Electrical: Coil ? Points ? Other ?

[jackb]

So I just installed new NAPA (Mexican) points in my Commander 6 engine. Truck jumped out of the driveway. Ran great for a few days, very short drives (<15 min.) I took it to work on Friday....about 20 minutes 1 way. Ran great. Came home later that day (after 8hrs.).. and it almost died on the highway: sputtering, maybe a backfire (slight)....and I finally limped home all the while running like it was starving for gas & no power/acceleration. Thought maybe I over greased the points or burned them somehow.... Opened up the dist. cap and found good points but gapped @ .016 (Presto-gap). Opened them up to 0.20 gap, took it for a short ride and it ran great. Took it to work on Monday with a great drive "to" work and an almost dead truck on the way home.... Honestly, so bad I thought I'd be calling AAA.

While I was "dying" driving home, I had to slow to the shoulder and almost died...when gradually it came back to life and I proceeded home easily, but with better power than 15-20 minutes earlier in the ride.

As an aside....how do you "match" a coil to a system ? By Delco distributor ?

[Ross]

In the warmer afternoon temperature you are having fuel delivery problems. Could also be the coil, but if it backfires through the carb it is lean. That's why I vote for fuel delivery.

[bensherb]

I agree, check your fuel filter, pump and hoses.

[StudeRich]

Jack, have you added the required on 12 Volt Systems, RESISTER Block you told me was missing?

That may not be the issue THIS time, but it soon will be.

[Mike Van Veghten]

Jack -

Sounds like the exact same symptoms as when the distributor condenser went bad.
My points/condenser/cap/rotor was about a month old. Leaving a friends shop about 40 miles away, about half way home, it started acting the same as you explain, all the way home. I had to move the car up the driveway...with the starter..! The engine refused to start after dying. The next morning, it started fine. I drove it, after about 10 minutes, it started acting up again.
Checked the points/cap/rotor...all fine. Only thing I could not check was...the condenser. Bought a new one, installed it. That was over 5 years back, no problems since.

A 299 will soon, finally...be going under the hood.

Mike

[Bud]

I've had several problems with new stock condensers in recent history. When one goes bad, the symptoms mimic a lean fuel condition. I bought a dozen new condensers from one of our Studebaker vendors a couple of years ago and out of the dozen, five failed causing the same symptoms you are describing, after that I trashed the rest not trusting whether or not they would fail too. I have an old Sprague TO6 capacitor tester on my bench that I use for radio work and it showed all of the new condensers as being good, but once they heated up they failed. Bud

[JohnM15]

Here is my solution to the crappy condenser problem: https://studem15a-20.blogspot.com/20...condenser.html

[christophe]

Here is my solution to the crappy condenser problem: https://studem15a-20.blogspot.com/20...condenser.html

Thanks for sharing. Splendid craftsmanship. FWIW, I like to have a backup condenser affixed to the side of the coil. If needed, I only have to p!ug it. Never been a big fan of the condenser placed under the cap as you have to remove the dist to change it.
Nice day to all.

[studegary]

Thanks for sharing. Splendid craftsmanship. FWIW, I like to have a backup condenser affixed to the side of the coil. If needed, I only have to p!ug it. Never been a big fan of the condenser placed under the cap as you have to remove the dist to change it.
Nice day to all.

Why would you have to remove the distributor to replace a stock condenser? I never have.

I used to use a brass can, large Mallory condenser mounted outside the cap and connected with a substantial lead and never had a problem with them (many different cars, many miles, many years).

[gordr]

Beautiful work, John, but why would you use lead-free solder for a part that is never going to be used for human consumption?

[Bud]

I had a problem with my 62 Hawk late on a Saturday afternoon when it wouldn't start parked out on the Camarrillo , CA airport. It turned out the condenser failed and the only part available to do a repair was a .22 uf 600 volt Sprague Vitamin Q capacitor salvaged from a piece of no longer needed radar equipment removed from an EC121T Lockheed Constellation we were working on. I made it the 65 miles home and forgot that I had mounted the cap externally on the coil and ran the car for 6 months before I realized that I needed to put a new condenser in the distributor. I still have that Sprague cap in the parts box in the trunk just in case. Bud

[christophe]

Why would you have to remove the distributor to replace a stock condenser? I never have.

I used to use a brass can, large Mallory condenser mounted outside the cap and connected with a substantial lead and never had a problem with them (many different cars, many miles, many years).

I should have given more precisions. My car is a 63 GT with an OHV6 and an Auto-Lite dist. It is buried down under and changing the condenser (located under the cap) or/and the points in the car always seemed (at least to me!) a perfect occasion to drop a screw in the distributor or/and denting the trim on the fender.
Nice day to all.

[Hawklover]

Here is my solution to the crappy condenser problem: https://studem15a-20.blogspot.com/20...condenser.html

Sir that is one of the greatest things I have seen lately!

If only you would consider "tooling" up to make this available to the hobby.

Congrats.

[StudeRich]

That looks like only about 4 Hours work at $95.00 an Hour professional rate = ONLY about $380.00 plus $3.00 Shipping, for a CONDENSER!

Yeah, how many do you want?

[jnormanh]

I've had several problems with new stock condensers in recent history. When one goes bad, the symptoms mimic a lean fuel condition. I bought a dozen new condensers from one of our Studebaker vendors a couple of years ago and out of the dozen, five failed causing the same symptoms you are describing

Interesting discussion. I have never been without one or more points/condenser cars since 1964.

And I've never had a condenser fail. Are you using 50 year old condensers? Chinese condensers? 5/12 failures? Something is amiss.