Condensor Problems

[Colorado Greg]

I went for a drive in the mountains today and I discovered what a bad condensor will do to the runability of your car. It misses, sputters, coughs, backfires, no power etc...... I drove up the mountain without any problems and had good (for a stock A) power. Stopped for lunch and when I started the car, it seemed to have a slight miss. This just got worse over the next 5 miles or so. It was acting like a fuel problem so I tore the carb apart and found nothing wrong. Still would not run right and I had few extra condensors, so I put a different, used, condensor in and she ran great. Back on the road and by the time I got home she was starting to miss again and seemed to be low on power.

What makes condensor's go bad? I have heard that heat from the manifold will kill them but everything was running very cool today, only 70 degrees out. '29 Coupe with original distributer parts.

 

[Mitch Bunkin in PA]

2 months ago my car suddenly behaved exactly the same way. I also changed condensers & got the same result...no change in behavior. Then, I checked my points. Gap had narrowed & I reset between .18 and .20 after lightly cleaning. I also made sure points were just beginning to open against cam lobe when timing pin hit indent in timing gear. I also made sure "pigtail" wire was tightly connected at both ends and spark plug top nuts held spark wires firmly. So far my car has run well since...even in 95++ weather. Hope this helps.

 

[Mike V. Florida]

..my car suddenly behaved exactly the same way. I also changed condensers & got the same result...no change in behavior. Then, I checked my points. Gap had narrowed & I reset between .18 and .20 after lightly cleaning. I also made sure points were just beginning to open against cam lobe when timing pin hit indent in timing gear.

Same here, the rubbing block wears down to a point where the gap is way too close. Opened it up, re-checked timing and no more problems.

 

[Colorado Greg]

There was nothing wrong with the points or gap. I checked to make sure I had a gap but didn't do anything with the points. I only replaced the condensor and it ran great untill I was almost home then acted up again, probably 2 hours of driving. Seems like the used condensor I put in was starting to go bad.

I just want to know if I should look for any other problems or if this is just a symptom of these old cars/parts. I had about 800 miles on the first condensor that went bad.

Thanks!

 

[zzlegend]

Greg, mine started missing a few weeks ago. It would miss a little in first but in third it would really start to buck and cough. I thought fuel at first but before i got in to that i ordered 2 new condensers from snyders. Installed one and have not had any problems since. I remember reading that sometimes they start to fail and breakdown when getting hot. Have an extra in the tool box now.