Car won't start

T

thomas_1972

New Member
Hi,


My P6 won't start. I've established that there is no power reaching the coil by connecting a 12v bulb to the terminals. Can anyone offer some advice?


Thanks


Thomas.
 
I think we need to start with what model and year. There are a huge number of wiring varaitions between even supposedly identical cars...

Chris
 
Hi Chris,

It's a 1972 P6 3500s. I've replaced the spark plugs, HT leads, rotor arm, converted to electronic ignition and tried 3 different coils, one of which I know works for certain. I then connected the 12v bulb to the + / - terminals on the coil and turned the ignition on. Am I correct in saying that if there was power reaching the coil the bulb would have illuminated?


Regards

Thomas
 
Not necessarily - it depends on whether the points were open or closed. Coil to earth will be a more reliable indicator.

Clearly you've done a lot of work. Why was this - was there a problem beforehand? At what stage did this problem arise - was the car running after you completed the work?

I think the first thing I'd do is have a plug out and motor the engine with the plug against the engine so that you can see if sparks are happening. All the multimeters in the world won't tell you that! After that a common outcome of changing everything as you've done is to find that the plug leads are out of order/and or a position out on the distributor. This is a really brain draining issue to tackle as its very difficult to work out where to start! I presume you have a copy of the workshop manual to assist?

Chris
 
Yes I have a copy of the manual and I'm pretty sure everything is in the right order. The car broke down when I was on holiday in the Lakes a few weeks ago. I'd driven there the day before OK although I had noticed a marked decrease in fuel consumption. Before it broke down it kept on stalling before it finally gave up.

There was a very poor quality spark in the distributor and rather than replace the points/ condensor I went for the electronic ignition option.

I'll remove a spark plug as you suggest and test it - worth a try !!

Cheers

Thomas.
 
Just a quick question for you. Do you still have the ballast resistor wire (It's pink/white [or white/pink])in the circuit, or was that removed/made redundant? It might not be the reason in your case, but our old 2000Auto stopped one day, and we found the ballast had worn/burnt through the insulation was and shorting to earth.

Before anyone comments, I realise that the ballast is not physically located in the same place on the V8's as it is on the 4-pots. It's on the right on V8's I think, but on the left on 4-pots. (By right and left, I mean with a person facing the front of the car [as you would when looking under the bonnet])
 
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