Re: Did have only one cylinder firing, now have neither

[johnyrude200]

Many times I find the plug boot terminal is faulty. After you do the things mentioned above, pull the boot off, check for continuity from both ends of the wire. If the wires are original it may not be a bad idea to just swap them out. Granted, it’s another 30 mins of work, but if there are any pinholes in the wires (or if they are unflexible due to age, that could easily indicate they might be the culprit), the voltage can arc out anywhere along the line.

You could always pull the motor over with the lights off, a dark room. You’ll be able to see if it’s arcing somewhere else fairly easily. You might want to use a rope instead of the manual starter because you’ll have more cranking speed (in general, more voltage if it’s a weak system), and can stand in a place where your vantage point to observe different parts of the motor is easier to control instead of at the bow end of the motor.

I think the 10th edition service manual states it best – electrical current is like a pipe with water. If there are leaks, you get less at the end of the pipe, so you have to trace it back to the source step by step. Trial and error can be pretty frustrating, the magnetos aren’t as complicated as they might seem but can be a bit tedious at times.

And I agree with what was said before – if all else fails, swap out your point set completely, again. There seems to be some points which simply don’t work or are not compatible. If you don’t have a merctronic to test the components (in particular, coils and condensers), it can be pretty frustrating and time-consuming figuring out what the faulty component is.