Resurecting after a decade of peaceful slumber.

[Dragon]

lay coil high tension wire on the block and manually open the points with small piece of wood. You will see the points spark and the coil will spark too. If the points are high on the cam use a screw driver tip to short the moving arm to ground. You will get a small spark. Now if you ground then unground the points the coil should fire.

If not the wire from the dizzy to the coil is shorted/open or the ground wire in the dizzy is missing. Inside of dizzy base is really oily and not getting grounded.

[dbarker]

There arent any breaks in the wire from the dizzy to the coil.... and i dont know why the ground wire in the dizzy would be missing everything worked 13 years ago... it just ran out of gas and has been sitting.

The dizzy doesnt appear to be oily inside, it looks like it just came off the store shelf. as it should since the whole system has less than 1000 miles on it.

I'll have to wait til monday to try shorting the points manually.... Please clarify what im supposed to do, i only kinda understand what you're asking me to try. I have only a very very basic understanding of what I'm doing. Assume I'm a complete novice please.

I need to lay the high tension line from the coil on the block so it will spark.
I need to open the dist cap and lay it off to the side
i need to use a screwdriver to ground out the rotor?
And i need to use a non conducting object to manually open the points.... I ASSUME that the little spring loaded arm in the bottom of the dist????????????????????

I also assume all this is to be done with the key in the ON position? else the coil wont have power.


Assuming that i dont get a spark, what should i do? what if i do get a spark? I wont know til Monday, thats my next chance to get out to the truck at this point.

Normally I'd call a tow truck and have them take the pickup to a local mechanic and just throw money at them until its fixed. I'd rather do it myself this time. I need to learn.

[convincor]

take the cap off, turn the key on and manually open/close the points and see if there's a spark across them.

edit: never mind, my slow typing just caught up to me.

[dbarker]

haha

so what should i worry about if I'm not getting a spark across the points?

And lets say i magically do get a spark across them.... what should my next concern be to get this thing to finally come back to the world of the living?

Monday I'm going to get the tire situation taken care of, then go back to my assault on the ignition system.

I have to go easy on myself, I broke both legs back in may, and refractured my left one just a month ago. Getting out to the pasture and crawling all over the old girl isnt easy for me. And if my dad knew i was doing this, he'd blow a gasket (not for messing with the truck but for pushing myself way to hard )

[convincor]

If you get spark there then you'll need to look further down the line. But there's not much left.
Cap, rotor, wires, plugs. If all's pluged in you should have spark.
How'd you break the legs if you don't mind me asking?

[dbarker]

cap, rotor and wires are new, less than 1000 miles on em, i dont expect problems there.... I do have new plugs to put in if by some chance that end up being an issue (again, the old ones are pretty much new)

I broke my legs in a freak car wreck. I like to tell everyone that my 2002 Mustang Gt decided that it wanted to be friends with a 60 year old tree....

It was raining hard, my tires were getting a bit bald, had plans to go get new tires later that week. I hit a dip in the road and the traction control kicked in. but it was too late, the car hydroplaned at 65mph and it was all i could do to hit the tree passenger front instead of drivers front.

[convincor]

just unplug the wires and check connections. I wouldn't bother with plugs at this point.
Not that it's good but sounds like you were lucky to still be here.
I was in a wreck with my SuperDuty back in November, now I'm stuck with a f'd up back. Luckily it was 100% her fault....

[dbarker]

Very lucky.... a passenger wouldnt have survived. The paramedics and firefighters got there and i was holding a chunk of my left tibia in my hand (it had been laying in the floor board) bad deal...

I hadnt planned on new plugs, but i found a complete set in the tool box.

[convincor]

OUCH!!! yes, your lucky
mine 's not so bad, but still totaled. heavy frame damage


Just real glad I didn't t-bone her, she'd be dead

[dbarker]

It's called WinBLOWS for a reason

I've got a simple test light, the clip and pick kind with a light in the handle. I even have a test meter so I can check that way.

I might get to go mess with it tomorrow. We'll just have to see. Im thinking that a ground issue is gonna come up, or that the points arent making contact. Thats about all i can think of at this point. everything else checked out today.

[Dragon]

http://www.fordification.com/tech/wirin ... rging2.jpg This diagram will work well for your truck. Connector D is the connector at the back of the engine going thru the firewall.

I own a very powerful Macintosh but no screen for it so Windows does seem to me a step backwards.

[fordman]

if you arent gettign spark at the points remove the condensor from the dist. clean the screw hole off and the place where it bolts on. it could have just enough dirt or rust not to make contact and create no spark. mine did that after sitting for 7-8 years. mine also had a pin hole in the fuel line that came down out of the cab. so i was sucking air after i got the spark back.

[dbarker]

whats the condensor? like i said before, assume that I only sorta have a clue as to what I'm doing

At any rate, the flood gates opened last night.... there's a mini lake out there in the pasture. I wont be out there for a day or two.

Things just got dry enough to get out there after all the snow and rain we've had. Now I fear it will be an eternity before I can actually get the truck out of the pasture. The back tires need replacement and thats no small feat for someone with busted legs, and even more so in the mud....

[fordman]

the condensor is beside the points. it is the little round can thing inside the dist under the rotor.

[dbarker]

ok now I know what your talking about.

I'll check it all out tomorrow hopefully... theres a mini lake along the path from the house to the truck.