Weird starting problem...

Sounds like voodoo to me.

No really, it kind of depends upon what the pattern is. You say only half the engine -- does that mean right vs. left (which would be REALLY odd), or just random cylinders?
Is the distributor original? Could the bearings be bad or the shaft warped enough to miss half the distributor cap (again, look for a pattern). Are the new cap and rotor good quality (I'm sure you've looked, but no plastic flashing obstructing good contact). Is the metal strip on top that contacts the coil straight or could it be contacting intermittantly?

Is the timing right Possible that a new cam or old timing set have caused the engine to be off (my old set slipped a couple of teeth, but it would not run at all). Are the plugs and wires new and/or good? Stupid question but are you SURE there is NO spark, and not just a weak/intermittant/badly timed one?

That's a lot to look at but it sounds like an odd problem.

Have you ensured that the cap is wired with the correct firing order?

mustangfb66 said:

My friends dad has a '68 CA special. It has a 289 w/ a C4. But they can't get it to run right. Right now it will run (barely) on 4 cylinders. What is happening is that only half of the distributor is getting spark. All the cylinders that are firing, are together on the distributor cap. So for some reason only half of the distributor is getting spark. The car has a new cap and rotor, and I belive new points as well.

Any ideas as to what could cause this?

Thanks,
Efren

Click to expand...

Quite possibly the dist shaft could be bent (somehow). Seriously, hook up a timing light to each cylinder (one at a time obviously) and make sure you do not have secondary voltage. (spark) If you do not in fact have secondary voltage, then there is something in the primary causing the secondary to not be triggered ( like the dist shaft being bent and not opening the points?) Good luck. Hope you get er going soon.

Did they do some work to the motor recently? I would think either the cam is not degreed in correctly, or maybe they installed the distributor without the #1 cylinder at TDC. Just a thought.