Re: '76 chrysler 75hp not starting
Before you go buying expensive ignition parts, let's do some basic checks!
It would make it easier if I knew if this is an engine that you just bought so you don't have a history on it or if this is a problem that recently developed.
But, I will describe your system and tell you where to check.
First, check the plugs and wires. The plugs tend to foul and at that point they short out and will not spark. The wire terminal inside the boot is a steel wire spiral and tends to rust, breaking off and inhibiting spark.
Next check to be sure that the coil wire has not worked its way out of the coil center terminal. Now look at the coil again. It should have a black ground wire from the negative terminal to the distributor mount AND, the moving part of the distributor needs a ground wire from it to the stationary distributor mount. If these ground wires are missing or broken, the engine will get no spark. The negative terminal of the coil may also have a black wire going back to the CD box. In this case the ground to the distributor mount is redundant but you can never have enough grounding, so put one there. Positive terminal will have a grey wire going back to the CD box--this is power to the coil
Now, if you have breakerless electronic ignition, there will be a blue wire on one terminal and a black/white on the other. The white/black goes back to the CD box. This is the signal to tell the box to fire the coil.
Blue is a power wire. there will be two of them connected to the same terminal. One supplies power to the CD box, and the other supplies power to the electric eye inside the distributor. Now, while I am on the distributor, Is the drive belt coming from under the flywheel missing or broken? And when the flywheel top dead center mark is at the pointer, does the mark in the top of the distributor pulley line up with the curve of the flywheel with the straight line pointing directly at it?
On the ignition switch on the dash, the "I" terminal receives power from the "B" or battery terminal when the switch is in run position. Red wire is from battery and connects to "B" terminal and blue wire connects to "I" terminal. If the switch is defective or the wires are broken and blue does not get power, neither the CD box nor the distributor will get power and the engine will get no spark. The blue wire from the ignition switch connects to the blue terminal and other two blue wires inside the engine. Be certain that the wires on the distributor (white/black and blue)are not touching each other or shorted to ground
If you do have points, there will only be one wire on the distributor but blue will still power the CD box. Difference is that the CD box senses whether the points are open or closed to ground and fires the coil.
With this system, you don't need to crank over the engine to check for spark. Since the ignition switch powers the CD box, with the switch on (and, of course, the battery connected,) you can turn the flywheel by hand and see the spark at each cylinder. Therefore, this engine can be static timed; you do not need to run it to set timing.
Let us know if you solve the problem.
