VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions 1939 electrolock

My 39 Chevy was sitting over the summer and I had to move it this weekend. It was a bear to start. My engine is in good shape. Once it is running it runs fine. In fact after it starts for the 1st time it is much easier to start again. Well, I have good new fuel, I checked the starter, the draw and voltage drop seem OK and it spins the engine fine. My battery is good. What I noticed is that the voltage to the coil + is one volt lower than the battery voltage. I do not have an ignition resistor, yet there seems to be about 0.25 ohms between the battery and the coil and I found most of it in the electrolock. So, either I have some poor contacts in the switch, OR is the electrolock coil wire a resistor wire? I tried starting the car with full voltage at the coil, through a jumper and it starts better. I have three different electrolocks and each has around this 0.25 ohm in it. Do I have 3 poor switches or is there a resistor wire here? Thanks Mike

Well..... I think that the problem is in the switch, Seems that most ballast resistors are between one and two ohms. I only have about 1/4 ohm. This doesn't seem like much, but I losing voltage to the coil because of it. Not sure how I'm going to fix this. I could take the switch apart, but that is not that easy, especially to get it back together without breaking the tabs. I may try spraying contact cleaner in it somehow. Or replace the electrolock with a regular switch. Mike

Hi Mike,

Thank you so much for going the extra step in troubleshooting this problem. Your measurement of the resistance among the various electroloks is very helpful.

My initial thought is that 1/4 ohm is not enough resistance to be creating much if any of a problem. Did you make that measurement with the wire disconnected from the coil?

The wire inside the electrolok cable shield is a regular 16 gauge wire. Typically there is no ballast or igntion resistor in a 6 volt system.

I agree that taking an electrolok switch apart requires some finesse and patience. I sure would try the contact cleaner first. Just remember to disconnect the battery before you spray the switch that is in the car. Also, operate the switch through maybe 10 cycles right after you spray it. The rubbing action on the contacts will,help the cleaning action.

FWIW The Filling Station sells a rebuild manual for 37-39 electrolocks.

In later model Aus GMH 12v cars the wire between the ignition switch and the coil is actually designed as a resistive wire though I doubt this would be the case in 1939.
Tony

Well, the ignition coil draws 3.5 amperes, that times 0.25 ohms is 0.875 volts. I would like to get as much voltage to the ignition as possible. I suspect that the contact is spring loaded, probably part of the contact itself. Never had one of these open. I'm sure it is a matter of dirt and contact pressure. I want to work on one of my extra locks first to see if I can reduce the contact resistance.
Also, seems that the spark that I get is rather weak. I have checked the coil on a tester and it provides good results. I measured the condenser and found it to be 0.24 uF, which is good. I cleaning the points and set the dwell to about 37 degrees. I checked the spark plug gaps, they were a little wide, but not that much. I do not think there is much else I can do. Thanks for the reply, Mike

Tiny, have you seen what is in the electrolack manual? Is it worth it? Thanks Mike

Mike,
I'm sure you could "wing" your way through the rebuild, as I did. But for the $10.00 price tag on Steve's book, It seems like it would be worth having it. One precautionary tip could be enough to justify having it around.
I didn't know he had it. I will probably get one for future reference.

Mike