Oh Jeez... double disaster - and the kindness of strangers.
Discussion
My wife called me at work at noon, barely able to control her tears. She had just gotten home and one of our upstairs faucets had literally snapped in half. Water at full tap pressure had been running for at least a few hours. Upstairs, down through the floor to the main floor and down into the lower floor - ceilings as well, mind you. So I went home and helped get that sorted out.
She had already gotten a "emergency home repair" guy to come around, and he was one of the worst scam artists I have ever met. He was younger than me, maybe 30 or 32, and I knew immediately that he figured he was on to a game when, after seeing the Ultima in the garage he said, "that's a really nice car you have there sir". Think about it - nobody ever says that sort of thing. He went around the house, saying "this is a beautiful place", and "what terrible damage". And before he left, he gave me at least a dozen ways that he would help me scam my insurance company, lie on invoices, make up stains on carpets, etc. He wanted $9000 to just dry out a few carpets.
Unfortunately, he has no idea what a mistake he made - since he never asked me - "what do you do for a living". I did manage to separate him from some of his carpet drying equipment before dispatching him out the front door.
Since it was a nice sunny day, at about 4:30, I thought, I'll go for a quick drive in the Ultima to calm myself down from the day's tribulations.
So, 4 miles out rev's dropped to zero instantly (like I reported a few days ago). The car wouldn't restart. Called my wife and a few friends, grabbed some tools, started trying to diagnose the problem on the side of the road. Quite a few people saw the car, stopped and wanted to help also.
With the sun setting and nothing good coming from our trials, one really great guy who hung with us the whole time (clearly another gear head as he had a really nicely tricked out Eclipse) called a towing firm that he knew could deal with this type of car. It was mildly amusing listening to him try to describe the car over the phone, especially in relation to the low clearance issues. "Nope it isn't like a Ferrari or a Lamborghini... I can guarantee you've never seen a car like this... its lower, has wider tyres and less ground clearance... bring everything you have".
15 minutes later the tow truck turned up. We messed around with the tow gear for an hour or more. During this time, another guy saw us and stopped by to help. It turns out that he was also in towing, but on his day off. He just loved the car and wanted to help.
After probably an hour and a half, the general concensus was that it wouldn't work. All the points around the car were too tight for lifting and towing. The two towing guys were great - there wasn't a single thing that they would allow to touch any part of the body work. At one point, they were digging the dirt around the tyres trying to get the towing gear on. But at the slightest indication of trouble, they backed off.
So, now it was well past sunset, and the general concensus was to try a flat bed truck. On an off chance, I said - "look - its been an intermittent problem" (even though Pete and I had flattened the battery trying to restart the car earlier, we had recharged it in the intermediate time from his Mercedes), "maybe I can restart it".
So I jumped in and the car started perfectly. And didn't I feel like a goat...
I headed off with the entourage following. A mile later, the car was again instantly dead. This time at some main lights. Now I was just 3 miles from home. I couldn't restart it - cranks fine, fuel seems fine, but not even a single sense of a cylinder firing. Its definitely a spark / ignition / MSD problem.
So, now the whole gang is parked at a reasonably major intersection, my car drawing quite a lot of interest, even though it is now well into the night.
We finalize that we are going to go the flat-bed route, so we call and wait for the second tow truck to turn up. My various helping buddies continue to hang around. When the second tow truck turns up, we now have three towing experts. The general consensus is to pull the Ultima up on to the flat bed from the rear, but this has everyone worried about the front clip. I explained how that can come off, but I have to make another trip home to get those tools. They agree to wait while Pete and I head off back to my place.
When I got home, I grabbed my large hex keys which are needed on the front clip, and went to get the blankets for resting the front clip on the ground. No where to be seen - I assume that they are soaking wet somewhere from the earlier pipe-burst drama.
Back at the spectacle intersection, we get the front clip off, and two tow truck guys help me lift it away, but they won't put it down on the ground. At this stage, I was so fed up that I was fine with them resting it on the road, but they wouldn't hear of it. "No, you'll scratch the paint", they said in horror.
The third tow guy said - "oh, how about those blankets over there?" My wife had somehow figured I would need the blankets since she knew I liked to use them to rest the body sections on the ground, and had driven over with them, probably just as Pete and I drove back home to get the hex wrenches. Awesome, babe!
