Guess The Trouble (Or Are You Smarter Than An Administrator)

[jhuebner]

The condensor.....we all knew that

[simplyconnected]

...Based on his question, I'm sticking with ignition. Something silly like a cracked (or carbon traced) distributor cap or shorted points will give the same result but John didn't say if he was getting spark.

The answer to this should have put you on the right track, John.
Usually a condenser will open or short to ground. Either way, no spark. A shorted condenser shorts the points, just like they never open.

Condensers are easily checked with a VOM. They are .22Uf and either hold a charge or they don't. Millions of good condensers were changed simply because the 'kit' came with a new one.

[jopizz]

Since the car started obviously I was getting spark.

John

[bird 60]

In your first post John, you stated that the car ran no problems
after doing all the work & replacing parts.

Therefore the condenser would have obviously shat itself at a short time later. (all because of a $6.00 item.)

Great to hear that everything is good now.

Chris.....From OZ.

[Yadkin]

The answer to this should have put you on the right track, John.
Usually a condenser will open or short to ground. Either way, no spark. A shorted condenser shorts the points, just like they never open.

Condensers are easily checked with a VOM. They are .22Uf and either hold a charge or they don't. Millions of good condensers were changed simply because the 'kit' came with a new one.

I was always told to change the condenser with the points because the old one "matches up" with the old points. Probably an old wive's tale.

[DKheld]

You better go out and make sure you tightened that dizzy bolt.....

Yep - been there on the condenser. Also had the bakelite (now usually nylon-ish) cam break off the points and installed the points isolators so that they rubbed through and grounded out after a few revs.

Thanks for letting us know!

Eric

[simplyconnected]

I was always told to change the condenser with the points because the old one "matches up" with the old points...

The condenser has very little to do with the points but it has everything to do with the coil.

Together, the induction of the coil and the capacitance of the condenser form a "tank circuit". This is what gives your plugs that pretty blue snap when they fire.

Inductors (coils) oppose a change in current.
Capacitors (condensers) oppose a change in voltage.

As points close, they short the coil to ground causing current to flow through the coil. This saturates the iron in your coil with magnetism.

When points open, this is where the fun begins. Current wants to continue on its path by arcing across the opening points to ground but it can't. Voltage rises and the condenser softens that 'blow' by absorbing some of that 'shock' and sending that higher voltage right back where it came from. The collapsing magnetic field of the coil sends thousands of volts to your distributor and on to the plugs.

Many in the automotive, watercraft and aircraft industries have played with the ballast resistors, coils and condensers to give the best and most reliable results. They found, if you increase the ballast resistor value it simply limits more current to the coil. This makes high rpm sparks weak because the coil never fills. A lighter resistance creates excessive heat in the coil but a lot better spark at high (>6,000) rpms.

In 1955, all our coils were six volt with NO ballast resistor (on all car brands). Why didn't those coils carry over with the simple addition of a ballast resistor? Coils don't know whether they are feeding four, six or eight cylinders and we really don't need ten different kinds of 12-volt. Two are enough, one with an internal resistor and one without. - Dave