On my 70 maverick I put new antifreeze, gas, transmission fluid, and oil in it today. I was driving it up and down the driveway when it cut off on me and would not start. I thought it might have been my coal but i put it on my 72 and i start that up fine. So i pulled the spark plug to see if it was firing and i seen no spark and then i pulled the distributor cap and seen no spark there either, just 4 weeks ago i bought a new distributor, distributor cap, router button and coal and put them on the car. Car has been running before, but today i just fixed some carburator problems and it was running really good and sounding nice and now this happens. I had to set the distributor by hand and it took me all day it was not fun. So any advice would be helpful right now as for im not sure what to do. Engine is a 170. Should probaly junk the engine but right now i cant. Thanks for all the help
if you have the ...old condenser...put it back in. also check and make sure you have 12v coming to the coil... we-can-do-it Frank
do you have...points dist...if so it is the little silver thing in the dist. cap, under the rotor button. ...Frank...
Check the voltage at the coil - put the red lead from your meter on the coil + and your black lead on any good ground. If you have 12 or more volts there then try turning the switch on and off while looking for the spark from the coil. If it sparks when the switchis turned on and off but not when you are cranking the engine you have points that are not opening or an electronic sensor that is bad. You can adjust the points or replace the sensor.
This is what i did, i pulled the wire off of the coil the one that goes to the switch and hooked the red meter wire to it then put the black meter wire to my battery ground and got 12.33 voltage then when i put the switch wire back on the coil i put the red meter wire onto the coil and it gave me like 5.93 voltage, i opened up the dist. and pulled the silver piece back it would only move a little and it gave alittle spark, when i put the dist. cap back on, i pulled my spark plug wire of the engine and stuck a screwdriver in it and put it close to engine and got no spark so then i pulled my spark plug out and tryed it and still got no spark, i then pulled the plug of dist. that ran to coil and put it close to engine and got very little spark, i took my meter and hooked it back to the coil wire and tryed to turn engine over voltage meter went from 12.33 to 10.55 as it was turning over. All advice would be helpful and appreciated on this situation. Ps guy with grabber sold the grabber hood aready. Thanks
Rotate your engine by hand until the rubbing block on the point set is resting on the top of one of the eight lobes on the distributor cam. set the points so there is .019" gap and lock them down. (the spec calls for .017" to .021") After locking them down (by tightening the mounting screws) check the gap again and redo it if it is off. Crank the engine and it should start.
Mine did something similar, i'm not saying that this is the issue, but make sure that the condenser is not grounding out to the inside of the distributor as you tighten it down. When I put mine in and tightened ti down it twisted the connector down and grounded it out, had me going for about 30 min trying to figure out what the heck happened. Glen
You have points. Just do what everyone has said so far. Have you checked your timing with a timing light? Is that date how long your oil filter has been on there? :16suspect
Im not for sure where the points are or how to set them, dont mean to sound dumb. are they the straight head screws by the thing that sparks or where the condensor wire and the cylinode connect, i think the round barrel is the condensor. if my timing is off shouldnt i still get spark off of my spark plug when i removed my spark plug and touch to engine there was not spark so i put a screwdriver in the wire coming from distributor and im getting no spark. if my timing is off would i still get a spark or would i not? with a timing light can i still check my timing if i cant get it running? If you fish for a man then he can eat if you teach him how to fish he can eat forever! bear with me this is a project that i am trying to do on my own and i appreciate all the help PS i have a 1970 ford maverick that i do not need and i will sell or part out for cheap or maybe even give some parts away, if you need something let me know.
The points are the part that switches and sparks. Turn the engine over by hand until the rubbing block is on the top of one of the lobes on the distributor shaft and then loosen the screws and set the gap between the contact buttons to .019". Then turn the engine to line up the timing marks so it is at 10 degrees before Top Dead Center on the balancer. Rotate the distributor until the points just open. Lock down the distributor with the hold down bolt. Put the rotor and cap back on and start it up. When it is running you can check the timing with a light for perfect accuracy.
See the picture I attached below. Yes, you should still get spark if your timing is off, that has nothing to do with it. The only reason I mentioned timing is because your previous post implied to me that you did not correctly set the timing when the engine was running. Don't worry about that right now, lets get spark first. What you need to do, is look at the image I attached and then follow Paul's advice. Once we get the car running, we'll start talking about timing again. Believe me, I know how it is. I think we've all been there. That's what we are here for, is to try and help.
Jamie, could you do the second pic. for us, i think he will be able to see how to set the points better...thank you...:Handshake JFF
