Pre War Distributor Units

[AlanBartlett]

Yes to all matters so its just process of elimination, got a feeling its the cap itself has hairline cracks, as ive tried 2 clean rotor arms and still no luck, So geoff will has offerd to take a look for me so im sending down my cap and arm to him for inspection.

[PAUL BEAUMONT]

Alan, another thought - in fact 2. I am not totally familiar with your distributor, but on the Bradford there is a fibre washer between the moving part of the points and the fixed part. If it is missing your points short out and no spark happens (I have that Tee shirt!!)
Also, Does the car have any of those infernal radio suppressors fitted? especially one in the main HT lead from the coil to the distributor. If it does, chuck it in next door's garden, join or replace the HT lead and try again

[AlanBartlett]

Hi paul, when i took the points apart this morn i made sure everything went back right and the little washer you speak of was in the right place now you mention it, also no the ht leads doesnt, they were all replaced a couple of months ago so there should be no problems there

[PAUL BEAUMONT]

Alan, is the rotor arm actually going round when you turn the engine over? Make sure that it is as the drive gears on the end of the dynamo are prone to wear. Make sure that it continues to turn even with a little resistance. Make sure that it does not go so far and stop.
Is the little carbon brush in place in the top of the cap and is its spring working ok.
Is the rotor arm the correct one. When you position it in the cap it should pass quite close to the contacts in the cap.
Are the acorn nuts the correct ones so that they hold the HT leads down properly?
Are you sure that the plugs are OK. Have you used the one that you have guaranteed to spark, on the ends of the plug leads?.
I think that you are looking for something very simple now, a few hairline cracks in the cap are not likely to be the problem, a squirt of WD40 will fix these anyway, for the time being

[AlanBartlett]

Hi Paul,

Its all the bits you describe are doing their job, most things have been replaced for new ones like ht leads, nuts, even played around with different rotor arms, you are right though it has to be something simple, before I put the engine back in i set up the timing and could hear a little spark from the plug, then took the dizzy out to put the engine back in the car for the final time(lets hope), then setup the timing again but there was no spark, thought it could have been the capcitor, replaced it still no luck. So you are right it has to be some thing simple. As for plugs they are virtually brand new only been using them a couple of months when Ive been starting to sort things out with the engine. The cap problem is the only thing it can be really because ive done all various tests, stage by stage following the spark through the system until I get to the plug where there is no spark which is where it needs to be.

Ps maybe I should get a web cam in my garage and broadcast to you lot and you can point me in the right direction

[george garside]

just to sort of recap on things - is there a spark at the points when you turn the engine on the handle with the distributor cap off. assuming the answer is yes then with the cap back on & rotor arm in place and with both plugs resting on cylinders ( to provide earth) & connected to their respective HT leads is there any sign of a spark on either plug when engine turned on handle. If answer no you are correct in assuming problem is somewhere between the incoming currant from the coil and the outgoing currant to the plugs. The components involved in tis are the distributor cap, including carbon brush for coil lead and contacts for plug leads, high tenssion leads and plug caps or brass terminals.

If fault in ht leads it is less likely to be both so one plug should spark. however a furthur test can be made by removing plug cap, bearing the end of the ht lead and holding it a short distance from a decent earth while someone turns the engine on the handle - in this way you temporarily eliminate both the plug & the plug cap from the precedings.

therefore if no plug sparking or spark from bare end of plug lead but spark at the points when turning engine it must be rotor arm or distributor cap.

timing should make no difference to spark occuring with plug on top of cylinder as even if well out a sparks should still occur once every rev of the engine.

Have you tried turning engine over with dis cap in place in the dark and watching for any sparks tracking along outside of cap, leads or where ever. If starter is working you may get a better result by turning on starter (i.e. faster.)

I think were all trying to use some sort of mental telepathy to make the bugger go!
george

[ian Howell]

Now that last post sounds like the voice of bitter experience!!

