when I was hooking the harness back up. I did find a broken red wire that has power applied to it with the key one but cannot find where it goes. Jason
What makes you think the alternator is good? Since the engine dies when the neg side of the battery is disconnected, I would suspect the alternator is defective.
