Distributor Cap Trouble

[wolk625]

So I've been battling various distributor problems for a while, most I've been able to adjust out or rebuild, but this one has me stuck - the rest of my ignition parts seem to work fine, have spark from the coil into the cap, but can't seem to get spark out of the cap after 3 different cap and rotor changes.. (Latest parts are BWD C123 and D103) I've tested that the cap is getting current through the center, the center is touching the rotor, and the rotor is coming in very close proximity to the outer nodes. Is there another fault that I might be overlooking on the distributer side of things, like the rotor grounding/not grounding, distributer itself having poor ground, etc?

Also considering a full distributor replacement from the previous problems, are there any good aftermarket replacements that fit a 218?

 

As always, thanks ahead of time

[plymouthcranbrook]

Order a cap for your distributor number. Two different sized of caps are available. If you get the wrong one the spark cannot jump the gap inside the cap to the plugs. To great a distance.

[Plymouthy Adams]

the number mentioned is actually the basic three letters of the prefix...IAP, IGS or IAT ..look for this on the red tag of the distributor itself....tune up parts should always be bought by the model distributor you have in your car, do not gamble on the right distributor for your year application, these engines see a lot of changes made over the years, an original distributor could have been changed out long ago....

[wolk625]

Apologies for a confusing first post - my car has an IGS-4111-1 distributor. This car was a normally functioning, running and driving car for the majority of the summer, but just how these things always seems to go I let it sit for about 2 weeks and suddenly this problem came up. I replaced the previously working cap with another IGS-compatible distributor cap and rotor on it (tried an Autolite pair first, then Borg Warner), also minding to align the notch in the cap with the slot in the distributor, but am still experiencing the same symptom.

[Andydodge]

There should be 3 small leads or wires inside the dissy, one is from the condenser.............these have been discussed a few times over the years as being responsible for poor running or misfiring.........check that they are not earthing or have bad insulation.........andyd 

[classiccarjack]

Andy is on to something here.  I had a distributor that would lose spark as the advance engaged.  Ended up being the wire to the points.  I rewired it utilizing a multimeter lead.  Problem solved!

[Andydodge]

Jack...yep I'm always on something......oops.....not what you meant....lol..........andyd.

[Fernando Mendes]

[Los_Control]

On 10/1/2018 at 6:39 PM, wolk625 said:

Also considering a full distributor replacement from the previous problems, are there any good aftermarket replacements that fit a 218?

I hear the slant 6 dizzy with your shaft is a cool update, You can convert to a electronic ignition providing you switch to 12 volt, or you can use points assuming you get a older points distributor .... not sure why you would do that though.

 

I found last week, I used my test light and had spark to the points, no spark to the points contacts.

I pulled the distributor out to inspect, found the wire going to the dizzy was bad, only 2 or 3 copper strands of wire left to make a connection.

I had enough juice to light the test light, not enough to fire the points ..... just a idea for you to check.

 

Also in the past year, I did a tune up on my uncles 67 international truck, it fired right up and later died and never started again.

It had spark at the points, but no spark at the plugs. ... It was the new condenser,  it worked good once and then died. I then pulled a 20 year old condenser from a old motor and it fired right up again.

Just something else to check, todays parts are pretty crappy and condensers are known to be bad out of the box.

 

[Fernando Mendes]

On 10/3/2018 at 1:40 AM, Andydodge said:

....check that they are not earthing or have bad insulation.

Do not use multimeter to check.It is not trustworthy.

[mopardude]

At a quick glance, those rotors don't look right for an IGS distributor.

[wolk625]

Reviving a pretty old thread here, but I just recently got some more time to work on the car and today - recently acquired Another set of fresh points (gapped to spec), scored a "donor" IGS distributer from a '47 Desoto (actually fits but the vacuum advance is in an annoying spot), fresh coil, fresh plugs, and I also bought an in-line spark plug test light to see what's really going on, and I noticed this - while cranking, in addition to the main "spark"/bigger flash I'm also seeing a smaller/dimmer flash at each one of the other plug's lobes? (this is directly at the plug on the engine, not on the coil wire) - so it looks like I'm getting interference from somewhere, maybe bleeding my spark's strength back and forth through some leak. The small wires to the points were in better shape on the Desoto dist so I tried swapping those over, but I'm still seeing this strange spark behavior. Does this sound like any particular phenomenon? I'm starting to wonder if my plug wires are chaffing in the "wire loom manifold"(metal piece that organizes the wires from the distributor to the plugs)..

[Don Coatney]

12 hours ago, wolk625 said:

Reviving a pretty old thread here, but I just recently got some more time to work on the car and today - recently acquired Another set of fresh points (gapped to spec), scored a "donor" IGS distributer from a '47 Desoto (actually fits but the vacuum advance is in an annoying spot), fresh coil, fresh plugs, and I also bought an in-line spark plug test light to see what's really going on, and I noticed this - while cranking, in addition to the main "spark"/bigger flash I'm also seeing a smaller/dimmer flash at each one of the other plug's lobes? (this is directly at the plug on the engine, not on the coil wire) - so it looks like I'm getting interference from somewhere, maybe bleeding my spark's strength back and forth through some leak. The small wires to the points were in better shape on the Desoto dist so I tried swapping those over, but I'm still seeing this strange spark behavior. Does this sound like any particular phenomenon? I'm starting to wonder if my plug wires are chaffing in the "wire loom manifold"(metal piece that organizes the wires from the distributor to the plugs)..

 

If your 41 Plymouth has the original engine (23") head the 47 Desoto engine (25" ) head the distributor shaft length is different and the two distributors are not interchangeable.