No spark after coil on my '78

[kevin775]

This is probably a fairly common problem (I imagine), but Im having a hard time finding information on how to troubleshoot it properly. I Just picked up a '78 Spider that hadnt been started for around 6 months (supposedly ) And I cant get it to start~ no spark past the coil. What would be the most probable cause if the car just sat around for too long? What do I need to do first & what are some maybe not so obvious things I need to check? I've had Spiders before but have never had to mess around with too much ignition stuff. Any help would be mucho appreciated.

[TulsaSpider]

I would start with condensers and points. Do the single point conversion.

[divace73]

even better, get your hands on an electronic system from 79 onwards....

[TulsaSpider]

I have one for sale actually

[divace73]

I have assumed Kevin is from the US?

[kevin775]

going to change out the condensers today if the weather holds....

[bobplyler]

When you say "no spark after coil", do you mean that you are getting spark out of the coil? If you are, it's probably the rotor in the distributor.

[kevin775]

put in new condensers today---no luck. A test light on the negative post of my coil blinks as the car turns over but theres no spark at my plugs? Points, rotor & cap look good.

[majicwrench]

Need to test things before changing parts. If test light flashes at (-) term of coil, pull coil wire out of dist and hold 1/4" from head, or use a spark plug with a wide gap in the coil wire. Crank engine. With test light flashing, you should see a blueish spark jump the gap, zap zap zap.
If you do not have spark from coil wire, and you dohave flashing test light, coil bad.
If you have good spark from coil wire, put coil wire back into cap, pull plug wire, do same test.
If spark at plug,system w0rking.
If no spark at plug, but spark from coil, you are loosing it inside dist. Rotor may be burned thru CHECK IT.
Remove cap, leave rotor on. Hold coil wire 1/4" from center term of rotor. Crank motor. Spark SHOULD NOT jump to rotor. If it does, it means rotor is burned thru or carbon tracked.
If spark does not jump to rotor, examine inside and outside of cap for carbon tracks.
Keith

[seabeelt]

Also make sure that the points and condenser screws are securely tightened and making good contact with the dizzy.

[azruss]

lets go back to "is it plugged in" basics. check to see if you have 12V to the + side of the coil.

[kevin775]

Thanks for all the advice! Wont be able to get out there for a couple of days ( my lousy job, GRRRR) but I will let you know how it goes. ....Again--Thanks Everyone. Very cool.

[kevin775]

FINALLY got a chance to get outside & troubleshoot with everyones suggestions. Seemed to be getting spark everywhere except to the plugs. Tore the whole garage apart, managed to find a cap from the old spider I had, cleaned it up, And lo & behold-- the car actually sputtered to life for a second! For some reason the engine revved up to maximum rpms, I turned it off, & by that time the battery finally gave up the ghost, But I'm getting somewhere... As soon as the battery recharges fully I'll be back out to give it another go. Hopefully its stopped raining by then too....

[kevin775]

The Spider lives.

[TulsaSpider]

what was it?