Tried jump starting and battery sat on a big charger over night Wouldn't know how to check connection on coil.
if all the plugs are firing (purple/white spark) when grounded on the engine case, then you can assume all is well with the physical side of your ignition system... remove the right hand rocker cover (cyl 1 & 2) turn the engine clockwise by the fan belt until the exhaust valve on no. 1 cylinder opens (nearest the front of the van) keep turning until the valve next to it (the inlet) opens then closes.... no 1 piston is now on the compression stroke and coming up to firing position keep turning slowly until the woodruff key (centre of the pulley) is at 9 0'clock The TDC notch in the pulley should now be more or less inline with the crankcase split line Turn the ignition on: with the dizzy clamp slackened, slowlt turn the dizzy body, while watching for a spark....whichever plug/lead sparks should go to no. 1 cylinder flash timing should get the bus up and running, assuming all else is good
Getting new plugs tomorrow morning... Longer ones which I have been told will fit. Current ones show no signs of being done though and have been running fine for months... Since I bought the van
If only I was mechanicly minded enough to do this. I honestly wouldn't know where to start. Thanks though!
the coil has two connections: one is marked 15 and/or +ve the other is marked 1 if you have an original points type dizzy, the green lead from the dizzy goes to 1 the other lead supplies +ve to the coil via the ignition switch and goes to terminal 15
You said you changed cap and rotor arm then it's not starting but it's trying hard? Leads are on wrong No mention of points or condenser? Both of which are more likely to give trouble than cap and rotor! Put a pic up we can tell you if your coil is connected correctly
Any chance of some close up photos of your coil, someone may spot something amiss, and your dizzy for that matter.
180 degs out cause VERY LOUD BANG back through carbs. You'd know. 90 degs more likely, just nothing then, maybe the occaisonaly weak splutter.
We changed the cap and rotor arm. It drove about a mile but the engine lost power throughout this journey. When we stopped that was it.
Its dark out now and blowing a gale. I will get some in the morning though, first thing. Thanks for the suggestion
Stiff thin wire bent at end - into plug hole and draw out counting the threads. Roughly will do, the long ones have twice as many. You'll have a short one in your hand.
What engine, what do your plugs say on them? This won't be the problem you're describing. 4 spark plugs don't all fade away over 1 mile then cease working all at once. Top tip - don't start changing things at random, you may introduce more and more errors. What dies over a mile? Condensor, coil, points is all I can think of or.... Ignition switch - could be that it provides power to coil while it's turnng over, but not when in driving position. Or vica versa.
Just for everyone's knowledge and if it helps diagnose the problem... Once we fitted the new cap and rotor arm we drove the van for a mile (less actually). It lost power during this journey. We stopped and it hasn't started since. This makes me think the leads aren't in wrong and the cap isn't on wrong. Correct me if I'm wrong? Also, as I said at the time of the cap and arm change my "mechanic" friend also turned a wee screw saying he was making the van idle higher.