No spark

[Crisjr14]

So have a question what are these that are circled and if anyone has pictures as to what they actually look like please and could it possibly be reason for no spark for my 1953 dodge Meadowbrook please thank for any information 

[D35 Torpedo]

All the things you circled have there names in the circle....the horn relay controls the horn..the carburetor controls fuel, and the turn signal breaker controls the turn signals. 

[Tired iron]

The horn relay is on the firewall right above where the steering column comes thru. About a 1" x 2" metal rectangle with lots of wires on it. True to the label, it's the relay for the horn, but it's also the connection pass thru for the coil for ignition.

 

The thing on the carburetor is a kick down switch the engages the over drive on the transmission whenever you stomp on the gas pedal.

 

And the circuit breaker monitors when too much current is flowing thru thise wires and temporarily switches off (until it cools back down). It's about the size of a little book of stick matches and is up on the backside of the dash above the ignition key switch.

[Crisjr14]

Thank you tired iron so if the horn relay is not properly wired correct it could possibly be why I am not getting spark? And I've tried to look up images to see what they look like and I can't find anything and that is why I was asking if anyone might have some to get an idea of what to look for or buy also trying to figure out what this box above my coil is for It had wires coming from it ( green arrow) to this push button switch on mounted to the dashboard the box says (autolite 4001 a) what is it's purpose please and thank you again 

[Tired iron]

Looks like there's quite a bit of new and modified wiring, which is okay, but makes it harder for me to tell you exactly what to do and where things are. 

Get yourself a trouble light or voltmeter, clip one side to ground and starting probing for supply voltage ("hot").  Start at the end and work backwards until you find something wrong. 

So working backwards: (with ignition key on) check for hot at the terminal on the distributor ( you may need to take the distributor cap off and pry open the points to double check).

 

If not hot there, then follow that wire back to the next item, which will be the spak coil. Check there on both terminals. If nothing there, then trace back to the next thing, which in the original meadowbrook set up is the horn relay. The horn relay doesn't do anything for the ignition; it's just an handy spot for the ignition circuit to attach too. Find hot there. If not, then the final point is the ign key switch. Hard to get under there--helpful if you practice yoga regularly.

 

An additional approach will be to simply bypass a lot of those components (just to help diagose...not as a solution).  Run a wire from the hot side of your battery to ignition key switch side, supply side, of your coil. Crank the motor over and, if it starts, you know that the problem is before the coil.

Now get to it!  I'm off to church and will check back here later today. In the meantime, folks much wiser than I will hopefully have additional tips for you.

 

Edited February 25 by Tired iron

[Tom Skinner]

Crisjr14,

The things you circled are not going to effect spark at the Coil, Distributor, Starter, or Plugs. Start by turning the motor over by hand to TDC (Top Dead Center).

You will probably need to remove the plugs to do that by hand. Observe and clean or replace the spark plugs. Once at TDC with the plugs back in - turn on the ignition key.

Loosen the Distributor, Take the Center Coil wire loose from the center of the Distributor and hold it 1/4" from a Bare spot on the Engine Block. Rotate the Distributor by hand until a Spark jumps between where you are holding the Coil Wire near the Engine Block. If no Spark you need to replace the Ignition Coil. Check the Points in the Distributor are they gapped properly? are they getting a Spark when the Key is turned on and you move them back and forth by hand? if not its either a bad wire (broken, or loose) or the Coil. Ignition Coils are about $30. This method is called Static Timing it is imperative that spark is received at the Plugs at the proper time to start an engine.

The Technical section of tis Thread may explain it better than I did. Good Luck!

Tom 

[FarmerJon]

By any chance, does the car have/ had an overdrive transmission? That switch with the 4 wires looks like a kickdown switch,  and the box on the coil looks just like the OD relay. 

If you arent sure, take a look (or picture so we can look) of the driver side of your transmission. 

[Booger]

Hey y'all. Skinner spot on

Screen shot it and print it. Put it in your repair manual. Dumb stuff..

Dont forget condenser 

[Los_Control]

I say you pull a spark plug out and with it connected, you lay it on the head for ground and turn the motor over.

Does the plug have spark?

Next you remove the cap and check with the key on you have spark at the points.

 

While difficult to tell to a untrained eye .... If it is a really bright spark, then the condenser is not working.

If it is a good spark but dull, you know the condenser is working.

 

If no spark at the points, then you have to back up to the coil and see you have proper electricity going into the coil.

 

What others have said, just run a jumper wire from the battery to the coil and see if you have spark  .....

Just saying you get power to the coil, it goes to the distributor and the points spark.

 

 

If no spark to the points then find out why.

If you have spark to the points but not to the plugs it is a bad condenser

If no spark to points then go upstream and find where it fails ..... I keep jumper wires with alligator clips on them to

 

Years ago to hot wire a car and steal it, they just used jumper wires to run power to the coil and they bypassed the ignition switch.

Thats what others are saying, just run a hot wire from battery to coil and see if you get spark.

 

This will tell you where the issue is .... before or after the coil.

 

[Crisjr14]

Ok thank you all but I did some re wiring under dash and found TDC rotor was more at the 6 o'clock position re ran my wires and I finally got her to crank over and yes supposedly it did or does have the kick down switch on I took it out the button never did nothing when I got the car but I appreciate all your knowledge in your responses but now I have one more little problem maybe you all can help me out with so I did wire it back to positive ground and now for some reason my Carter electric fuel pump is blowing out instead of sucking to carburetors it worked before but I had it the other way so my question is do I have to reverse the wires on the fuel pump I've been doing some internet searching and looks like I do have to reverse the wires just would like more input please and again thank you all 

[Dave72dt]

Either swap the wires or swap the hose connections.  Swapping the hoses may not work if there is a check valve built into the pump.

[desoto1939]

If the car was setup as negative ground and now you have switch back to Positive ground you will have to switch the wires on the electric FP. So the positive wire will go to the frame as your ground and the negative wire will go to the pump. Also check the wire that is feeding the pump has to be also setup correctly.

 

Rich hartung

 

[Crisjr14]

Thanks Rich so I did switch it back to positive ground and also switched the wires on the FP I alligatored it the ign switch real quick to see if she would start and also getting gas which she is now and FP is working fine but as you stated about the wire feeding the FP how or where would wire it to be setup correctly please and thank you all again for your help greatly appreciated 

[bach4660]

check for the coil shorting out on the distributor housing. Where the coil lead passes thru the dist body  there is a bakelite insulator that gets really brittle over time. If the insulator breaks the coil will short and you will get no spark

[lostviking]

Did you check to ensure there is voltage at the coil? That would be the very first check.

[Dave72dt]

There's been several debates on proper electric fuel pump wiring setups regarding safety concerns.  Time with search function should turn them up.

[desoto1939]

On 2/27/2024 at 9:22 PM, Crisjr14 said:

Thanks Rich so I did switch it back to positive ground and also switched the wires on the FP I alligatored it the ign switch real quick to see if she would start and also getting gas which she is now and FP is working fine but as you stated about the wire feeding the FP how or where would wire it to be setup correctly please and thank you all again for your help greatly appreciated 

Chris: I have a wire running from the full turn onside of the ign switch running over to a toggle switch which is attached to the bottom of the dash.  Look around the bottom of the dash and you might find a location or a hole to mount the toggle switch through. Then the other wire will run to the electric FP>. remember that you are now Positive ground so the positive wire on the FP now becomes the ground wire and now your electric power wire coming from your toggle switch will connect to the negative wire on the FP.