We have all done these things. You check EVERYTHING - TWICE - Then again to make sure, and some casual passer by, who knows NOTHING says 'have you . . ' and you suddenly think- yea, well what you think is probably not fit for these pages!

I know it has been mentioned before, but there should be a little spring-loaded carbon 'brush' inside the distributor cap at the centre. This rubs on the top of the rotor arm (I suppose THAT is in place!?) and carries the spark from the coil cable onto the rotor arm, which then 'distributes' the sparks to the two contacts for the plug leads.

This 'brush' is actually a little carbon rod, about 1/8" diameter and say 5/8" long, with a brass-looking coil spring behind (above) it to push it into contact with the rotor arm.

They very easily fall out unnoticed (It has happened to me more than once, and even a number of times during the same 'session' so don't feel too bad if it is missing!

These seem to be a common size for most distributor covrers, so it shouldn't be difficult to find another one.

Just a thought; - If it iS in place, is it long enough to reach the rotor arm?

Also, when the spark 'fires' is the rotot arm pointing towards on or the other of the plug lead contacts in the distributor cover?

You are getting there!! Don't be too disheartened, it WILL all come right eventually and you will be able to pass on the 'benefit' of your new-found wisdom to some other less fortunate soul!

Keep us all informed!

[Leo Bolter]

Hi all,

Check out the story, " Curly distributor problem" on "Natter". There might be some help in it, to help solve this "saga" . . .

Cheers. Leo

[AlanBartlett]

I think Ive found the problem the top of my dizzy is shaped like this, its like a plastic/bakerlite plate where the points are screwed to, well one of those square corners have snapped off, would this be causing problems, there is a pic on my jowett gallery space [/url]

[AlanBartlett]

yay got the spark at the plugs but still not firing, although the plug smells of petrol but its not wet with it, the plugs are set to 12.5 thou, there surely cant be anything now? could there?

[Keith Clements]

Just to continue with 'sparks'.
Do you have sparks on both plugs?
Do they occur at the correct time (top dead centre on the cylinder that is at the top of its compression stroke)? Make sure you are not 180deg or 90 degress out!
Is the spark weak?
Even then it could be a spark plug fault. I have known plugs break down when under compression; but then usually the engine does fire.
My guess then would be old petrol. Clean out the carb bowl and put new petrol in it. Alternatively use some Easystart. It is amazing how many times I have used this to cure such problems; even on cars that have been driven a few miles to shows after a long while in storage.

[AlanBartlett]

IT WORKS, today at exactly 15.50pm it fired up and went, for about 10-20 seconds, I quickly turned it off so I did not over heat it, then filled up the radiotor, found all the leaks then, spent the afternoon trying to make it start again, its started up 3 times so far but no one after another, there is something wrong I think which makes it slowly die. Ive been experimenting with both choke in and out but to no sucess, Ive had it running a max about 1min, but not a regualr start up pattern. Hooray I say its getting there

[Alastair Gregg]

Halleluijah, at last don't give up. we can smell victory.

Well Done

[Tony Fearn]

Just a thought. You said you set the plugs to 12.5 thou, I use about 25 thou for my car, and 15 to 18 thou for the points gap in the dizzy.

Also, if I remember correctly for a ball park setting, the book says screw the mixture screw on the top of the carb fully in and then back it off one and a half turns. You can always fine-tune it later.

Turn the throttle screw in a bit more so it runs on its own?

In agree with KC about new petrol and/or easystart.

Check that when you get it running the glass bowl on the petrol pump keeps filling. If the pump isn't working it will empty and the engine will die.

Don't forget that when it's running properly to fill the rad with antifreeze mixture and not just ordinary water, even though it's "summer".

As 'Big Al' says - "Halleluja"!! and we all hope that it "will reign for ever and ever".

Tony.

[AlanBartlett]

Hi Tony,

I will see what happens when I make the adjustments, also I cant check the glass bowl because Ive got the later pump on there. But I did manage to last nite get it running with in a quicker space of time so thats got to be a good sign. I have to mention it is rather loud it sounds like one of those stationary engine you see at rallies.