Electronic ignition or points ?
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
From: Boonville Missouri
Electronic ignition or points ?
I was out for a drive this weekend. Low in seat, sunglasses on, radio on but not so loud that I could'nt hear the motor. In and out of the curves. Just a nice drive. Until she died on me. No warning. Just like you turned the key off. Also no tools other than a 3 inch cresent. Took the fuel line loose. Checked the plug wires and coil wire. Rocked the distributer cap. Got back in and it fired up. No idea what was wrong. I wonder if I should replace the coil, and get new points and condencer. Or electronic ignition to replace the points. 73 -350. Sure could use some advice.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,100
Likes: 12
From: Frederick Maryland
Sounds like you might have a bad distributor cap or rotor. Replace them, check your points and see how it runs. It could also be as simple as one of the cap hold downs wasn't properly secured.
Nothing wrong with going to electronic ignition, but make sure you don't have a simple problem to begin with.
Nothing wrong with going to electronic ignition, but make sure you don't have a simple problem to begin with.
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 10,560
Likes: 439
From: Wellington, FL
St. Jude Donor '11 thru '25
A point ignition system is fine. Cars ran for many years with them w/o problems. The only downside is they require more maintenance then their electronic counterpart such as swapping them and the condenser out every 12K miles or so. If you keep them at the proper dwell angle, however, I found they will last considerably longer.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 2,862
Likes: 195
From: Maryland
Had a similar experience but the culprit was not the ignition system. It turned out the green **** battery disconnect switch had pitted enough that the contact where the **** touches the top of the switch broke contact. A knife lever switch from now on.
Last edited by Donald #31176; Feb 12, 2008 at 04:09 PM.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,114
From: Crossville TN
Coil, distributor, points & condensor faults normally don't display instantaneous failures. On the other hand, switch, wiring, and ground faults DO. Obviously, it can be any of the above (and probably some others I haven't mentioned), but the odds are with the latter group. Good luck in finding it. If you get some more 'symptoms', maybe we can help more.
