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By ian57tbird - 6 Years Ago
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I was heading back from an event when the Tbird cut out. On the side of the road I isolated it down to missing spark. Embarrassingly it came home on a flat bed. I had a quick look but it was getting late so I left it until the next day. When checking it the next day I discovered it had spark again so turned the key and it fired up.
I'm thinking coil failing when hot. What is the consensus out there on what went wrong?
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By paul2748 - 6 Years Ago
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.Might be the condenser -changed it lately? Lot of bad ones out there. They fail when they get hot
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By 55 GLASS TOP - 6 Years Ago
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Could just be a loose wire , check the connections
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By MoonShadow - 6 Years Ago
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All of the above is good advice. I once found the wire that attaches the condenser had separated inside of casing. I fought it for hours until I decided to change the condenser and the wire fell out. Good luck.
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By Talkwrench - 6 Years Ago
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If you're still on points Ian, quite possibly the condenser... Ask Rick all about them....
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By Hoosier Hurricane - 6 Years Ago
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It is possible that the ballast resistor went "open" or a wire connection to it was loose. When that happens you have spark when cranking, but the engine dies as soon as you let off the key.
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By ian57tbird - 6 Years Ago
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I know that coils can fail when warm but come good again when they cool down. Can condensers do the same? It was fine the next day.
It's not resistor as I bypassed that before I called for a tow.
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By paul2748 - 6 Years Ago
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Yes, but eventually it will totally fail
ian57tbird (4/17/2018)
I know that coils can fail when warm but come good again when they cool down. Can condensers do the same? It was fine the next day. It's not resistor as I bypassed that before I called for a tow.
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By geo56 - 6 Years Ago
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My 56 Victoria with the 292 did the same thing two summers ago. While driving along normally it suddenly backfired and bucked and fired intermittently and then died. I coasted to the side of the road. It cranked but wouldn't fire. My friend rescued me with his trailor and yes it is particularly embarrassing to be seen loading a vintage car onto a trailor on the side of a busy street. Of course the next morning while cold it started up and I thought maybe water in the gas. Put in some dry gas and broke down a mile from home again. To make a long story short, after I dropped and drained the gas tank, rebuilt the carburator, tried a different coil and fuel pump, It broke down again away from home. I coasted into a church parking lot . I popped the hood and decided to check for loose wires. Found none and then looked at the distributer which I had just bought as a remanufactured unit from O'Reilleys and installed it about a month earlier. I pulled the cap off and noticed that the condenser wire where it bolts to the side if the points seemed to be sticking up rather high. I pushed down on it and it slid down to where it belonged. The tightening nut seemed to be only finger tight. The car fired right up and got me back home. Apon close examination when I was at home, I discivered that Whomever assembled that distributer, probably at Cardone had smeared a blue lube on the distributer cam and must have had some of that lube on his fingers when he connected the condenser wire to the side of the points. I cleaned the connection dry and tightened the 3/8 nut tight . Problem solved. You just never expect new parts to be defective,
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By MoonShadow - 6 Years Ago
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Electrical problems are the worst. Especially when it becomes a marathon trying to find what's wrong. Often found only after throwing parts at it for a day or so.
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By ian57tbird - 6 Years Ago
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It is even worse when the problem is intermittent like mine is now.
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By petew - 6 Years Ago
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Is your bird automatic or stick ? The reason I ask is because the overdrive cars have an ignition cut out feature and I have seen this cause a similar problem on other cars.
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By ian57tbird - 6 Years Ago
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My Tbird is auto. It will be either coil or condenser but I hate to change and throw both out when only one of then is faulty. I'll give the condenser a leak down test and check the resistances in the coil to see if anything jumps out as being wrong. If nothing shows up then I'll change the condenser as I have a new one, and carry a coil with me as I have spares. Then if it does stop it is easy to change the coil over on the side of the road.
Thanks for the help everyone.
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By Sandbird - 6 Years Ago
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The wire that connects the points to the coil can cause an intermittent problem. The conductor breaks from the constant flexing from the vacuum advance motion but the insulation stays intact. I know the Tbird dealers sell a newer style than the original bolt through insulator terminal the factory originally used. The new pigtail leads have a rubber grommet that snaps in the original hole used for the bolt on terminal. Not hard to install at all.
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By ian57tbird - 6 Years Ago
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Thanks, might be worth checking the integrity of the points wire as well while I'm there.
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By Florida_Phil - 6 Years Ago
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Same thing happened to my TBird. I bought a rebuilt distributor online. Ran perfect for a day then left me on the side of the road. It would start and idle for 10 seconds or so then stall. Finally it quit altogether. After I got home on a AAA trailer, I replaced to junk Chinese points and condenser with quality parts and have had no issues since.
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