No spark, not sure where to start (1 Viewer)

[imtryingscott]

As mentioned in another thread, I bought a 1974 fj with a locked up 4 spd for a donor. I would like to try to get the donor running before I take it out and clean it up before it goes in the 1971 getting the restore. It appears that I am not getting spark. PO had all wire ripped apart so i now have it so that it will turn over, just don't seem to be getting spark. I currently have a solid black wire attatched to the bolt with the condensor on it. White wire to pos. battery. The black wire shows continuity to the resistor connected to neg. side of coil. There is a black and red wire still loose near starter/distributor area.

 

[JimmieT]

I had the same problem ...
if you've already checked, and have voltage to the coil, then start with checking for spark at the plugs, if no spark, then maybe the coil is bad ... or maybe as simple as a bad coil to dizzy wire.

Good luck!

 

[imtryingscott]

no voltage to coil. I know it has something to do with the red and black wire that is danglin in no man's land. just cant figure out where it goes.

 

[zags]

I am not sure about cruisers ( I am not near mine to check) but many vehicles of that era had a wire to the starter to provide 12v to the coil during cranking. It ususally went to a small post on the starter realy opposite of the wire from the ignition switch. I would run a jumper wire from the battery positive post straight to the coil positive and see if I had spark at the coil wire during cranking. It won't hurt to bypass the resistor for a test. Also, have you checked the point gap?

 

[imtryingscott]

Ok, here is what I'm sure of.
I have connected the black wire from neg. side of coil to bolt coming off of distributor.
The black/white (just the end of wire was black/red) is showing continuity with pos. side of coil. It will not show voltage with key in any position. It will however trigger a voltage regulator (possible solenoid) on the driver side firewall if touched to positive voltage.
Therefore, I have deduced that whatever the black/white wire is supposed to be attatched to should only be hot in the on/start position????
Does anyone know what that wire is suppose to be attatched to??

 

[FJ40Jim]

You just want to make the engine run, correct?

Then disregard the hacked up 40 year old wiring.

The pics show a battery with a ground wire to frame and to engine block: good.
Battery positive cable to starter: good.
You say there is a wire direct from points terminal on side of dissy to coil - terminal: good

Make sure there is a condensor on the dissy.
Make sure there is an adequate points gap and the 40 year old points are not burned up.

Connect a wire from battery + to the ignition coil + terminal.

Use a hand cranking switch to turn over the starter (the kind used for checking compression).

The engine will now crank & make a healthy spark.

Shoot gumout carb spray into carb while cranking and the engine will make Vrooom sounds.

You're done.

remember to disconnect the hot wire between batt & coil.

 

[Pin_Head]

The pictures show that the main power feed to the chassis is not connected to the battery. This is the white wire with the bare end close to the + post. The other end is connected to the + battery cable and appears to be an orange wire waving in the breeze.

The original power wire from the ignition switch to the + coil is a black wire with yellow stripe. Connect the main power wire and see if you can find the ignition wire.

 

[imtryingscott]

Thank fj40jim and pinhead. I took the photos before I made the connections i was sure of. But I hooked the black/white up to power and it fired right up.
NOW I CAN PULL IT OUT!