<VV> hey, my car starts!

[mhicks130 at cox.net]

Well the mystery is solv-ed.  It wasn't the battery, it wasn't the wires, it wasn't the carbs, it wasn't even the valve rotators.  It was......  the point plate had popped loose from the vacuum advance arm and got stuck!!!!  It is currently repaired and the car is once again running like before.  I took the VA off and saw the arm was bent down a bit (away from the point plate).  While I had the VA off I decided to give it the once over.  I sucked on the vacuum side and instead of pulling the arm in, I heard air being sucked in.  This can't be right.  The car runs fine - as far as I can tell anyway.  So what are the symptoms of a non-functional VA?  

thanks for all the input and guesses guys.

mike