So, you have to imagine this now. It is well after sundown, at a major intersection. Two very large tow trucks have their emergency lights flashing and their area illuminating lamps on, and are blocking traffic all over the place. There are the other cars that belong to my friends or folks who have stopped to help parked along the shoulder with their hazards on. The five of us working on the car itself (three tow guys, Pete and myself) are dismantling the car in order to get it up on the flatbed. The front clip is sitting right at the front of the intersection sitting on a bunch of soft and cuddly blankets, like it is some accident victim.
Even in distress this car still attracts major attention - people even took photos of it with the clip removed, and we had a trickle of folks pull over, saunter over and ask about the car.
Finally, with the front clip removed, it was time to get the car up on to the flat bed. It took a few back and forwards with extra wood under the tyres, etc, as the towing guys didn't like the way the front radiator supports were getting very close to the ground. I swear that they placed the rear tow hooks a dozen times before getting comfortable with the fact that they would not rub or touch anything else (I still have the rear grill removed, so this apperture is what we were working with). Everything was done by torchlight, people lying on the ground to check clearances by hand, and slowly the car was inched up the flat bed.
Finally the car is up, secured and we put the front clip back on since it won't fit anywhere else. We bring it all of 3 miles back to my home. Since I have a slightly sloped driveway and had kept all the wide and long timber from our escapade of getting the car onto the trailer for the Chicago meet, we managed to get the car back off the flatbed and into the garage in about 20 minutes.
And now the bill... All in all, this was four and a half hours, with two tow trucks for most of that time. The main guy, Joe, looks at me and says in an almost apologetic tone, "I'm going to have to charge you a bit extra because of the down time of us not having the trucks otherwise available". Honestly, at this point I was so pleased with the way that they had handled the car, and how they were so incredibly careful... I had my car back in the garage without a scratch on it.
The bill was $158.
I did a double take. 4 hours of a truck and an at-call person, plus a second truck and a second guy for about 2 hours... for $158?.. So I handed him everything else I had in my wallet as a tip. It was the least that I could do and I still feel like I'm in debt to them. I'll repay them somehow.
I also made sure that I got the phone numbers of the three guys who stopped by to help for upwards of three hours as well - they all live reasonably close by, so my personal promise to them at the end of today was to take them out for a ride in the Ultima. Its the least that I can do.
So I end the day still with two disasters - a busted Ultima and a water damaged house. But even though I started the drama of the day with a nuisance of a scam artist, I ended the day meeting four wonderful people who donated their time to make sure that I was well taken care for.
I cannot think of a truer definition for the kindness of strangers.
have to say well done to the guys that helped hope if i ever have a breakdown i get that sort of help in u.k would no doubt get a ticket hope tou get the car fixed .simonWhat a day indeed...cost you a few years of your life I think.
Hope you can find the "problem" with your car! it can be very difficult to find your kind of problem... maybe its just a loose fuse, or damaged cable, or the inside of the distrubator/condensator... ignition switch/relais...?
I'm sure you tell us when you find it, I feel with you because now you can't relax the driving because you can't trust the elektric...
René
Hope you can find the "problem" with your car! it can be very difficult to find your kind of problem... maybe its just a loose fuse, or damaged cable, or the inside of the distrubator/condensator... ignition switch/relais...?
I'm sure you tell us when you find it, I feel with you because now you can't relax the driving because you can't trust the elektric...
René
Does these problems usually happen to the Ultima? I have heard the Ultima is very reliable but few owners have mentioned about their car dying on them while driving. If I were to purchase an Ultima, I wouldn't want it to die out in the middle of the highway.
>> Edited by d3vine on Wednesday 28th September 15:17
Craig,
Sorry to hear about your crazy day. That would be trying on anyone. I must say you have a great easy going attitude about all of this stuff. I am glad you found some guys to help out with the car. And hope you can get it and the house all fixed up. Sounds like your 'Honey Do' list just got a lot longer with things to fix in the house, huh?!? Best of luck.
TONY
Sorry to hear about your crazy day. That would be trying on anyone. I must say you have a great easy going attitude about all of this stuff. I am glad you found some guys to help out with the car. And hope you can get it and the house all fixed up. Sounds like your 'Honey Do' list just got a lot longer with things to fix in the house, huh?!? Best of luck.
TONY
d3vine said:
Does these problems usually happen to the Ultima? I have heard the Ultima is very reliable but few owners have mentioned about their car dying on them while driving. If I were to purchase an Ultima, I wouldn't want it to die out in the middle of the highway.
