I've replaced the disty, coil, cleaned the battery terminals, and yet, when it's cold in the morning, the car just won't start. It doesn't seem to be producing a spark. When the weather gets just a little warmer.... It turns right over.

And just now, twenty mninutes after it failed to start, it turned right over.

This one has me a bit stumped.

I'll probably replace the ingition switch.

Is there an ignition relay that could be a problem????

Any ideas?

Is it having trouble turning over or starting?

Turning over problems are battery,wire,or starter related,

 

Check to see if spark is actually absent w/cold.

If so,Check to see if coil has 12V on coil -,w/key on.

Check plug/coil wire cold resistance.

 

Despite the name,ignition relays do not have anything to do w/the ignition,

Check the ohms of plugwires / coil wire if to high will arc at coil and no spark to cap the old 78 wagon I just bought had this problem was just snaping from coil wire back to coil +post

Oh... I did put relay on the starter.

I am getting 12 volts to the positive side of the coil. I tested the resistance of the coil, and that is right within the specs.  I have put new eyelets on the wires connecting to the coil. When I test for spark, I have a wire with an alligator clip that I attach to the coil tower and run it into the cab where I am when trying to start the car. When it's sparking it ha a nice good arc. When not... Nothing.

Right now, I just tested it, and it's sparking gangbusters.

Electrical ghosts are the worst... Trace wires and look for shorts i guess

Electrical ghosts are the worst... Trace wires and look for shorts i guess

 

Yeah... Those guys are nasty!  How come there aren't any of those fancy-schnancy bits of ghost detecting equipment on the Ghost-Chaser shows that will detect those??? 

Edited January 21, 201412 yr by Sonicfrog

Hahaha that would be nice!

I've heard moister in the cap will make it not spark and reading how its only in the morning makes me think its a possibility.

Diss module on its way out ?

My 85 did close to same thing on cold days. would start until it warmed and would run low on amps and quite cranking. ended up being a shot battery. I would say take it to O'rielly's, autozone, just somewhere that you can get the battery tested and see if it drained so badly it wont hold enough of a charge to start when cold

Think we narrowed it down to the ignition switch. One morning, in frustration, I hit the steering console with my fist, then it started up. We have a switch on order from Rock Auto. Should be here in the next couple of days.

Can you let me know how the wire work on it and which one you bought? ive been trying to find a place to by a decent ignition switch

Can you let me know how the wire work on it and which one you bought? ive been trying to find a place to by a decent ignition switch

Sure. As soon as it gets delivered and installed I'll give an update.