I'm back again with a new question, after many hours of diagnosis and thinking I might know what my problem was/is. I originally posted a question about whether my distributor was the problem because I had an erratic dwell.
https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread...-need-a-new-distributor.html#Post1422088 I'm starting a new thread because that one strayed well away from the original question.
I'm working with a 1949 216 that I believe is 100% stock (still 6V) and has a Carter W-1 carb. After looking more closely (and using my brain!) I realized my distributor is just fine. The shaft internal to the distributor has almost no play. The distributor moves around in the engine block a little, but not much. That was definitely not the problem causing my erratic dwell. As I was in the process of diagnosis, the truck got to where it wouldn't even start. So with the help of my son, who's a Peterbuilt certified diesel mechanic, we diagnosed everything possible related to the ignition system and concluded it must be the condenser. I was very reluctant to believe that could be the problem because I had one of Jon's new design condensers installed. Today I went and bought a "Blue Streak" condenser at the FLAPS and after installation, she started right up with absolutely no other changes. It ran great for about 15 minutes while I adjusted the timing, checked the dwell and adjusted the idle. I went to clear everything from around the truck so I could take my victory lap around the neighborhood, and it died before I could get back in the driver's seat. It won't start again. This is now the second time I've had the truck running really well, and it just dies after about 15 minutes and won't start again. Almost exactly the same scenario each time, months apart. I assume it must be the condenser yet again.
Is there anything that could be damaging my condensers? It wouldn't seem so, but it's hard to believe I've now had 2 condensers that only lasted about 15 minutes out of the box, including Jon's.
