The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Condenser and Points failure?

OK, this morning I installed my new coil and when though all my running settings on Lucille. Set the timing with a timing light, Set the RPM to 475 at idle. Set my spark plug gap to .040. Adjusted my points to .015 to get a dwell reading between 32 and 40. Lucille sounded good and I took her out for a test drive. Drove locally about a mile and was returning home when all of a sudden she just died. Have plenty of gas in her. I could turn her over but no spark. Could this simply be the condenser and points? I noticed the points are slightly burnt. How do you determine if all this was was a failed condenser? Would a failed condenser cause total failure of the distribution system. I checked the new coil and it read 1.7 ohms on the primary and 10,200 ohms on the secondary.

Its weird, I have to drive out of my place by climbing a very steep driveway that is about 350 feet long rising to about 55 feet before I get to the top of the main road then its fairly level. Lucille got me out of my Hollow and as I said I only ran her about a mile before she just died. I had a good neighbor who helped me tow her back to the top of my driveway and then I just slowly coasted downhill and back into my garage. Annoying morning to say the least.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

A condenser internally shorted to ground will cause that.

Had something like this happen 2 years ago. Did a tuneup, Points, cap, rotor, plugs, wires, and condenser. Fired it up. Set the timing with a dwell meter, and a vacuum gauge and went to the next Town. About 20 miles round trip. Ran great. Then it stopped in the intersection. Yep right there in the left turn lane. Less than 2 blocks from home. Busy street, lots of visibility, and some embarrassment(of course). Got out of the intersection, and parked(safely). Looked and looked for the issue. Found it...the "rubbing" block on the points(new, brand new) was gone. Put the old points back in(they were in the glove box) set the gap by eyeball. It started up and went home. Simple truth, if them points do not open, there will be no spark. New points...brand new points. Oh well. The condenser like cletis said will do the same thing. No spark. So will a bad coil, or bad(open) ballast resistor(if you are running 12 Volts). Things to check. One at a time to find the issue. Just one at a time.

Well, I think I'm a total loser. I should have disconnected the battery when I was messing around the distributor. I more than likely shorted out the condenser. Just got back from FLAPS and will pick up two sets of points and condenser in the morning.

Was so close in getting Lucille running well this morning and I overlooked a small detail! Grrrrrrr!!

I don't believe your shorted out your condensor. Leaving 12 volts on them will not hurt. However, it may be bad from the store. Many stories floating around about new but bad condensors.
Points are another matter as is the coil. Leaving 12 volts on the points while closed will burn them and possibly take out your coil due to the constant current load.
The main function of the condensor is arc suppression. Leaving the condensor off while testing will not hurt. If you get it running without the condensor then attach it and if performance suffers, then look for another condensor.

I have a 6 volt system.

Six volts in your case is no better or worse than 12. Current is the killer not voltage.

The condenser is sort of a shock absorber in the primary ignition circuit. Just as the points break, the primary voltage can spike to over 100 volts for a fraction of a second due to the magnetism in the coil cutting across both the primary and secondary windings. The voltage surge sees the unloaded condenser as a path to ground, at least temporarily, and heads there instead of trying to arc across the points. While the condenser is charging up, the points are getting further apart (more resistance) so when the condenser starts unloading itself the voltage can't make it across the point gap. The voltage runs backwards through the ignition circuit (and the battery) and charges up the ground side of the condenser. This rat race continues until the voltage spike dissipates, and it should be gone by the time the points close again. Bear in mind that a 6 cylinder engine at 2500 RPM cycles the points 125 times a SECOND! Electricity is FAST!

An open circuited condenser turns the points into a miniature arc welder and they burn out in a few miles. A shorted condenser stops the engine like turning the ignition switch off!
Jerry

Thank you Jerry for such a detailed description.

Just installed my new condenser and points adjusted the dwell to just below 40 degrees. Going to try another run this morning to see how well we do.

This is starting to get very old. Installed the new condenser and points where I set the gap at .018 just as it says in the '42 - '46 truck manual.

Nice thing is she fires right up and sounds strong, however, when I put her in gear and try to back up out of my garage which has a steep approach downward, which also means I'm backing uphill, she dies on me. I really have to give her the gas in order to overcome the slope of the driveway. Why can't she overcome this need for power? What is this pointing to?

I live in a very mountainous area of Western North Caroline and these mountains are playing havoc with Lucille! I didn't have these issues when I lived in the upstate of South Carolina where it is fairly flat terrain.

does it do ok when backing up on level ground.. did this problem with backing just start.

I know a place in Tx where Lucille would be very happy..
my drive is only a little steep as you back down ward.

12 Volt or 6 Volt? If you posted it I missed it. Does it run very smooth at Idle? Does it start easy? Inline 6 is a torque motor. Hills should not be an issue(unless you want to go fast). I Think the Points/Condenser bit has been covered. So time to look at other stuff. One step at a time. Does the Coil get hot? Just put your hand on it while it is running? Don't grab the connections, just take it's temperature. Hot coil is breaking down or has too much current running through it. 12 Volt systems need a ballast Resistor to control the current. 6 Volt systems do not. Check the Resistor if you have one(most go "open" but some have a bit of metal in the back and can short). No Resistor? Running 6 Volts? Check timing, and advance it if needed. This can make a big difference in off Idle torque. Some good Tech tips for setting timing with a Vacuum gauge. I know this stuff is basic, but easy to skip or forget. Timing good? Check the Vacuum advance for leaking(easy to do and only takes a moment) Vacuum advance good? Check the fuel pump output. After all of that, it might be a good time to check the valve lash. A Vale that won't close will rob a lot of power. The last, bit matters. Valves can be a bit noisy and still work just fine. Too tight and the engine will run, it just will not "work". let us know what you find.