Posted by john r eickhof [108.162.245.64] on Monday, August 14, 2023 at 11:25:45 :
In Reply to: COILS posted by bruce in BC [162.158.146.100] on Monday, August 14, 2023 at 10:46:55 :
the condenser along with point gap is what establishes dwell time, condensers are of various voltage and capacitance, a mis matched one can cause all kinds of troubles...also, the voltage and polarity as well as capacitance will effect operation. i have had hot coils fail and on later pws the ballast resistor go bad and on that type, the ignition sw can go bad causing the coil to cut out, but marty has an original old truck, so no ballast or dual contact ign sw. older tune up manuals will give the specs on the condenser i would look at that. older ones were oil filled paper tytpe and will break down with heat, when they do, capacitance goes up to infinity and dwell goes away thus no spark, or if the condenser shorts it will provide constant voltage to the coil and over heat it or burn it up.