Thread: Distributor trouble shooting

Tweet

Well it all started fine when I pulled my truck out to move into my shop, but once out it started running rough, idling horrible, but at 4000 rpm it ran smooth. Shut it down to get my timing light, got everything hooked up, went to start it, no spark... So my question is, can anyone tell me how to shoot a distributor to find out if its my ignition module in my distributor (which I have already had to replace once). Its a 50 series Mallory distributor if that helps. Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. And I do have power coming into my coil, do not know how to test the output without getting shocked. So like I said any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Check your spark plug wires. Sometimes a bad wire will act this way. Check the wire connections on both distributor cap and plugs. It is proabably something simple. Also, check for a vacuum leak while you are at it.

Ok, Brandnew wires, new wire harness, new coil, used distributor but new ignition module. I just wanted to know if anyone could tell me how to shoot the distributor (static) to see if anything could be learned by that. I wish I had not junked a stock distributor I laying around last year, be nice for troubleshooting now.

Thanks for the advice

When you say 50 series dizzy, you`re saying its an HEI...? You need full 12 volts to the dist, right from your hot run wire from the ignition switch, no ballast or resistor wire...it will drop the voltage to much.

Correct, I have no ballast, and yes a full 12V on my hot wire.