engine and drivetrain Bad coil?

[MatthewCervi]

I haven't been able to start my engine since the complete rebuild of my car (i.e. lots of potential problem areas), but I've confirmed timing and fuel.

Tonight I tried cranking the engine and looking for a spark from one of the plugs and got nothing, so I tested unplugging the coil->distributor wire and holding it near the head while cranking and still got no arcing. I have 12.6V at the + terminal of the coil. During the test, all the spark plugs were disconnected if that makes any difference.

This is all on a tii with a euro harness, so no starting relay junk. The coil is a Pertronix FlameThrower that used to work just fine before I disassembled everything last summer. Currently have points and condensor installed, not a Pertronix module.

Did I just confirm that the coil is dead or is there some test I'm missing?

[FL02]

Make sure you use some starting fluid when you start your car after it sits. Just spray it into the intake or into the carb as you crank it and it should start to start. If it just sputters and doesn't keep running, then it might need gas. If it doesn't turn over and sputter at all using starter fluid then it might be your spark issue.

[Rob7502]

If there is no spark not even the starting fluid will ignite.

Check to make sure that your points are opening and closing also make sure that they are clean. Are you still running the resistor from the coil? That could be bad. Make sure that all your leads are pushed on all the way, especialy the one from the coil. Also make sure that they fit tight ( I open up the one on the coil just to make it extra hard to push in and therefore extra hard to remove. Also check to make sure that you dont have the wires crossed from the points to the coil.

Good luck

[MatthewCervi]

The points should be adjusted right, but I'll verify. All the connections seem tight. I'm pretty sure the coil has just died.

[Guest hogpie]

Using an ohmeter you can test whether the coil is good or not. Between the positive and negative terminals you should get aprox 1.9 ohms. From the positive terminal to the center of the coil it should be around 10k ohms. Hope this helps....steve

[MatthewCervi]

I'll try that, thanks.