No power to coil

[ColinOpseth]

Hey guys,
I'm on winter vacation right now and have a bit of time to work on my Vega. It quit a few months back and I haven't had time to work on it. Essentially, it quit sending power to the ignition coil. I've checked for spark and have nothing. I changed the coil and still am not getting spark.

Anyone have any idea what it could be? I checked all fuses and they are okay. I have a stock points coil with a stock distributor on there. Coil is new, distributor has about 200 miles on it since remanufactur. Wires are new and the plugs are new, too.

Ignition switch, maybe? I was driving and it just quit. It hasn't sparked since.

Thanks,
Colin

[ColinOpseth]

Okay, so I checked for power on the pink resistance coil wire that comes off the firewall: 10.59 volts steady. Isn't that too high for points? Possibly looking at burned out condenser then or burned points?

[spencerforhire]

If the pink wire has power, it's probably the points. Don't sweat the voltage reading; you will see higher than the 6-8 volts it actually uses while running if there's no signal from the points. Have someone crank it with the key while you check the - terminal on the coil with a test light. Hook the alligator clip to the + battery terminal and probe the - on the coil; if the points are ok the light will pulse.
I strongly suggest instead of messing with fixing the points just put an HEI distributor in it.

[ROB]

I am confused. I thought you had an LT1 motor in there. An LT1 is not points.

[NVEGAR8D]

Hi,
depending on the year of the motor , it will still use points and distributor. i have a 96 lt1 , no dist. and uses coil packs.
nick75vega

[ColinOpseth]

Thanks for the help, guys... the more I think about it, it's probably the points. It October it quit on me and the fuel pump fuse had blown. At the time, I thought that was the only problem. It turns out I might have had a case of bad points. I do remember it backfired on me twice within about a quarter mile. Man, those suckers are loud with Flowmasters and no interior.

Anyway, I bought a new set of one-piece Borg Warner points tonight. Going to put them in and set the dwell. I had them set at 30. Is that too high? My Chevy manual said GM spec was 28-32.

And yes, I do have an LT1 motor in there. It is a stock '93 with a GMPP carb intake and a 1406. I had the fuel injection on but could never get the Moates AutoProm working correctly. After screwing with it for like 2 months I gave up and had the car back running with the carb in 45 minutes. Disappointing, though. I really wanted to run it with the fuel injection.

Anyone have any experience with Pertronix kits?

[spencerforhire]

The Pertronix conversion kits for points distributors work great; I've installed a bunch of them for customers with 60's musclecars who wanted to retain the "factory look" under-hood but still have a modern ignition system. You will have to use a non-resistance true ignition+ wire for powering the new module(and coil); on a Vega it's easily found on the oil pressure switch.
Available at any auto parts store for well under $100; some of the more expensive ones (Ignitor III) even have a built-in rev limiter.

[3pedals]

Colin:
I've had a lot of experience with points. I would set the dwell on the long side, right on 32*. As the plastic nub that rubs against the distributor lobes wears, the points will close up. The nub will wear faster than the actual points themselves so rub a tiny little dab of hi pressure lube on the dist. cam lobes. Be sure to put a new condenser in it while you're in there. You should also get yourself a cheap dwell meter and use that rather than a feeler guage.

Are you using a dwell meter?

[ColinOpseth]

Cool, thanks for the heads-up.

Yeah, I'm using a dwell meter. I have to run to the store this morning but will work on the car when I get home. I bought the one-piece updated points that come with an integral condenser on them. The more I think about it, the more I think the points were bad. I guess we'll find out in a few minutes.

I've set points with feeler gauges before and it was a royal pain in the ass. The first thing I bought when I get my Vega running was a dwell meter. The cool thing is it's the only tach on my car when I have it hooked up, too.

[v8astregt]

HEI. Drop it in, adjust the timing, and as long as you use good brand parts, never touch it again!

[jon72vega]

HEI. Drop it in, adjust the timing, and as long as you use good brand parts, never touch it again!

That!

[ColinOpseth]

Haha...figured it out. I guess I should have broken out my voltmeter before I ran my mouth. I had good power to the coil. Turns out it was probably a set of burned points...and a possible cracked block.