No spark during cranking

Hi everyone. It has been quite some time since I was last on this board. In the past, the people on this site gave me invaluable information. I thank you again for that help. I’ve got another problem. I am not getting any spark when I crank the engine. When I release the key, I get 1 maybe 2 sparks at the plug.

Here’s some background:
a. It’s a 1953 m38a1; F134 converted to 12 volts; gm 105 amp alternator with 3 wire installation.
b. It sits a lot. It is located 200 miles away on a farm in East Texas. Before this weekend, it had not been cranked for at least 8 months.
c. The battery is probably 4 years old. It is one of those half storage-half starting batteries from Academy. When leaving the farm, I usually disconnect the battery and hook up a small solar charger/maintainer to it. Last year, I experienced some battery corrosion which ate up the clamps to the solar charger so I quit using the solar charger.
d. When I arrived at the farm last weekend. I discovered that I had not disconnected the battery on the previous visit (8 months earlier). There was a large amount of terminal corrosion. (Also, the solar charger had not been connected.) I cleaned up the terminals. Expecting the battery to be dead, I hooked up a wall charger. When I checked on it 1 or 2 hours later, the charger’s meter indicated that the battery was fully charged. At least that is what I thought but I am not sure I interpreted the meter correctly.
e. I poured a little fresh gas in the carb and added some fresh gas to the tank. Made several attempts to start and the battery showed signs of weakening. I did not want to kill the battery so I pulled it behind a tractor. She would start but not stay running -- sputtered a lot. The next morning, I drained the tank, filled with fresh gas and it started right up. However, she did not hit a lick during cranking. She fired just as I stopped cranking the engine.

The kids drove it around much of the day. The next morning, I pulled the number one spark plug wire, inserted a small wire and held it close to the jeep body. I got no spark during cranking but got a spark as the starter disengaged.

1. Thought it might be a short in the wire from the ignition switch to the ballast resistor (and then going to the +post on the coil). Replace wire, same result.
2. Thought it might be bad ignition switch. The coil wire and idiot light are connected to the same post on the ignition switch. The idiot light comes on and stays on slightly during cranking so my thought is that the switch is good.
3. Maybe the battery is just too weak to push a current to the spark plug at the same time it is turning the starter? However, the battery turns over the engine fairly vigorously. I had to leave and did not have time to give it a good 10 hour charge. Battery water was a little low but the plates were all covered.

What do you guys think? All ideas are welcomed, encouraged and appreciated.
Thanks
Al

 

"3. Maybe the battery is just too weak to push a current to the spark plug at the same time it is turning the starter? "

You describe getting a couple of sparks when you release the key? That is a classic 'old car' symptom of inadequate voltage to the plugs when cranking.

I would check all power connections, including battery ground to frame/engine, etc. Also check points gap, plug gaps. Clean and dry the coil top, distributor cap, and HT wires, plug porcelain, etc.





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Does your starter solenoid have a ballast resistor bypass wire???

If so, I suspect it may be the gremlin here.

 

Thanks for the replies! I forgot about the ballast resistor bypass. The jeep is not here so I can't go out and look at it. How is the bypass normally hooked up? From the starter solenoid to + post on the coil? Heck, I don't remember.

 

Yes, or to the coil side of the ballast resistor. Electrically identical, but uses a different screw is all.

 

The more I think about it, the more I believe that I did not wire a resistor bypass into the Jeep. I don't know for certain because the Jeep is not here. If I bypass the resistor and it fires during cranking, what does that tell me? Currently, there is no spark during cranking but it runs fine after it starts so does that mean there is nothing wrong with the resistor?

I'll bring another battery with me on the next trip. That should be next week. The distributor cap, points, condenser and spark plug wires are relatively new. I'll check them out and wipe off any filth on them. What are the HT wires? I'll also add some washers to the bolts on the battery. Maybe this will improve the connection. I'll check that frame ground connection also.

 

HT = High Tension = high voltage = Plug wires, and coil to distributor wire

 

a good way to check spark at the plug is with a harbor freight inline spark checker, they're only a couple dollars and plug inbetween the plug and plug wire and has a little red light in it, makes it easy to watch spark while starting and running.

 

The small red line shown from the "I" terminal on the solenoid to the "+" terminal on the coil is probably the problem. If the solenoid has an internal problem making this connection then you will have the symptom you are describing. HTH.

 

I agree with Walt and w3srl

Classic symptoms of a ballast resistor bypass issue.


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