Help ! Car won't start !

66 Dodge Coronet 500, 383 4-barrel, Holley 750VS, Pertronix ignition, MSD 6A, MSD Blaster2 coil.

Okay, weather was getting warmer today and decided to start the car. Been sitting since Sept. Did the usual thing by spraying some starting fluid down into the carb to help start it so I won't wear down the battery while cranking waiting for the carb to fill up. Never had a problem with this routine until today. After a couple of initial cranks the engine tried to turn over, but didn't as expected because I knew carb wasn't full yet. Sprayed some more starting fluid, cranked her again, but this time I heard a Poof! Thought it was too much starting fluid, but now engine keeps cranking and never turns over.
All electrical accessories work okay, engine cranks strong.
Looked at carb and fuel pressure guage shows 7 lbs. Float bowl site windows show fuel level half way up the window.
No fried wires.

Now for troubleshooting:
Tried different voltage regulator and ballast resistor, no go. Disconnect coil wire going to the center of the distributor and held it close to ground (neg. battery cable attachment bolt on the intake manifold) while cranking and NO SPARK JUMP ! So only thing left is bad coil or MSD 6A or Pertronix module, right ? Need advice badly.

Thanks in advance.

Using the word "turn over" is a misnomer.



"Turn over" usually means--to most of us--"cranking on the starter." In other words the engine is rotating

You have

Crank/ No crank--engine will or will not rotate (crank) "on the starter"

Fire/ no Fire--engine at least attempts to run, by either running for a couple of seconds, or coughing

Run--obvious

What you seem to have done is prove that "I have no spark" and that is a decent start

(The regulator has NOTHING to do with this problem)

You need to figure

Do I have voltage from the ignition switch, and through the ballast?

(test light or voltmeter)

Is the reluctor/ points/ (other) trigger unit in the distributor properly adjusted, and can it (the pickup) be bad?

Is the ignition module bad?

Is the coil bad?

Is the coil WIRE bad?

Does this thing use points? (I'm not familiar with all the Pertronix units) but the points--if used--can be corroded / misadjusted, or bad condenser.

The Pertronix system does not use points. I would try to hot wire from the + battery post to the ignition side of the ballast resistor and see if it starts. Also check the bulkhead connections for corrosion, in fact, check that first. Good luck to you.
John

Just try the pertronix without the MSD and see if it will start I would use one or the other but not both.

UPDATE !!

Just went out to the garage to check on the engine and found the fuel pressure guage still stuck at 6 lbs. !?!
This is new because normally after about 30 min. the fuel pressure always goes back to zero.
Could the starting problem be a bad fuel pump too ?

Bump.

Turn the key on and tap the white wire on the MSD box to ground kinda like doing morse code. Have the coil wire off the cap and close to a ground. If it sparks the MSD is ok if not the box is dead. You can also take the twin leads to the dist lose and quickly tap them together at the box and try that too, either/or will test the box. Make certain you have voltage going to the coil and box before you do that test.

Thanks !
I'll try that when the weather gets warmer.

Quote:

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Turn the key on and tap the white wire on the MSD box to ground kinda like doing morse code. Have the coil wire off the cap and close to a ground. If it sparks the MSD is ok if not the box is dead. You can also take the twin leads to the dist lose and quickly tap them together at the box and try that too, either/or will test the box. Make certain you have voltage going to the coil and box before you do that test.

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Okay, weather got warmed up and tried the above.
1). Ignition key in ON position.
2). Took the White wire from the MSD box and tapped on an intake manifold bolt and at the same time, disconnected the coil wire from center terminal of the dist. cap and held it close to another intake manifold bolt.
3). Result: No spark jump from the coil wire !

(BTW, the white wire from the MSD box is connected to the black wire of the Pertronix unit. And the power going to the MSD box is directly wired to the POS. terminal of the battery.)

So.... Do I have a dead MSD box ?