Bouncing Electric Tach--- Now No Spark---Update!!

[Sebastian Gaeta]

Greetings all,

Car is a '64 C with electric tach. The needle bounces wildly on an intermittent basis. Nothing in particular causes it to bounce consistently. Sometimes hitting a bump makes it bounce, sometimes it doesn't. Turning sharply does it sometimes, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it bounces on down shifts and sometimes not. Rarely, it bounces while just cruising along but again, rarely which may just be a coincidence. When it bounces I sometimes smell a whisp of the burning wire smell, but all wires look OK.

I have checked the ground at the tach and it looks good. Paint is definately scraped away at the base of the attaching bales, so I believe that ground to be good.

I replaced the spade connector on the tach wire at the coil and made sure the spade was clean, and the connection tight, so it looks good there.

Could it be the tach itself? I have another one I could try, though it is not known to be good.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Al Zim]

I have two new electric tachometers purchased 30 or more years ago. I recently went to install one in a car I had converted to 12 volts. Though nothing had been done to this tachometer since new, the electrics had gone bad and I had to send it to have it rebuilt. SEnd the tachometer out to have it redone and more than likely the problme will go away. But first check to make sure the points are opening the correct amount. al zim

[Ron LaDow]

"SEnd the tachometer out to have it redone and more than likely
the problme will go away. But first check to make sure the points
are opening the correct amount. al zim
al zim"

You can also try letting the points close on a non-coated paper and pulling it out. My tach occasionaly gets 'bouncy' and that bit of points-cleaning 'tunes' it right up for the next year or so. But my tach has been rebopped; no the original guts.
Thanks,
Ron LaDow

Post generated using Mail2Forum via email.

[Sebastian Gaeta]

I cleaned the points as Ron suggested, and then tried to start the car(it turned over), but it would not start.

I popped the dist cap off and turned over the engine by hand (with ignition on) and did not see a spark when the points opened. I tried this several times but saw no spark. This is a nearly new Ab Tiedemann built 022 distributor.

What could this be and could it be related to the tach bounce?

Thanks!

[Gert Gehlhaar]

Maybe condensor failure! Bouncy tach indicates something wrong with the distributor. I even had a brand new set of points that were bad - a dead short between the points.

[Ron LaDow]

Sabastian,

"I cleaned the points as Ron suggested, and then tried to start the
car(it turned over), but it would not start.
I popped the dist cap off and turned over the engine by hand (with
ignition on) and did not see a spark when the points opened. I
tried this several times but saw no spark. This is a nearly new Ab
Tiedemann built 022 distributor.
What could this be and could it be related to the tach bounce?
Thanks!"

You bet. You probably have no power at the points or a bad component. Start where the coil primary lead lands on the side of the distributor (the 'points lead'), got 6V? You can isolate the points while the lead is off and check with a guage to see if they're making/breaking.
Thanks,
Ron LaDow

Post generated using Mail2Forum via email.

[Sebastian Gaeta]

Ron and All,

I changed the points to see if that helped, but it did not. I then put a test light to the coil (which I should have done first!). The lamp lit up with the key on at the #15 side, which makes sense as the car will turn over. On the #1 side I got no light at all, so it appears that the dist is getting no power. I then removed the green wire from the Dist to the coil and tested for power at the #1 side and the light came on! I reattached the green wire and no light. Could it be that this green wire is bad? The connections for this wire at the coil and dist are clean and tight.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

[Albert Tiedemann]

I have been without an internet connection for a few days. What was the final outcome? Was it the green wire? Did the substitute distributor have its own wire?

What was it?

[David Jones]

Sebastian;
From what you describe it looks as though you have a ground in the distributor. Lifting the green wire off the coil open circuits the distributor. If you were to take the center wire out of the distributor cap and place it within a 1/4" of ground or any part of the tin work for that matter then touch the green wire to the coil again and remove it then you should see a spark. This will prove everything works and will diagnose a distributor short.

[Sebastian Gaeta]

I have been without an internet connection for a few days. What was the final outcome? Was it the green wire? Did the substitute distributor have its own wire?

What was it?

Ab,

I ended up installing a fresh 022 that was meant for my Coupe engine that Vic Skirmants is building right now. It fired right up, so the coil is good. No, it did not have its own wire, I used the existing wire.

I will get new points and condensor to install in the first distributor. When I get the coupe engine back I will see if that does the trick, if not I'd like to send it back for trouble shooting, if that's OK.

Thanks!