48 coupe- blowing condensers

Bolts

Bolts

Well-known member
Car was running fine. Quit running. I replaced the condenser. Started and ran for 20 seconds and blew that condenser and quit.
Is my coil shorted?
 
Ohm out the coil, a good multimeter will tell. If its a 12 volt system it should 1.5 ohms if you are using a resistor inline or 3.0 without a resistor. Red probe to + and black to -
 
There's no way to "blow" a condenser that I can think of. The highest voltage available is either 6 or 12 volts depending on the car. Condensers (capacitors) are rated in hundreds of volts. Having said that, bad condensers seem to be pretty common these days. I've been bit myself. Back in the day it was virtually unheard of, but nowadays there's a lot of junk on the market. It's not the car, it's the part!!! Tell us what the car is so someone can tell you what you should get and where to get a reliable (probably) new one. And yes, be sure the coil is OK. A trip to Skip Haney might be in order.
 
I converted to Pertronix to get away from being plagued by condensers. But I carry a full points type distributor in the trunk, in case the little magic stuff goes flakey, or Putin sets off an electro-magnetic pulse weapon over Williamsburg. And a coil, and a fuel pump, and a carb float, and WD40, and electrical tape, and some wire, and Permatex. Having that stuff is like having an insurance policy that nothing goes wrong.
 
I use an Accell condenser in my Model A 4 cyl. Made in USA and used for 10 years,24,000 miles. Bubba has also mentioned a magneto condenser being good.

John
 
I use a Velleman ignition amplifier kit on my 3 flatty powered vehicles. Keeps the points, ditches the condenser. Win win.

I went to Pertronix and an Aldon Amethyst unit on the roadster but developed a misfire. I don't know which unit has the problem, I took them both off and fitted the Velleman and points and no problems since.

Mart.
 
Due to the ongoing problem with foreign made condensers, we reuse them during an rebuild. If we need any, we get them from C&G (800/266-0470). A customer sent three to us, along with the distributor. All three were bad! When he told us the source, we were not surprised.
 
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