Good Evening Gentleman,

Mike here.I am new to this forum. Have a 65 El Camino. Has a 350 chevy small block built it with my father in-law for my son for high school he passed son graduated and car sat garaged for about a year and a half would take it out here and there car ran beautiful. then all of sudden would park and go to start it wouldn't turn over but if i jumped it it would start this went on for a while after me doing my own trouble shooting and i'll tell you im not no mechanic decided to take it to shop burned me for 500 bucks saying was a pin in the ignition switch drove it home turned it off same problem took it back to shop said they found the problem really didn't give me a good reason but it was working so drove for a bit then pulled it out of the garage turned it off got in it no start dead to the world jumped it nothing so had starter,alternator,checked all good put new plugs,fuel pump still nothing then by accident came across the coil on top of the distributor and found it was fried got another one change that along with new wires and distributor cap and rotor ran for 2 days and dead put new coil again nothing so figured it was an ignition switch problem put new one in nothing so now by passed the switch and put a push button starter switch so now car turns over but will not start and that's where i am today cranks but will not start and apologize fort the long post. any help or suggestions disabled and on a fixed income so cant spend putting it in a shop.

 

What you have is not the original distributor\ignition system. Electronic ignition should have a two wires besides the main cable to the starter from the solenoid. Post's marked S, and R. The S is from the switch, R is a resistor that feeds the distributor. When you start the car ignition switch feeds full battery voltage to the coil, when in run (key switch) the voltage to distributor is through the R post (resistor). I'd suggest with key on, check for voltage to the distributor coil. In short, the coil should have full battery voltage when switch is in start (crank) position, then the voltage will switch through the resistor with key switch in on posisition.

 

Yes your right i've had the starter tested several times there saying its good, im not a mechanic but a little mechanically inclined i dont have alot of funds to be dumping to take to a shop since they did me wrong once already trying self diagnosis trying i have a brand new red top optima battery as well it all started when the coil fried and i put the new coil,distributor and rotor in just frustrated at this point. thanks

 

Reason why the ignition system is fed through a resistor is for that very reason, not to "fry" any part of the system. It use's full battery voltage when cranking only.. Since you pulled the distributor, re-check timing, and check for power with key on to coil.

 

Thanks in advance for your reply I only changed the cap and rotor never took out the distributor out.somebody said change the whole distributor out with an MSD one but then again more money going to search and seek mission. no coil just the solenoid thats connected to starter. like i mentioned car ran great for years up until i found the burnt wire on coil. after putting new one in ran for two days then coil went out again put new one in and never started again put new ignition switch,cap and rotor the little module inside the distributor spark plugs with new wire set new fuel pump. check all the grounds by cleaning with wire brush for better contact **** all i had to do left was put another motor and for sure now i'm broke lol. dont have any volt meter skills only thing i lack in.again thank you for helping out