Aircooled not starting....think its electrical

[cms273]

Used our t25 this morning no probs. Parked up all day, came to start this afternoon and nothing!

Fuel is getting thro, and its turning over ok just not firing!
It did for about a minute once I bumped it down our road, but cut out again. I've replaced the ht leads, tried a replacement coil but still nothing.

Now whether I was right in doing the next thing I'm not sure! I took off the distributior cap and got the missus to turn the key, the rotor arm went round but the points didn't open, just stayed shut. Now, did they stay shut coz the cap was off or have I located the problem?

If anyone can help with any advice I would be very grateful as the van is our daily ride at the mo!

[BOXY]

Firstly you shouldn't have points, but it's not the end of the world my van has been running points for most of the time I've had it. The points should open four times every revolution of the rotor arm. If you look at the shaft that the rotor arm fits on you'll see it's got four high points. If you put the van in gear on the flat and push it forward you should be able to get one of the high points under the pad on the points. If you set the gap to 0.6mm that will get the van running. A dwell angle meter is needed to set it up perfectly but 0.4mm to 0.6mm is the range that works for me.

[cms273]

Thanks for that! I will give it ago, thankfully it stopped on a flat bit, so will enlist the help of the missus again! Will report back if it starts up!

[BOXY]

The points should be closed on the flat bit, open on the high point.

[cms273]

Ok thanks! Is this something that just happens, or should I have noticed something was starting to play up?!

[BOXY]

There's a pad on the points that gradually wears down called a cam follower (see D below). You can normally re-gap the points once or twice before the points need replacing because the cam follower has worn beyond its limits. New points are cheap so it's worth getting a spare set, but if I you can get hold of the original electronic ignition set-up that would be the best option.

[cms273]

Points have been adjusted.....and it fired straight up!

Many thanks for your help! Btw what's the best electronic ignition I would need to replace the points system?

Thanks again!

[Hacksawbob]

Its best to get the original distributor. post up in the wanted forum you never know. People fit mechanical advance dizzies (with points) because the old one went bad and they cant fix or find a replacement or they believe that it may improve performance over the stock vacuum advanced dizzy.