>> Edited by d3vine on Wednesday 28th September 15:17
Any car new, old, kit or production can have an intermitant fault. This may end up being a component failure like the coil or MSD ignition module.
If you are worried about breaking down on the highway perhaps you had better not own any type of car.
Steve
Thanks Andy - I won't forget, trust me. Besides, its an excuse for me to go for a drive and show off a bit 
although people still smirk at my poor shifting 
.
Yesterday I thought I had the problem fixed. I found some gunk on the connector between the distributor magnetic pickup and the MSD. I cleaned that up and was able to start the car quite a few times. I jiggled the cables - it runs perfectly.
Tonight I sat the car in the driveway and let it idle. I was hoping I could get the problem to repeat. After about 10 minutes, all other readings just fine, it suddenly died. I put a volt meter on the power going to the MSD, restarted it and waited. After a minute, it died again, but the power to the MSD is good. And when I say died - its a dead stop, just like the ignition is turned off. No sputtering, no coughing. Oil, water and alternator look fine.
So, the problem is definitely somewhere between the distributor sensor and the MSD or in the MSD unit itself.
The reson why I discount the coil is that when the car has died on the road, the tach goes straight to zero even with the clutch still in and the engine being spun over by the forward momentum of the car. If it was the coil, and not the sensor/pickup, then it follows logically that the tach should slow down slowly with engine RPM, not just go to zero immediately.
Does that make sense?
although people still smirk at my poor shifting . Yesterday I thought I had the problem fixed. I found some gunk on the connector between the distributor magnetic pickup and the MSD. I cleaned that up and was able to start the car quite a few times. I jiggled the cables - it runs perfectly.
Tonight I sat the car in the driveway and let it idle. I was hoping I could get the problem to repeat. After about 10 minutes, all other readings just fine, it suddenly died. I put a volt meter on the power going to the MSD, restarted it and waited. After a minute, it died again, but the power to the MSD is good. And when I say died - its a dead stop, just like the ignition is turned off. No sputtering, no coughing. Oil, water and alternator look fine.
So, the problem is definitely somewhere between the distributor sensor and the MSD or in the MSD unit itself.
The reson why I discount the coil is that when the car has died on the road, the tach goes straight to zero even with the clutch still in and the engine being spun over by the forward momentum of the car. If it was the coil, and not the sensor/pickup, then it follows logically that the tach should slow down slowly with engine RPM, not just go to zero immediately.
Does that make sense?
Craig,
If the electronic tach goes to zero, even with the clutch engaged while rolling down the road and the engine still turning over, it is most likely your battery/alternator, or their cables/connections...
Two things come to mind; battery/alternator connections (spark) and fuel. Have you done any tests to validate spark and fuel flow? Here's what I would try:
Spark - When the engine dies, pull a plug wire and attach it to a spare plug. Ground the plug electrode on the engine block. DO NOT HOLD THE WIRE!!! Zip-tie it into place if you cannot find a suitable resting point, but don't hold it. Crank the engine for a brief moment (5-6 seconds). Do this somewhere that you will be able to see a spark jump across the electrodes...in your closed garage with the lights off, for example. You may even hear the arc snapping as the engine cranks. If the engine starts, just turn it off and try when the engine again quits.
It's possible you have a heat problem with the alternator. An Ameter would check to see if the alt were really charging. You could trailer over to your local AutoZone, Checker, or other part's store. They should be able to check your charging system. Run the engine, cause the failure, and have the test done then.
Fuel - It doesn't sound too much like fuel, but don't hesitate to pull the fuel line and point it into a bucket. Turn the key on and see what you get. Stick the hose through a piece of cardboard and cover the bucket so you don't splash everywhere. Count six seconds and measure the amount of fuel. Multiply by 10 to determine your rough GMP. I don't think it's the pump or the filter, but worth a try. Again, do this when the failure happens.
Good luck and let us know what you discover.
If the electronic tach goes to zero, even with the clutch engaged while rolling down the road and the engine still turning over, it is most likely your battery/alternator, or their cables/connections...
Two things come to mind; battery/alternator connections (spark) and fuel. Have you done any tests to validate spark and fuel flow? Here's what I would try:
Spark - When the engine dies, pull a plug wire and attach it to a spare plug. Ground the plug electrode on the engine block. DO NOT HOLD THE WIRE!!! Zip-tie it into place if you cannot find a suitable resting point, but don't hold it. Crank the engine for a brief moment (5-6 seconds). Do this somewhere that you will be able to see a spark jump across the electrodes...in your closed garage with the lights off, for example. You may even hear the arc snapping as the engine cranks. If the engine starts, just turn it off and try when the engine again quits.
