Continuity at the points. Key on, grounded the plug, no spark at points when pulled apart.
Maybe the rectifier is bad?
Help with throttle problem on '66 Dream
continuity at the pointsOh, and I get continuity at the points when they are closed AND when they are open. I gapped them at .014 - I can see the gap but when I carefully put the probes on either side of the points I still get continuity.
Maybe a short in the system somewhere? Grounded pointsDisconnect the green wire from the points. BE CAREFUL! The two flat springs on the points will let go when you loosen the nut and the little pieces will fly all over the place. I guess it is obvious how I know that. One of those black spring clips for office paper works well to hold the springs and keep them from doing that.
When disconnected with the key in "run" position, check your voltage at the battery and at the green points wire. They should be the same. If not start chasing your problem back through the green wire to the coil and if necessary the black wire back to the key switch. IIRC that black wire goes to your winkers and to your horn, too. If you have the same voltage at the green wire and battery, then check the continuity from a ground to where the green wire connects to the points. You should have continuity with them closed and none when they are opened. If opening the points doesn't interrupt continuity, the problem is in your points. Are the little insulator pieces still there? BEFORE you do the above, you may want to check the connector on the green wire to make sure it is not rotated and grounding out. I did that once. Paperslammer's timing process didn't work then because the circuit never saw the points as open. If that is your problem you can just loosen the nut on the points and rotate the connector. Don't get discouraged. I know how frustrating this can be, but you are about to get it figured out. When it finally roars to life, you will have a perma-grin that will make it all worthwhile.
Thanks conbs, I will try your suggestions today and report back. The insulators are still on the points. I did however think about that, wondered if I put them back on in the right order? As careful as I tried (I think I followed your advice from another post?), the flat springs popped and everything came apart. I made a mental note of the order of everything on the bolt before taking it apart but like I said, I questioned myself after. I'll double check that today too.
Hahnda, I'll check that wire along the back of the engine too.
Fixed finally ...Checked wire to condenser that runs along the back of the engine as per Hahnda - it checked out okay (had continuity).
Decided to go back to basics again. Checked the points gap, continuity (btw, I was getting continuity last time even when the points were open because I forgot to take the condenser wire off the points bolt before checking - all I was doing was completing the circuit to ground). After getting the points all back together I followed LM's suggestion to pull the points apart when the ignition was in the on position. For some reason I had no spark the last time I tried this - this time it sparked!?. Can't explain why. Maybe my fiddling around with the points this time? So, now with everything appearing to be good - points good, voltage at coil good, broken ground wire re-soldered to the coil, I decided to just try again to kick-start it. This time it sputtered a little after the kick. That gave me hope! A couple more kicks and some throttle and it fired up! Don't know if it was just me getting too obsessed with a spark at the plug (and forgetting to try to start it) or I did something with the points the second time I took them apart? It seems that I just needed to be a little more persistent with kick starting it - maybe to get enough fuel into the bowl (after taking the carb apart). The lesson here is to not give up (advice given by some forum members here) (I've been trying for two weeks), go back to the basics and check and recheck. In the end it obviously was the broken ground wire on the coil that caused the engine to die on my first ride, and I probably didn't put the points back together carefully enough when I took them apart during diagnosing, and maybe I just didn't kick start it long enough to get fuel back in to the carb. Like consb said, "When it finally roars to life, you will have a perma-grin that will make it all worthwhile." He was 100% right!
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