Car died on freeway

spade33 · May 9, 2010

So i was driving down the freeway today and my car chugged a couple of times and then it seemed ok so i kept going. Well then it did it again and just shut off completly. I was able to coast off the freeway and get it to the side of the road. At first i thought it was because my floats where off so i adjusted those and nothing. So then i started chasing things down and long story short I pulled a plug and checked for spark and nothing. So far ive tried replacing the coil voltage reg, and checked my connections and took out the ignition switch and checked it. NO luck. The car turns over perfect but just no spark. I can not figure it out. the distributer is only about two years old and its an electronic summit brand. any suggestions? im going to go and try to bypass the starter solenoid and see what happens but any suggestions?

htwheelz67 · May 9, 2010

is the rotor spinning under the cap?

spade33 · May 10, 2010

Yeah I did check that and it is.

rbohm · May 10, 2010

do you have power through the coil? do you have a power loss in other systems as well? its possible that the solenoid IS your problem.

spade33 · May 10, 2010

No everything else is working lights radio and such. I havnt gotten a chance to try to bypass the solidoid yet. I'm hoping it's not the distriduter. If the solinoid doesn't work I'm going to take the distributed outa my dads stang and try it.

spade33 · May 10, 2010

So i tried going from the positive battery to the positive coil and still nothing. I guess now I'm looking at the distributer.

rbohm · May 10, 2010

you might have a bad ignition module or a bad coil.

spade33 · May 11, 2010

Where would the ignition module be located

JDS68Stang · May 11, 2010

spade33 said:
.......... the distributer is only about two years old and its an electronic summit brand. any suggestions? im going to go and try to bypass the starter solenoid and see what happens but any suggestions?

This is one more reason why I stick to the original distributor w/points and condenser, and carry spare parts in trunk for it.

If you have your old dist. try that or like you said borrow your Dad's and try his. I'm betting it'll fire right up as you covered most of the suggestions so far.

I've read more people having problems with these upgrades, and many not to and they swear by them. I'm happy using stock parts and when something like this happens you can narrow it down and fix it. I'd say its Summits upgraded distributor.

spade33 · May 11, 2010

I'm siting out here now in my apartment complex and I have the new dist. In and I got spark a couple times and now nothing. I'm hoping it's not something frying the dist. Because then I destroyed two. One a nice msd. It has to be a wire or something somewere that had contact or something for a few and now doesn't? Does that sound logical? I'm getting pretty frustrated because I don't have a can until this gets fixed. And I just got a job as a emt. Any other suggestions on why I would have spark and then nothing again?

rbohm · May 11, 2010

spade33 said:
Where would the ignition module be located

there are two summit electronic style distributors, one that requires an external ignition box, and one that doesnt. if you have the one that doesnt, the ignition module will be under the cap like the GM hei distributors.

spade33 · May 12, 2010

Now my question is shouldn't that problem have been fixed with the working dist? Or is it possible that there is a short in the system that screwed up the new dist? I just don't get why it would have spark when o put it in. Then nothing.

pabear89 · May 12, 2010

Simplest way to isolate the problem is to install the old point style dist and see if it runs.
I installed a brand new StreetFire ign box and drove it for 20 miles, parked it and it wouldn't restart.
After testing, the box had went bad. Removed it and rewired to orig point system and it runs perfectly.

JDS68Stang · May 13, 2010

Did you install the stock dist w/ points/ condenser?

If so and no spark again try the wire from pos battery again to coil and see what happens. If it runs it'll help you start to narrow it down to a possible short I would think.

Start also following all the hot wires right up to the ignition key switch and see if anything has a bare spot. Good luck, electrical problems are the worst to deal with and most of us have been thru this at one time or another.

spade33 · May 13, 2010

I unfortunaty don't have a points dist. Anymore. But I'm going to try and start fallowing the wires. They are such a mess though from previous owners. I wish I could rewire it. Just no Time. And thanks for the luck, I guess it's hard to avoid wiring problems in 44 year old cars.

spade33 · May 13, 2010

Oh I forgot after the second dist stopped working i went and looked at my fuses and the lowest horizontal one( not sure what it's for) was blown so I replaced it and still nothing. But it didn't seem to affect anything. So maybe the dist got screwed with the blown fuse?

Rusty67 · May 13, 2010

Whats the model number on that MSD you were using ?

spade33 · May 14, 2010

I can't remember but it was a standalone probuilit. Because we looked it up just the other day. But I put it back on my dads and it fired right up. So I finally got some lights and a multimeter. I do have power to the coil. And I have power through the main wire from the coil to the cap when cranking. But and idk if this works but when I put the negative side of the multimeter on the neg battery post and one in a plug wire I had off the engine I got nothig at all or maybe .35 on my multimeter. Is this normal?

spade33 · May 14, 2010

Sorry one thing I forgot to add. When the ignition is in the on position. From the neg battery post to the main plug from the coil to the cap my reading is 13.xx but if I crank the engine with the same setup it drops to 9.xx or low 10s. Idk if any of this is right but I would expect a jump from the coil right?

Rusty67 · May 14, 2010

That is actually a bit odd. I think someone bypassed your resitor wire because you should only be seeing about 8v I think to the coil in normal run position. When you crank it is suppose to jump up to give the coil some extra juice to get the car started. The fact that it drops when you crank means your battery isn't large enough to crank and give the coil 12v.

At this point I would try another coil if you have a spare you (borrow your dad's ?)

On a side note, I feel that points are a good backup for a Petronix type ignition but should not be run on a day to day basis. They come out of adjustment and wear out. Either buy a second Pertronix or leave a set of points in the trunk with a few tools to change out as needed. The difference in the way the car runs over time is worth the hassle.

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