It's possible you have a heat problem with the alternator. An Ameter would check to see if the alt were really charging. You could trailer over to your local AutoZone, Checker, or other part's store. They should be able to check your charging system. Run the engine, cause the failure, and have the test done then.
Fuel - It doesn't sound too much like fuel, but don't hesitate to pull the fuel line and point it into a bucket. Turn the key on and see what you get. Stick the hose through a piece of cardboard and cover the bucket so you don't splash everywhere. Count six seconds and measure the amount of fuel. Multiply by 10 to determine your rough GMP. I don't think it's the pump or the filter, but worth a try. Again, do this when the failure happens.
Good luck and let us know what you discover.
Thanks.
When I say the tach goes to zero immediately, I mean within a third of a second or faster - basically as fast as the needle can move. So the couple of times when I've been driving along in gear and had it fail, the clutch is still in and the engine is spinnnig over (car is slowing down, but certainly not stopped).
I'm 99% sure it isn't fuel because tonight in the driveway I restarted after the first sudden stop without the fuel pumps on and it started back up immediately, and I could see fuel squirt in when I primed it just from what was in the primary/secondary tanks. During that restart I monitored the power to the MSD and it was fine for a minute and then the car died again and the power was +14 all the time until the engine stopped turning and it dropped to +12.
The challenge is that it is so darned intermittent. It does seem to happen after everything has warmed up for about 10 minutes. I did check the physical temperature of the MSD unit tonight and its cool on the outside, as is the coil. The distributor base is warm since its connected to the block. Nothing seems out of order temp wise.
I'm curious how you think the alternator could be causing this. The alternator warning light only comes on when the engine is not spinning, and it does seem to charge the battery just fine. Even if the alternator died, wouldn't that just mean that my battery would run the car for a while before going flat and then it would die and not be able to even crank over at that point (which it can)?
I have tested the spark off the coil (I plugged in a spare spark plug and used a jumper cable to ground it to the block). That can work just fine - but again, its an intermittent problem. In fact, its so intermittent that twice now I've had the rev's dip really quickly but then come back up. So, maybe a 200 msec failure. Then other times - like when I got stranded a few days ago, I've had it not start for 45 minutes but then start again and run for just 60 seconds more.
What I need to do is get an oscilloscope on the sensor. As soon as it dies, I'll try restarting and if I get no read on the sensor, then I know that is where the problem is. If I get a read on the sensor, and have power to the MSD, and no spark then it must be the MSD unit.
I'm still discounting the coil because if it was the coil only that was faulty and everything else was okay, then the tach would not drop to zero immediately as the engine slowly spun down as it was being pushed along by the car. Does this logic make sense, or am I missing something?
Anyway, I need all the advice I can get since I really am a novice at all this. And other things that I should test would be much appreciated!
When I say the tach goes to zero immediately, I mean within a third of a second or faster - basically as fast as the needle can move. So the couple of times when I've been driving along in gear and had it fail, the clutch is still in and the engine is spinnnig over (car is slowing down, but certainly not stopped).
I'm 99% sure it isn't fuel because tonight in the driveway I restarted after the first sudden stop without the fuel pumps on and it started back up immediately, and I could see fuel squirt in when I primed it just from what was in the primary/secondary tanks. During that restart I monitored the power to the MSD and it was fine for a minute and then the car died again and the power was +14 all the time until the engine stopped turning and it dropped to +12.
The challenge is that it is so darned intermittent. It does seem to happen after everything has warmed up for about 10 minutes. I did check the physical temperature of the MSD unit tonight and its cool on the outside, as is the coil. The distributor base is warm since its connected to the block. Nothing seems out of order temp wise.
I'm curious how you think the alternator could be causing this. The alternator warning light only comes on when the engine is not spinning, and it does seem to charge the battery just fine. Even if the alternator died, wouldn't that just mean that my battery would run the car for a while before going flat and then it would die and not be able to even crank over at that point (which it can)?
I have tested the spark off the coil (I plugged in a spare spark plug and used a jumper cable to ground it to the block). That can work just fine - but again, its an intermittent problem. In fact, its so intermittent that twice now I've had the rev's dip really quickly but then come back up. So, maybe a 200 msec failure. Then other times - like when I got stranded a few days ago, I've had it not start for 45 minutes but then start again and run for just 60 seconds more.
