Car starting issues are driving me crazy!

Yes at the same time. This will tell you if your coil is fine, and if you have voltage to the coil in the RUN position.

 

yes, sparked fine

 

Ok. Now if the car runs fine once you get it started, then your points are fine.
Check to see if you have spark when the engine is turning over. If you do, then I would say your ignition system is fine.

If you try to start your car without a jumper, what happens? Engine doesn't turn over, or does it turn over fine?

 

I have heard of the condenser in the distribtor being bad and causing this problem, I would at least swap the condenser to make sure.
Chas.

 

Two simple things to check, especially if you didn't set the car up.

If you think it's fuel, spray a little carb cleaner in the carb and try to fire it up. Make a difference? Fuel.

How much initial timing are you running? With someone cranking and you checking with the timing gun what is your static timing? Too much initial timing causes hard starting. Set at 0 degrees when checking just to get that out of the way.

 

The condensor was just replaced with the points, I called the shop that it has been at for a while who was supposed to resolve the problem, they told me that they tried it several times in the cold and it would consistently start up, it has been sitting for about a month though and today when i got it from the shop it needed to be jumped to start, so just to eliminate the battery to see if they really solved the problem I took it to a parts store and got it tested and theyre charging it overnight for me.
Thank you everyone for the suggestions, ill post an update in the morning

 

Also, I'm not seeing any sort of ballast resistor, there is a long red wire that goes out from the firewall straight to the coil, nothing inbetween, should there be?
Or is that purple wire that is going into the distributor doing the job?

 

If your Riviera is like my Skylark that red wire has a built in resistor. Also that wire going to the distributor is the points wire. Remember when you grounded the side of the coil that wire is going to? The points are essentially doing the same thing except very rapidly.

 

Check/ retard the timing.

 

It sounds to me like an ignition switch issue, if it starts when you release the key. That doesn't explain the need to jumpstart though. It'll probably be something simple.
ou:

 

buy at the partstore for a couple of bucks, the lead silver groundstrap.
Bolt that to the engine and to the frame.
And see if it starts without a jumpstart, it could be ground connection problem.
This is a easy and cheap way to check and resolve this.

 

Adrian,

Way back early in this string you mentioned something to the effect that when you do get the engine to start it's when you let off the ignition switch. I'm thinking that you might have a bad solenoid that isn't making contact with the solenoid terminal that passes 12 volts to the coil when the solenoid is engaged (start position). If it fires when you let off the key (back to the run position), it may be that current through the resistor wire (or however you've got it wired) that takes over then may be enough to catch the motor as it's slowing down off the starter. I've had several cars do this in the past, where they crank like hell, but don't catch until you let off the key.

 

will do larry. gotta go to class. have the results at about 1

 

Run a jumper directly from the positive post on the battery to the plus side of the coil. If that allows the engine to run then you need to check the power from the solenoid to the coil. When you move the switch to start, the only power comes from the solenoid ,and that should be 12 volts. When the key returns to run ,you are operating on 8 volts. 12 volts to the points will burn them if you run continously , but for this test will not hurt anything

 

I hope i did it right, but i got some whacked out results.
Put the tester to the 20 DCV setting.
Sitting regular I got about 11.75, starting (cranking over) went down to about 9.5
Mean anything? Or did i do it wrong?

 

I did your test, didnt start. Weird thing happened though, when I connected the jumper cord from the coil to the battery directly the GEN light on my dash would turn on, with out the key in, and as soon as I disconnected it, it would turn off again.

 

Larry, I'm pretty sure it will not read as low as 6 volts without the engine running. Current must be flowing through for the voltage to drop from 12 volts. Any other electrical guys that can confirm this?

 

try the starting procedure with a hot wire, pos batt to coil with switch, this will put 12v to the coil all the time, after it starts turn off the switch. if it stays running the there is a problem with the resistor bypass at start time.