Hi everyone,
This problem has been going on for about 2 months. My car is a 1972 Chevelle with a 406sbc. It also has a Accel SuperCoil and HEI distributor. My problem is, 2 months ago, I went to start my car up and ran well. When I started it 5 minutes later and let it sit idleing, I noticed the RPM's going down slowly and fan skipping so I shut it down. Since then, the car won't start at all. The positive cable on the battery will get very hot and sometimes causes a spark. When the spark happens, I don't get any power at all. It has a very hard time turning over, too. I don't know what the problem is. Can anyone tell me what is going on? Could it be the coil? What can I do to fix it?

Thanks,
Ethan

Easy things to check.

Pull the battery cables off and look for corrosion at both ends.

Pull the alternator off and get it checked at a local auto parts store.

Swap out the voltage regulator.

Use a meter to check for 12v at the battery and at the ends of the battery cable.

Check the fusable links to see if they look burned or corroded. (I had one break from corrosion).:cool:

Is the motor turning over at all? If not get the starter checked. If it is turning over, yes the coil could be an issue. I say this because I tried 2 brand new accel super coils with grey tops for in-cap hei. Both caused issues. The first one did not want to start, the few times it did it died within seconds. The other started and drove for several minutes before stalling, then not starting, then started, shot gun blast through the exhaust, then stall again. Swapped with another brand coil and no problem since. I did not however have an issue with the battery wire getting hot which seems to suggest a short some where.