bad condensor symptoms

Intermittent no spark can be one big symptom especially after warming up. Another member posted here to mount one spare condenser on the firewall and use a jumper wire to the passenger side of the coil as soon as you stall to bypass your condenser. Easy check if the condenser is bad.
Put the following in search: Jackson III 2nd Condenser
 
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It depends on how bad, could have no spark, only one spark, a lot of sparking and burning of the points, backfiring, loss of power on hot restarts tin cools some, shutting off when hot
 
If the condenser is open, such as can happen with the poor quality ones caused by an overheated engine melting the solder that attaches the ground strap to the body, the car will back fire an run erratically. The good quality condensers designed by A&L and sold by most suppliers have the strap stake welded on as indicated by three dots on the strap. I have never seen one of these fail, However, I have seen a lot of them replaced.

If the condenser is shorted the car won't start.

Tom Endy
 
The engine will run but the spark will be weak and a weak spark makes for a weak engine,
this a know for a fact.
 
Symptoms of a failing condenser:
>Degraded hi-voltage spark that appears yellow. It should be violet / blue;
>Lack of engine power due to degraded hi-voltage;
>Backfiring as condenser breaks down internally;
>Pitting of points;
>Poor gas mileage;
>Hard starting;
>Leads to unnecessary tinkering with ignition timing and carburetor;
>Eventually engine stops running / will not start.
 

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When I had a condenser go on me, it felt as if I had pulled the choke out while the engine was running. The engine kept going- it didn't stall- but it had no power whatsoever.
 
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