I recently got a 73 620 that I drove back from Tucson to San Diego.  Drove pretty well until the regulator died near El Centro and they couldnt get a new one.  I drove it back the next day on battery.  Since then I replaced the reg, plugs, wires, cap, and rotor, as well as most of the steering links, plus a weber 32/36.  Now she wont start.  No spark but she turns over.  I was in a hurry to get her back together and swapped the  battery terminals.  Did I fry the alternator?  I am dying here.  I need some ideas. I have a 76 parts truck that I have ben scavenging body parts from.  [img]http://farm1.static.flickr.com/134/3283 ... 01b1a8.jpg[/img]

It's definitely getting gas, I can smell a lot of it as I turn it over to try and start.  I think it is definitely an electrical issue.  I suspect a either rewired the coil wrong or the alternator or starter is bad.  I got a new coil already, no luck...

I can post a pic of the engine bay later on.  I have several engine wiring diagrams, but am not any good at reading them.  The points seem good.  How can I tell if they are burned out?  Also, there seem to be 2 condensers.  One at the coil and one in the distributor.  Replace both? 

If you swaped the neg and pos cable then yes you might have fried the coil, or points. do a continuity test to see if the coil it is getting power from the ignistion switch to distibutor and to the coil check from the coil to the distributor. do a step by step elimination.

 

Lance

please send me any info that has helped in this matter, as I too have had the exect same thing hapen to me!!...????

let me know how this went, I need to get mine running again:(

Test light is definitely the easiest way to test ign probs.  I'm going to wing it here and try to make it quick.  There may be some slight differences between the 521 and the 620...but close enough.

I would start at the coil, connecting the test light from bat neg to the coil pos.  I'm betting you don't have any power at the coil.  Do this test with the key in the RUN and START positions.  Make sure you have it in neutral.

You can pretty much rule out the ballast resistor or it would start then die when you let the key go back to RUN.

Now, reconnect the test light so that it's clamp is on the neg coil term and the probe is wedged into the pos batt term.  Crank the motor and the light should flash.  If it does not, then your points are bad or the condensor is shorted.  Yes...replace both.  Or at least one of them and disconnect the other.  I'm assuming the one on the coil is on the neg term?  The coil has to turn on and off to work.  If the condensor(cap) is shorted, it's only on.  If the points are bad, it's only off.  Anyway....I'll try to check back later to see what you found.

...oh....if you don't have power at the coil...you can run a jumper wire from the pos of the batt to the pos of the coil and see if it starts....so you know for sure that's your prob.  Don't drive it like that unless you connect the wire to the ballast resistor or you will burn up your coil and probably fry the points.  Then go find out why you don't have power coming from the ign sw.

Ok, this is from memory from the "poop-truck" but the 620 had two sets of points; the second set opened only at a certain temp and if the second barrel kicked in. I ran mine on one set without a problem. I agree with what Mike is telling you to check but if it was running when you started and the regulator went out is it possible that with all the things you changed at one time "Since then I replaced the reg, plugs, wires, cap, and rotor, as well as most of the steering links, plus a weber 32/36.  Now she wont start.  No spark but she turns over.  I was in a hurry to get her back together and swapped the  battery terminals"  you left a wire un-hooked or hooked a wire on the wrong terminal? Did your key switch go bad? If it turns over that part of the switch is good but the run terminal might be bad. Can you get a friendly assistant (decoded to wife) to hold a screwdriver inserted into the #1 plug as you turn it over. (ok, if she's like mine she'll kick your butt after the voltage hits her). Electrical issues are always the worst to figure out. Use the KISS method to figure it out.

well, thanks for the help, but it was a loose fuse term. although, i could use some help with the secondary ign. I understand that it opens the retards only during decel(flat pedal), when cool?, and when in neutral. if I have this correct, then disabling the pedal switch only bypassed thaT one, but they (retarded points) still work for the temp? I dont think the trans switch is working either, could it be possible that both point sets are working at same time? and if so, what are the side effects ,what damage is possible if any,

thanks

Michael

Do what I did with just about every L series 4 cyl car or truck I ever owned.  Get the E12-80 distributor from the later 70s L18/20B, hook it up and you're done with distributor/points problems.