I have had 74 850 that has been in storage for the last 15 years. It was running when it was put away so i'm doing the usual things to freshen it up before attempting to start it. When I originallly checked for spark I did not have any on either side. I ultimately found that the points were so oxidized that they did not make an electrical connection when closd , I've cleaned them and no have sprk on both plugs.
The problem I have now is that after the key is on for a minute or so the ballast resistor gets so hot it starts to smoke. I checked the resistor and it is within spec at 1.9 or 2.0 ohms . I also checked the primary of both coils and they are also around 1.9.
One thing i did notice is that now when I measure across the set of points that is open, that it is showing as shorted to graound, as if it they were closed. I don't know what would cause this, but my theory is because there is a direct path to ground through both set of points the coils that are wired in parallel now represent only have of the load which increases the voltage drop on the ballast resistor.
I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an expert on pints, but shouldn't I measure infinate resistance across the open set of points?