What I need to do is get an oscilloscope on the sensor. As soon as it dies, I'll try restarting and if I get no read on the sensor, then I know that is where the problem is. If I get a read on the sensor, and have power to the MSD, and no spark then it must be the MSD unit.
I'm still discounting the coil because if it was the coil only that was faulty and everything else was okay, then the tach would not drop to zero immediately as the engine slowly spun down as it was being pushed along by the car. Does this logic make sense, or am I missing something?
Anyway, I need all the advice I can get since I really am a novice at all this. And other things that I should test would be much appreciated!
Craig
I believe your last brain dump to be correct.
Loss of the tacho will be loss of signal from pickup or loss of MSD. Loss of the coil will not kill the tacho. You have proven there is still power to the system so all electrics back from your test point to battery are good.
The scope sounds a good idea as I don't believe there is a simple multimeter type way to test the sensor. The only problem I see there is if the MSD fails and no longer supplies power to the pickup does that stop working or does it not require a supply?
MSD do not have a squeeky clean record on reliability so you could just take it back to the shop or cut your losses and buy a new one. One more return on a flatbed will buy a new unit.
Steve
I believe your last brain dump to be correct.
Loss of the tacho will be loss of signal from pickup or loss of MSD. Loss of the coil will not kill the tacho. You have proven there is still power to the system so all electrics back from your test point to battery are good.
The scope sounds a good idea as I don't believe there is a simple multimeter type way to test the sensor. The only problem I see there is if the MSD fails and no longer supplies power to the pickup does that stop working or does it not require a supply?
MSD do not have a squeeky clean record on reliability so you could just take it back to the shop or cut your losses and buy a new one. One more return on a flatbed will buy a new unit.
Steve
Craig
The installation manual for your MSD should include a section for fault finding (it covers missing and intermittent problems and tests the MSD, distributor pickup and coil)
It lists two tests, the white wire or the mag pickup wires. Its quick and very easy to do at the side of the road if you have prepared and identified the wires.
It worked for me on another car when that had an intermittent MSD problem.
The only intermittent I ever had on the Ultima gave an immediate cutout when on the road and then started later. This was traced to a fractured wire on one of the two connections to the coil, not the HT that goes to the distributor. If memory serves, this caused a vicious cut out and dropped the rev counter instantly to zero.
Hope you find the cause soon.
Phil
>> Edited by canam-phil on Friday 30th September 11:11
The installation manual for your MSD should include a section for fault finding (it covers missing and intermittent problems and tests the MSD, distributor pickup and coil)
It lists two tests, the white wire or the mag pickup wires. Its quick and very easy to do at the side of the road if you have prepared and identified the wires.
It worked for me on another car when that had an intermittent MSD problem.
The only intermittent I ever had on the Ultima gave an immediate cutout when on the road and then started later. This was traced to a fractured wire on one of the two connections to the coil, not the HT that goes to the distributor. If memory serves, this caused a vicious cut out and dropped the rev counter instantly to zero.
Hope you find the cause soon.
Phil
>> Edited by canam-phil on Friday 30th September 11:11
Maybe its an elektronic switch(relais) when those get warm they can switch themself of...?
Or a small device near the distrubator in the Netherlands they cal it a "condensator" don't know the word in English...hope its a bit of a help...
René
>> Edited by GTRene on Friday 30th September 09:32
Or a small device near the distrubator in the Netherlands they cal it a "condensator" don't know the word in English...hope its a bit of a help...
René
>> Edited by GTRene on Friday 30th September 09:32
Craig,
You are right, it's probably not the alternator. I have seen an alt ground out the entire engine electrical system after heating up.
From the sound of it, you are on the right path...especially if the tach signal comes from the MSD. I would think that's a sign there's definitely something wrong with that box.
So, it's starting right up now, immediately after failure? Or, do you still have to wait some (maybe for cool-down)?
You are right, it's probably not the alternator. I have seen an alt ground out the entire engine electrical system after heating up.
From the sound of it, you are on the right path...especially if the tach signal comes from the MSD. I would think that's a sign there's definitely something wrong with that box.
So, it's starting right up now, immediately after failure? Or, do you still have to wait some (maybe for cool-down)?
Thanks all for your thoughts - here is how I ended up today:
Last night and today I replaced the reluctance sensor in the distributor. Until yesterday I didn't know what a distributor reluctance sensor was, and had actually never even removed a distributor cover in my life.
