Spark has left our relationship

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2014: Spark has left our relationship
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Will Rice on Friday, July 04, 2014 - 11:56 am:

Oh I did a stupid stupid thing. Wanted to wash the T for the parade last night but a storm blew through. Up this morning and hosed her down, got her all shiny. Now I know better than to try to start her with water in the engine compartment, and I took a towel to the spark plug recesses and to the distributor.

Turned and turned and nothing. Checked headlights, yes there is battery power and the switch works. Pulled a spark plug and cranked, nope nothing. 45 minutes to parade, line up time, and starting to panic. Pulled the distributor cap to see if there's water and all seemed well. Went upstream to the ignition coil and oh S(*&%^ there is a nice puddle on top neatly connecting the two terminals there. Quickly took a towel and wife's hair dryer to it. Try again and no luck.

30 minutes to the start of the parade, desperately calling around and actually find a NAPA open. Miracle #1. Fly down there and hand over my fried ignition coil, tell him maybe a VW somewhere in the 70's. Finds one in the back. Miracle #2. Outta there in 5 minutes. Miracle #3.

Plug it in, duct tape it rudely to the radiator support rod, and go for start. Miracle #4! Five minutes to parade start, and we live 7 minutes away! Arrive just in time to fall in mid-pack.

Saved the day for our 8 and 3 year old parade participants who have been looking forward to this all week!

Lessons learned:
* quit trying to wash anything under the hood. a little oily and running is better than clean and dead.
* never wash the T unless I can wait an hour for everything to dry out
* after exposure to water, take a quick look over all electronic parts before trying to start
* carry a spare coil
* be grateful for all the people that have to work today!

Alright will post pics of the parade later. Just wanted to confess to you all first! (oh and the radiator and neck repair did just great. Turned out to be least of the worries!)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Aldrich Orting Wa on Friday, July 04, 2014 - 12:08 pm:

A little "OT" but I couldn't resist after seeing your headline. :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Will Rice on Friday, July 04, 2014 - 12:12 pm:

HAHA I love it!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Thode Chehalis Washington on Friday, July 04, 2014 - 12:27 pm:

Will,
Don't discard your old coil, I would bet there is nothing wrong with it. A little or even a lot of water should not hurt a modern coil.
Jim


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Will Rice on Friday, July 04, 2014 - 12:30 pm:

Huh. So it was water somewhere else?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By michael grady on Friday, July 04, 2014 - 12:47 pm:

Was this why my 16 wouldn't start after washing it?? Seems to be ok a day later.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By G.R.Cheshire on Friday, July 04, 2014 - 12:49 pm:

Will: Don't you own a leaf Blower? old or modern when I get water under the hood I use my leaf blower to dry things out. WERKS for me!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jim Thode Chehalis Washington on Friday, July 04, 2014 - 12:51 pm:

My guess with hard water it would not take much dampness on the distributor to short out the spark. Maybe it just dried out when you were messing with the coil.

Still could be the coil but not my first guess. Many vehicles run with engines exposed to the weather.
Jim


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dave Huson, Berthoud, Co. on Friday, July 04, 2014 - 01:05 pm:

I drive one of my Ts to town every morning rain or shine but the rain never seems to effect them.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Hal Schedler, Sacramento on Friday, July 04, 2014 - 02:50 pm:

Thou shalt NOT spray water directly into thy Model T engine compartment, for yea verily, much sadness and a multitude of problems are sure to follow....and the Second Commandment will not be a factor.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By john kuehn on Friday, July 04, 2014 - 03:02 pm:

Don't know how much pressure or water you used to wash the engine compartment with but if it was a reasonable amount and trying not to get to much around the electrical parts your T should have started.
Old tractors have exposed electrical wires and coils and they will usually start in the rain.

If you had a timer on your car it probably would have started.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Will Rice on Friday, July 04, 2014 - 09:13 pm:

Got a half-second glimpse of me on the local news. Very end of the video:
http://newsfixnow.com/2014/07/04/houston-celebrates-the-most-red-white-and-blue- day-of-the-year/

Would have expected to be in the "look at the cool cars" section but no, that went to a Rolls. An English car on American Independence Day?!? Boo. Haha.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tim Wrenn on Saturday, July 05, 2014 - 09:43 pm:

Well, in a similar issue, when I went to take the '20 Runabout for a spin this afternoon, it was running real rough. Long story short, after several different tests, determined that the year-old, black/red plug wires that I bought 'cause I believe they were more "correct" than the yellow ones, had TWO of them go bad. Good thing I save everything, so I go fetch two of the yellow wires that came off of it, and voila! back to normal running again. Didn't take the time to change out the other two, ran fine all day. I will switch them out tomorrow to the old ones and heck with the so-called correct ones. The yellow ones seem to be heavier gauge anyway.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Terry Woods, Richmond, Texas on Saturday, July 05, 2014 - 11:57 pm:

The T V ads claim Cialis and Viagra will put the spark back or keep it from shorting out.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Will Rice on Sunday, July 06, 2014 - 09:37 pm:

Haha taser, Viagra, leaf blower, and the Ten Commandments etched in vanadium steel! Where else can you go for such fine fine advice! Thanks guys! Haha


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Semprez-Templeton, CA on Sunday, July 06, 2014 - 11:41 pm:

Buy a can of Rustoleum never wet and spray everything under the hood... There that should do it!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Fred Dimock, Newfields NH, USA on Monday, July 07, 2014 - 09:27 am:

WD-40 - I had a friend with a MG that sprayed his wires with WD-40 when there was fog in the morning. If he didn't the car would not start!

It makes one wonder whey Britannica could rule the waves but their cars could not go thru a mud puddle.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ken Todd on Monday, July 07, 2014 - 11:00 am:

Tim W., what "went wrong" w/the black/red wires? It sounds strange that a solid core wire would fail that quickly. Or are they resistor wires?
Possible poor/bad connection where the terminal is connected to the wire?
Some people use barb wire for plug wires and they don't have any insulation on them.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tim Wrenn on Monday, July 07, 2014 - 09:45 pm:

Ken, the entire wire just pulled right out from the fitting that it's pressed into/onto, that goes onto the plug and/or post on the firewall. One end, or both, of three of 'em did it that day! Barely tugged on them too. Couldn't believe it.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Dennis Henrichs on Monday, July 07, 2014 - 10:21 pm:

Tim,

Those wires are fixable. Always use rosin core solder and solder the wire to the terminals. Some are known to come loose. Crimping doesn't always do the job--mechanical or electrical.


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