Distributor grounded at all times

[bambinoelchicano]

I think i may have a major electrical problem somewhere but maybe this has happened to someone else. about a week ago my truck was running like crap because i get vapor lock down here in this florida heat and it shut off i let it cool and i started it back up and got home but on the way home it started running like crap again and i dogged the hell out of it just to get it home. it shut off on its own when i got home and i figured ill leave it alone till the next day but when i tried to start it the next day i had no spark and i tested everything and my resistor wire to the coil is always grounded and the whole distributor too. i connected the ignition coil and it got hot as all hell because its stays grounded at all times ive tried many things but i cant find the problem im stumped. sorry for the very detailed story just wondering if anybody has gone through the same. thanks in advanced for any input.

[fordman]

the resistor wire doesnt ground. it sends power to the coil. and is met at start up only with a full 12 volts coming from the starter realy. when a coil gets super hot it wotn give out spark. it will quit working.

[ScreaminZ]

If you've got a points style distributor, look at where the wire hooks to the points. I had a problem with mine where things were situated just right to where the terminal on the end of that wire was contacting the distributor housing. If that's not the problem, there's a chance your condenser has shorted out.

[Thunderfoot]

From your initial problem of the truck shutting down from what you said was "vapor lock" could have been the sign of a coil going bad, when they start going bad they will act up when they get warm (start missing, running bad and die) then after it cools off a bit it will run fine again...
If your points are opening and closing and the negative wire from the coil to the points is not shorted to ground somewhere (and the condenser is not shorted/bad) then I would try a new coil...

[bambinoelchicano]

hey guys thanks for your input i started messin with it today and changed my ignition switch and it started right up i also changed my distributor, the bearing in it was bad and it was seizing up a bit. it running like a dream now.