- Joined
- May 7, 2012
- Messages
- 250
- Reaction score
- 3
- Location
- Near Houston, TX
- My Car
- 1971 Coupe. 302 2V - C4 trans
All,
We have a 71 driver that is in good shape. In the last year, I have had to replace the condenser 3 times. When we got the car, I purchased a pertronix flamethrower coil for it, but we are running points and condenser under the cap. The coil replacement came after we were having problems with it running rough, and getting timing adjusted etc. Didn't seem necessary, but was just trying to eliminate things. Ultimately, I found that the condenser had gone bad. I swapped the condenser with another old one and everything was fine. 3-4 months down the road I put in new points and condenser just out of good measure - I wanted to ensure the car was reliable driver.
A few months ago, we had it in the shop for an alignment, and guy reported it was "cutting out on him" during test drive. As I was leaving parking lot the cutting out got really bad, and I parked to take a look, next thing I know it won't start for anything. Firing, getting gas and all, but just won't run for anything.
I'd just about all but forgotten about the original problem I had with the condenser in this car, but after thinking it thru, and verifying good fuel, i looked for spark. Spark was irregular and frequently weak.
Coil was essentially new, points and condenser very new, yet, I can't get good spark....
After puzzling over it, I tired a new condenser, and bam - everything runs sweet again.
We continued to watch for the "cutting out", and sure enough, after a few months of running great, a few cut-outs during driving.... teh harbinger of condenser about to go out...
Last night I replaced the coil with a autozone one, and a new condenser. Works great again, no signs of cut-out on long test drive.
So whats' up? Could the flamethrower coil have been burning out condensers? Maybe that doesn't make much sense, but if it's putting out a really strong spark, and the condenser gets weakened by that extra power, it basically goes out over time? Could that be it?
I bought a "gold" duralast coil at autozone, but all of that crap is chinese, and I stuck another $5 condenser in there (surely also chinese), but I'm not sure what could be causing the condensers to go bad.
Does anyone out there have any thoughts on a flamethrower coil with points and condenser under cap? Is that just a dumb thing to do, or could it be something else in my ignition system that is causing the problem?
I'm good for now, crossing fingers on this condenser, but looking for root cause here...
Thanks for any help
Jay
We have a 71 driver that is in good shape. In the last year, I have had to replace the condenser 3 times. When we got the car, I purchased a pertronix flamethrower coil for it, but we are running points and condenser under the cap. The coil replacement came after we were having problems with it running rough, and getting timing adjusted etc. Didn't seem necessary, but was just trying to eliminate things. Ultimately, I found that the condenser had gone bad. I swapped the condenser with another old one and everything was fine. 3-4 months down the road I put in new points and condenser just out of good measure - I wanted to ensure the car was reliable driver.
A few months ago, we had it in the shop for an alignment, and guy reported it was "cutting out on him" during test drive. As I was leaving parking lot the cutting out got really bad, and I parked to take a look, next thing I know it won't start for anything. Firing, getting gas and all, but just won't run for anything.
I'd just about all but forgotten about the original problem I had with the condenser in this car, but after thinking it thru, and verifying good fuel, i looked for spark. Spark was irregular and frequently weak.
Coil was essentially new, points and condenser very new, yet, I can't get good spark....
After puzzling over it, I tired a new condenser, and bam - everything runs sweet again.
We continued to watch for the "cutting out", and sure enough, after a few months of running great, a few cut-outs during driving.... teh harbinger of condenser about to go out...
Last night I replaced the coil with a autozone one, and a new condenser. Works great again, no signs of cut-out on long test drive.
So whats' up? Could the flamethrower coil have been burning out condensers? Maybe that doesn't make much sense, but if it's putting out a really strong spark, and the condenser gets weakened by that extra power, it basically goes out over time? Could that be it?
I bought a "gold" duralast coil at autozone, but all of that crap is chinese, and I stuck another $5 condenser in there (surely also chinese), but I'm not sure what could be causing the condensers to go bad.
Does anyone out there have any thoughts on a flamethrower coil with points and condenser under cap? Is that just a dumb thing to do, or could it be something else in my ignition system that is causing the problem?
I'm good for now, crossing fingers on this condenser, but looking for root cause here...
Thanks for any help
Jay