1964 Chevy Impala no fire at the coil

Tiny
MOOS1833
  • MEMBER
  • 1964 CHEVROLET IMPALA
  • V8
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 50,000 MILES
The car has not been drivin in 7 yrs we have been trying to get it running but have hit a snag as I cannot get any spark from the coil there is power to both sides of the coil 12 volts the coil and codenser are new the points have power I am lost I dont know what to check next
Saturday, February 27th, 2010 AT 7:30 PM

6 Replies

Tiny
HOMER1967
  • MECHANIC
  • 875 POSTS
You should not have fire to both sides one side should be grouind.
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Saturday, February 27th, 2010 AT 7:42 PM
Tiny
MOOS1833
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  • 3 POSTS
Why would I have power at both sides what would need to be checked thanks
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Saturday, February 27th, 2010 AT 9:29 PM
Tiny
HOMER1967
  • MECHANIC
  • 875 POSTS
Double your wiring, the coil should be marked + and - follow the wire from the side with the - and see where it goes it should go to a ground on the intake. It should not be wired into a live circuit. Hope this helps.
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Sunday, February 28th, 2010 AT 8:33 PM
Tiny
MR TED
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
The + side of the coil should have two wires connected to it. A pink wire and a resister wire.
The - side of the coil should be connected to the distributor wire (black) that goes to the points.
The coil grounds thru the points, when the points open, the circuit is broken and the coil should fire.
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Thursday, March 11th, 2010 AT 8:44 PM
Tiny
MOOS1833
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  • 3 POSTS
So does that mean the points are no good they spark when the car turns over
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Thursday, March 11th, 2010 AT 11:19 PM
Tiny
MR TED
  • MEMBER
  • 5 POSTS
The points do spark, A LITTLE. If you are seeing a large or brite spark, the condencer is bad.

Lets start at the begining.
A) Take the points out and look at the contacts. If they are blue or black, replace them. They should be a light grey color.
B) Put the points back in and gap them.017-.019.
C) change the condencer in the distributor.
D) if there is a condencer wired to the coil, disconnect it.
E) with the ign. Off, check the + side of the coil, there should be no power.
F) turn the IGN. To on, there should be power at the + side of the coil.
G) pull the coil wire off the distributor ( the fat wire that goes from the top of the coil to the center of the dist. Cap)
H) have someone crank the engine, while you hold the coil wire about a 1/4 inch from any grounded metal. (The intake is a good place) And you should see a brite bluish spark.
If not.
Check the coil with a ohm meter, remove the coil leads first. The coil should have contenuity between the + and - posts. If not, replace the coil.

In step E, if you have power at the coil, the wiring has been tampered with and you will need a wiring diagram to straighten it out.

Also. In step G, DON"T TOUCH the end of the coil wire while cranking.

One more thing, if there is any dirt or oil on the point contacts, you will not get a good ground to the coil and it will not fire when the points open.
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Friday, March 12th, 2010 AT 8:34 AM

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