Seems to be a rash of these lately. Here's my story:

Driving back from camping, radiator hose blows. Replace it, can't start the van. Eventually started for 20 seconds and then died. Since then, I can't get spark at the coil.

I've replaced the coil. Tested the + terminal and only saw about 6 VDC while cranking but that could just be my cheap multimeter. It turns over fine but never sparks. I've been trying to jump start it.

Any advice?



1973 Dodge Tradesman, 5.9L, 3spd auto

 

Something got wet and stopped working???? Has it dried out good yet?

 

Yes, this all happened last Sunday.

I checked the cap when it happened and it was dry. Everything should be completely dry by now.

 

73 still had the ballast resistor didn't it? If so, it could've cracked internally when it was hot and got sprayed with the water.

 

Not necessarily because we're talking about antifreeze not straight water. You would need to hose down the engine and everything under there (except for the carb) so that you wash away all of the antifreeze, THEN give it a chance to dry. Otherwise that antifreeze can say in there and stay wet for a long time.

 

What could be wet that prevents the coil from producing spark? I've used a brand new coil.

Where's the ballast resistor? I'll investigate that.

 

I found that the wire from the coil to the condenser had broken. New condenser on the way... I tried just grounding the coil but that didn't work.

 

For posterity: Condenser fixed the problem. Took a while to get around to fixing it but it's running great now.

 

Got to love those old engines with the ignition coil, points, condenser, distributor, spark plugs and ballast.