testing condenser

Pretty hard without equipment. I have a old sun machine with a condensor checker on it that we use. I would be glad to test them ( no charge ) if ya want to mail them to me......
 
If you have a old dist with points put x condenser in, turn by hand with coil hooked to it with battery supply.Center wire about 1/2 inch to grd and if it jumps the gap i,d try it under power in car.Rather then to sell them i,d throw them away.
 
Back in the day, where I worked, we had a set up that must have been just a diode plugged into 120VAC with two leads that we touched to the condenser shell and the terminal for a second or two. Ya' removed the leads and bent the terminal around to touch the shell. If you got a nice fat spark, that was a good one. We used to do this with every condenser before we put them into a distributor. (This was back in the late fifties.) I learned real quick to never accept a condenser from a co-worker without shorting it out first!
 
You need an ohmeter with a needle, a digital won't work. Put it up on the 100K or higher scale. Touch the leads together and zero the meter. Touch one lead to the body of the condenser and the other lead to the terminal, reverse the leads and the ohm meter will move up 3/8 to a 1/2" each time you reverse the leads hold a charge and bleed back slowly to zero. This means it works cold now heat the condenser up to about 150 degrees with a heat gun. At a 150 degrees you will only be able to touch the condenser body with your finger for 2 seconds. Now do the same test and if it still works as it did cold it should be good. As Ken said go get a IH-200 or IH-201 and end the condenser problems. G.M.
 
How about the old charge it up on a spark plug and lay it on the bench to let some unsuspecting soul tell you if it's good or not trick.:D:mad:

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We used to do that when I worked at dealers in the late 40's and throw them to the guys that polished the cars. They would jump up in the air about 2 feet when it discharged. That proves they will work cold but most will work cold and fail when heated. G.M.
 
Most of the old condensers were made with a wax paper rolled up. If they get too hot the wax melts and reduces the effective charge build. New condensers are made with Milar strips rolled up. The only bad thing about the new ones is the way many are put together with the wire lead. Some put the wire lead well down into the roll and some are right at the end of the roll. Whether it is soldered or crimped at that junction makes a difference too. Most are made the cheep way and you just can't tell by looking at it.

Kerby
 
G.M. said:
We used to do that when I worked at dealers in the late 40's and throw them to the guys that polished the cars. They would jump up in the air about 2 feet when it discharged. That proves they will work cold but most will work cold and fail when heated. G.M.
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I've seen that done too, but wouldn't recommend it as a testing procedure. too many pacemakers out there and weak hearts. Zap by one could permanently tip someone over. Just like getting nailed by a magneto, try it once and you're good for a lifetime.
 
I wasn't recommending the spark charging as a way of testing just answering 51-MERCS post. The way to test them without test equipment is as I described with an ohmeter, there is no spark only the voltage of the batteries in the meter. That is what you see jumping the meter up and discharging. G.M.
 
by testing with anolog meter and reversing the leads for a defection is only a indication of some storage. Capicators do become weak. the only way is to check the mfd with a capicator meter or just go and by a new one nad hoping it's a 100%
 
We have tested 100's of them and when they pass the hot test they work in the cars. We prefer a new IH-200 because even though an old one works who knows for how long. G.M.
 
G.M. said:
We used to do that when I worked at dealers in the late 40's and throw them to the guys that polished the cars. They would jump up in the air about 2 feet when it discharged. That proves they will work cold but most will work cold and fail when heated. G.M.
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Heh heh.... we used to do that too. Charge one up, and toss it to some unsuspecting soul. The instinctive reaction is to catch it. You only get caught out once! :D
 
I actually built a Heath kit capacitor checker about 35 years ago. I enjoyed building it but never put it to use.
 
Yes your asking for trouble fitting old stuff .For the sake of a few dollars you get a better chance of reliability
 
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