No power to ignition coil, crank but no spark. Series 2 XJ6

I just got this brown beauty for $1100 as a project. Reason she was so cheap is she cranks but doesn’t turn over. I know all ground points are okay, and also that there’s fuel in the system. Any help would be much appreciated. Tried to hotwire and it started smoking so I’m thinking a blown fuse somewhere as well. Had a miswired Petronix ignitor in the distributor and am wondering if it’s worth buying a whole new distributor from SNG Barratt. No power on white wire with black tracer that goes to coil.

Welcome on board, Zach…

‘…cranks but doesn’t turn over’ is misleading; ‘turning over’ means the engine rotates while cranking - ‘doesn’t start’, is then ‘appropriate’? Have you checked that there is sparking at the spark plugs - use a spare spark plug to check…

If not; the miswired Pertronix may indeed be the problem - in which case it may be burnt out, and that correctly wired replacement igniter may solve the problem? No real need then to buy a whole distributor - though it will of course rectify any dist problem.

The white/black nominally connect the coil ‘-’ to ground via the igniter; it should nominally show 12V with ign ‘on’. Disconnect this coil ‘-’ wire and recheck coil voltages - should be 12V. You can also connect a test lamp between the (disconnected) white/black and coil neg - the lamp should be unlit with ign ‘on’. Or connect the test lam[p between the (connected) coil ‘-’ and ground; with ign 'on’the lamp should be fully lit - and while cranking; the lamp should dim and flicker.

If these tests fail; the igniter/ign amplifier is not working…

Frank
xj6 85 Sov Europe (UK/NZ)

Hi Zach, this will be very helpful:
http://www.mgb-stuff.org.uk/colourcodes.htm

If it’s been a points distributor:
The coil gets powered by the starter relay, while cranking the ballast resistor is bypassed and in run the coil is powered through the ballast which may smoke if it’s oily. Ground is via the points or pertronix to the distributor. If you break that connection you should see a spark from the coil. No fuse I‘m aware of.

Go through the wiring first and see if you get power where you want it before throwing any money at it. Do you have any kind of spark on the coil lead?

Thank you for the reply. Next time I have the chance I’ll try some of this stuff. You’re an absolute life saver!

I’ll check when I’m back down where I stored her. Thanks for the help!