No spark issue

[mikedrini]

Hi everyone. I am having a weird difficult time trying to figure out what is causing no spark. Recently drove my car Tuesday after switching back to carb car idled great left the driveway got a couple of feet and it cut out started right back drove it for 10mins it cut out again and started right back up again turned around to head home and cut out 3 blocks away and wouldn’t start back up again im running the edlebrock 800cfm avs2, tsp pro billet distributor, changed the coil out for a new one along with ballast resistor, new spark plugs and new Taylor spark plug wires, along with new painless wiring harness, new alternator and starter along with starter relay

For what it's worth and this is as recent as in the past few months, I had not 1, but 2(!) of those TSP ready-to-run dizzys crap out on me on my 440. I switched back to a stock dizzy courtesy of @halifaxhops and my no spark issue went away. Car runs great now. If everything else is checking out alright Dominique, my money is on the dizzy hath shitting the beddith.

 

[halifaxhops]

Sound like the pick up coil is on its way\ out. When it is cool does it work and shut down when it is hot?

 

[Dominique Williams]

For what it's worth and this is as recent as in the past few months, I had not 1, but 2(!) of those TSP ready-to-run dizzys crap out on me on my 440. I switched back to a stock dizzy courtesy of @halifaxhops and my no spark issue went away. Car runs great now. If everything else is checking out alright Dominique, my money is on the dizzy hath shitting the beddith.

So I talked to a buddy and realized that this distributor doesn’t require a ballast resistor which I unplugged it from but I didn’t fuse the two wires running off it together so when I get home I’m going to do that and see if it fires up and if not tsp sent a extra distributor by accident I put that in to see if anything changes

 

[polara71]

 

[Dominique Williams]

Sound like the pick up coil is on its way\ out. When it is cool does it work and shut down when it is hot?

No it was good hot and cold

 

[mikedrini]

So I talked to a buddy and realized that this distributor doesn’t require a ballast resistor which I unplugged it from but I didn’t fuse the two wires running off it together so when I get home I’m going to do that and see if it fires up and if not tsp sent a extra distributor by accident I put that in to see if anything changes

The other change I made was to buy a built-in resistance coil (Pertronix II). The TSP's I bought came with their own respective coils and I too bypassed the ballast resistor, obviously to no avail. If the first TSP you bought doesn't fire after doing what you said, it may have been fried. The new one you received by accident may fire up, but you should ask yourself...how long before that one craps the bed too? Like I said, just be sure you have proper resistance at/from the coil as well.

 

[Dominique Williams]

The other change I made was to buy a built-in resistance coil (Pertronix II). The TSP's I bought came with their own respective coils and I too bypassed the ballast resistor, obviously to no avail. If the first TSP you bought doesn't fire after doing what you said, it may have been fried. The new one you received by accident may fire up, but you should ask yourself...how long before that one craps the bed too? Like I said, just be sure you have proper resistance at/from the coil as well.

Definitely will look into the Pertronix II on summit

 

[Davea Lux]

The other change I made was to buy a built-in resistance coil (Pertronix II). The TSP's I bought came with their own respective coils and I too bypassed the ballast resistor, obviously to no avail. If the first TSP you bought doesn't fire after doing what you said, it may have been fried. The new one you received by accident may fire up, but you should ask yourself...how long before that one craps the bed too? Like I said, just be sure you have proper resistance at/from the coil as well.

Input voltage is also very critical on all electronic ignition systems. If this conversion did not need a ballast resistor, the electronics have probably overheated and are now highly suspect as noted above. The TSP conversion is widely advertised as an inexpensive, plug and play system, but there have been a lot of failures, so this may be a case of you get what you pay for. The factory electronic conversion had an excellent reputation for reliability and is more than adequate for street engines.

Dave

 

[Dominique Williams]

So sadly had a friend from my work at the dealership come over and check things for me. Coil is getting 12volts. Swapped out distributors took off valve cover to find top dead center and none of the rocker arms were moving on either side looked at the cam through the distributor hole that’s not moving either he told me worse case Friend thinks the timing chain broke or the pin that holds it or the cam bolt broke or is loose that’s the good scenario something simple easy fix but worse case cam is flat also no gas is shooting through carb either

 

[Davea Lux]

So sadly had a friend from my work at the dealership come over and check things for me. Coil is getting 12volts. Swapped out distributors took off valve cover to find top dead center and none of the rocker arms were moving on either side looked at the cam through the distributor hole that’s not moving either he told me worse case Friend thinks the timing chain broke or the pin that holds it or the cam bolt broke or is loose that’s the good scenario something simple easy fix but worse case cam is flat also no gas is shooting through carb either

Cam is not turning, timing gear has probably failed. With the distributor removed, you can look forward and can see the top timing gear, odds are that it will be missing teeth that is causing the failure of the gear to engage. You will need to replace the gear, after that is done, run a compression check to see if there are any bent valves or push rods. It is rare for the cam pin to shear off on a stock engine.
Dave

 

[Dominique Williams]

Cam is not turning, timing gear has probably failed. With the distributor removed, you can look forward and can see the top timing gear, odds are that it will be missing teeth that is causing the failure of the gear to engage. You will need to replace the gear, after that is done, run a compression check to see if there are any bent valves or push rods. It is rare for the cam pin to shear off on a stock engine.
Dave

Yea he said order a new cam and make sure it’s a 3 bolt cam. I have in their right now a cam that’s 206 @ .50 something mild if a cam is a needed replacement what would be a good cam for my 440