Car broke down....half mile away

[Chryco Psycho]

I updated my post above

[Rich G.]

What I don't understand about a coil is testing with an ohm meter. My friends cuda acted the same way. Spit backfire barely run. Weak spark. Everything tested good. Replaced the coil with one I had laying around and it ran perfect. Tested the old coil with the one I put in and got the same exact readings??? I have points in one car and electronic ign in the others. I've only had problems with the  one with the electronic. Of course I'm not racing.

[kawahonda]

I think that just goes to say that testing the resistance of a coil isn't a complete test. I've read others that said the same thing "all the coils I've seen fail tested fine."

[kawahonda]

With the key "On", my coil terminals measure at 11V. Is this the problem?

[Chryco Psycho]

Not the problem

[73440]

I've had coils fail when they got hot.

[kawahonda]

I'll swap out the condenser first step.

[gzig5]

Coils can test fine with an ohm meter but have insulation breakdown with high voltage applied.  My company makes linear and rotary servo motor (lots of coils) and we test insulation breakdown at 2000+ volts in production.  The slightest hiccup in the insulation system can cause abnormal performance.

[Flatdad]

I had the exact same problems and symptoms as you're having with my last points ignition, turned out to be the condenser went bad.

[dodj]

we test insulation breakdown at 2000+ volts in production.  The slightest hiccup in the insulation system can cause abnormal performance.

I wonder what would be a good, safe (for the coil) voltage to insulation test a coil? Induced secondary voltage would be a concern though. If 12v creates 20kv...

[gzig5]

we test insulation breakdown at 2000+ volts in production.  The slightest hiccup in the insulation system can cause abnormal performance.

I wonder what would be a good, safe (for the coil) voltage to insulation test a coil? Induced secondary voltage would be a concern though. If 12v creates 20kv...

What we are doing is a bit of a different animal being multiple single coils.  The one in the car is essentially a step-up transformer with two windings, so the test protocol is going to be different.  Our insulation system is typically designed for  5000-7000 VAC depending on the base voltage the motor runs off of.  I wouldn't want to mess around testing car coils at elevated voltages.

[kawahonda]

In between a new coil and condenser she works fine again. I didn't successful retry after condenser replacement because I had the distributor too retarded. After adding the coil (and with the new condenser installed) I found this out.

Now that the distributor is set properly, I will lay the old coil in there and see if that was it. If not, I will then reinstall the old condenser. Has to be one, not both.

More to come later! The good news is that she is fixed.

[JS29]

 

[kawahonda]

My diagnosis is a loose condenser connection. 

I went ahead and spruced it up anyways with a nice Accel set. Check out the curve it came with (I initially set it at 14). Pretty ideal for this car. Shortened the distributor lead wire so it looked more stock. Kept with the Accel Flame Thrower coil, why not...prob more voltage than the one that was on there.

Not sure if this is a Mopar distributor. Actually, I think it is, and it's just an older one. It does not have the o-ring on the housing, but uses a paper/flat gasket on the base instead. Seems to not leak...

Yes, I will replace that Allen screw with something that looks more proper soon. That is temporary, because the screw that was in there wasn't tight and was stripped out. 

I don't trust the vacuum canister, so I ordered one with a "9" stamping. I know 9-10 vac advance is right for this car. The factory one I had did about 18 no matter how much you adjusted it. This one looks kinda factory-ish, so I don't trust it in the same way.

All in all, my advice if you want a "quick" solution and got a reman distributor is to CHECK it. Check all screws, nuts, wires, connections. Also, only buy the best if you are staying with points.

The good news, is the curve and mechanical advance built into this distributor is IDEAL, so it was worth the initial headaches.

Final Setting is 32.5 Dwell, 16 Initial, 34 Total @ 3200.

[Chryco Psycho]

I am glad you got it figured out & set up right !