I earlier had called a few local speed shops and they said that my syptoms were more like the sensor failing than the MSD unit. Their experience was that when the MSD unit goes, it goes completely, but the trigger sensor can fall into intermittant failure. Every place I called asked what car it was for, but had never heard of the Ultima.
I also re-routed the sensor wire so that it was completely away from anything that held a high voltage spark.
After doing all this work, I ran the car for 15 minutes at idle in the driveway and had no problems. The engine runs at 900 rpm in idle and a constant oil pressure and coolant temperature.
After packing a full kit of tools, the cell phone, the numbers for everyone I could think of, I headed out for a fault free 30 minutes of driving - both highway and local streets.
At least, I think it was fault free. On the interstate, I was being very conservative and only zipped past traffic at a max of 90 mph. Twice while letting off the gas, the car seemed to sputter a bit in an odd way that I had never experienced before, but it never stalled and the tach never went to zero. All this was in 6th gear and around 3000 RPM, so nothing aggressive at all.
When I got home, I replaced all the spark plugs. My racing buddy Gordon had recommended that I do this after the chronic flooding problem I had a few weeks ago, but the plugs I ordered had not arrived until last week. Some of the plugs from the engine looked terrible - they had flaky black layers on them (I'm guessing this is carbon deposited from the flooding).
Tomorrow I'm planning a 50 mile drive to the local Minneapolis Autocross meeting - just to be a spectator. This is the first event that I will have driven the car to...
Last night and today I replaced the reluctance sensor in the distributor. Until yesterday I didn't know what a distributor reluctance sensor was, and had actually never even removed a distributor cover in my life.
I earlier had called a few local speed shops and they said that my syptoms were more like the sensor failing than the MSD unit. Their experience was that when the MSD unit goes, it goes completely, but the trigger sensor can fall into intermittant failure. Every place I called asked what car it was for, but had never heard of the Ultima.
I also re-routed the sensor wire so that it was completely away from anything that held a high voltage spark.
After doing all this work, I ran the car for 15 minutes at idle in the driveway and had no problems. The engine runs at 900 rpm in idle and a constant oil pressure and coolant temperature.
After packing a full kit of tools, the cell phone, the numbers for everyone I could think of, I headed out for a fault free 30 minutes of driving - both highway and local streets.
At least, I think it was fault free. On the interstate, I was being very conservative and only zipped past traffic at a max of 90 mph. Twice while letting off the gas, the car seemed to sputter a bit in an odd way that I had never experienced before, but it never stalled and the tach never went to zero. All this was in 6th gear and around 3000 RPM, so nothing aggressive at all.
When I got home, I replaced all the spark plugs. My racing buddy Gordon had recommended that I do this after the chronic flooding problem I had a few weeks ago, but the plugs I ordered had not arrived until last week. Some of the plugs from the engine looked terrible - they had flaky black layers on them (I'm guessing this is carbon deposited from the flooding).
Tomorrow I'm planning a 50 mile drive to the local Minneapolis Autocross meeting - just to be a spectator. This is the first event that I will have driven the car to...
good work, I don't know how they caled it in English but that was also what I ment by the condensator I talked about by the distrubator...some 20 years ago I had cars that faild up also with that kind of problems, but those where not such fast cars 
and mostly 4 cillinders..so other setup but almost same problems..good luck and have some worry free drive's.
You only may hope it got wrong on itself and not by an elektric fault somewhere else that caused that broken thing...
>> Edited by GTRene on Sunday 2nd October 12:27
and mostly 4 cillinders..so other setup but almost same problems..good luck and have some worry free drive's. You only may hope it got wrong on itself and not by an elektric fault somewhere else that caused that broken thing...
>> Edited by GTRene on Sunday 2nd October 12:27
GTRene said:
good work, I don't know how they caled it in English but that was also what I ment by the condensator I talked about by the distrubator...some 20 years ago I had cars that faild up also with that kind of problems, but those where not such fast cars
You only may hope it got wrong on itself and not by an elektric fault somewhere else that caused that broken thing...
>> Edited by GTRene on Sunday 2nd October 12:27
Rene
You are referring to a 'Condenser' or in electronics it would be called a 'capacitor'. This is used with the points or contacts in old distributors to stop the points from burning.
The item Craig is referring to is an electromagnetic switch that replaces the points in our modern distributors.
Steve
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