No Spark help

[kgl271]

Ok everyone, I need your help. We just put the engine back in our 66 bug. It is a stock 1300 6volt. Car turns over but I do not see any spark at the coil. I have checked up at the fuse box and it has power. The black wire that goes to the coil from the ignition gets hot but when I put a test lamp on it I dont see anything. The battery seem to be at 25% when we stopped cranking. Could a low battery be a cause of no spark at the coil? I have the wire diagram for the car and followed all the wires and they are all connected correct.

Thanks in advance.

[66balut]

Low battery won't be an issue if you can actually make the starter turn over then you'll have more than enough power to ignite the coil,sometimes a coil can read power on it it but even if there is something wrong internally to where its not firing spark.........here's a tip,unplug one of the spark plug wire that connects to the plug in the motor,then take out that same spark plug out of the motor then plug it in the wire that you just unhooked,leave the other end of the wire hooked up to the distributor,place the wire/plug down make sure its not touching any surface,let someone start the car while you watch & see if there is actual spark at the tip of the spark plug,......if there isn't spark its 99% a bad coil

[kgl271]

Thanks for that advice. I thought if a weak battery can still turn the starter that cant be it. I have pulled the spark plug to look for spark, I also have a clear dist cap. We also put in a new coil. Still nothing.

[Blue Baron]

Car turns over but I do not see any spark at the coil. I have checked up at the fuse box and it has power. The black wire that goes to the coil from.

Try hotwiring it. Run a wire from the fat wire terminal on the voltage regulator to the six-volt side of the coil and see if that works. If it does, you have no power from the ignition switch to the coil. (You also now know why Volkswagen moved the regulator under the back seat.)

If there is spark from the coil but nothing past the distributor cap, try replacing the rotor. This one stumped me, but an old VW mechanic knew the fix.

[kgl271]

FIXED, here is what we found.

Thanks Blue Baron, we did try that and did not get any results. Tested the ignition at the fuse box and had power. We hard wired from the fuse box to the coil and had power. But then when I hooked up the Idle cut-off valve we lost power. Tried the same thing several times and when the key was turned on we heard a click and boom power. Tried it again and nothing, did that several times and then we heard the click every time and now everything was working again. It still seems strange but it must have been stuck from sitting around and after a few times of trying it we loosened it up. Once that was complete the car started firing with gas in the carb, then it died. Our fuel pump was not working. Played with that for a while and tried another we had and finally got everything working.

The car is now running, we just have to fine tune it now.

[66balut]

Glad to hear that you got that running !

[kgl271]

Glad to hear that you got that running !

Yes so are we. This is one step closer to seeing another 66 on the road since it was put to bed back in 1978.

[Blue Baron]

Is your carb a replacement? Most 6-volt cars didn't have the idle cutoff valve, and most of the valves are 12 volt, so they won't operate on 6 volts.

The idle cutoff valve was a fix by the factory to correct a run-on problem the cars had for years. It was really the factory throwing up its hands because it couldn't cure the problem any other way.

I had the same problem with the car not running when I switched carbs on my '66. The 12-volt idle cutoff valve wouldn't open when I switched on the key, so I took the thing out and sawed off the plunger! Problem solved, and run-on/dieseling happens only rarely when the engine is hot. If it does run on after you turn off the key, simply put the car in gear, hold down the brake and let off the clutch to stall it.