VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 '23 Ignition Switch

I have a '23 Superior 4 door sedan that has been sitting around for about a year while I worked on a radiator issue. Prior to resting in its dark lonely storage shed, it was having no starting problems. It still has its original coil and it appears most of the wiring is original. This spring I got the radiator issue fixed (I hope) and tried to start the car and found I had no spark to the plugs. I also tried getting spark from the cap to the coil's side mounted attach point.. Still no spark. I then checked the ignition switch per the repair manual. With the key on I was getting no draw on the Ammeter; however with the ignition wire touching the switch's battery terminal I got a 10 amp draw on the meter. Per the manual this would indicate an open circuit in the ignition switch.

Does anyone have experience opening up the switches to self repair or is there a source for a new or rebuilt switch anyone knows of?

Any help would be appreciated.

I might be mis-reading your post but if you are looking for a spark, you should pull the wire from the cap and see if a spark is coming from the coil. Good luck.

Mike

Mike,

I checked that as well. No spark from cap to coil. I really could have multiple problems going on but it appears the ignition switch is at least one of the problems since it is not passing current from the battery side of the switch to the ignition side.

Terry

Well it looks like my post was premature. I took the switch completely out of the car and put it in some natural light so my 50+ eyes could better read the terminal markings on the switch. Turns out I misread them and so my test was flawed. This gave me a chance to check continuity on the switch for all of its positions. After doing this it looks like the switch is working properly. My next attempt would be to run a new wire from the "coil" terminal on the switch directly to the coil. Does anyone see anything wrong with that approach?

Dansker ; you might want to stop by your local auto parts store and invest in a 6-12 volt test light or a volt meter. Then check the wire to the coil for battery voltage with the points open. Then close the points. Now open the points and close them and see if you get a spark across the points. If you do then I'd look at a new condenser. The condenser stops the points from arching which will give you a no spark condition. There are other things to look for but start with this. Hope this helps.