advise needed my car shuts off

i have been reading this board for a long time but today signed up to post because this board is full of knowlegable people and i can sure use some help.my car is a 59 chevy 283 motor, my car will shut off after 35 minutes of driving, this has happened 4 times already and each time i had to connect a wire from coil to battery to get back home, at home after sitting a while it will start up fine again, i have put new coil,changed points to pertronix, and new voltage regulator, could it be ignition switch related or distributor related? again i can drive it around and its fine but after 35 minutes it will just shut off, any advice? thanks jeff

 

Don't remember if the 59 still had an external ballast resistor ahead of the coil to cut the running voltage down to the points or had a resistor wire in the loom, my 57 still had one external. If it has one it could be breaking down with heat, and then conducting again when it cools off.

 

I suspect that the coil is breaking down from the heat and your full 12V jumper eliminating the ballast resistor is supplying more juice to overcome the heat breakdown. I had it happen to me. Borrow a coil and give it a try.

 

Let's back up a notch.

What did you do (if anything) immediately before this problem started? Did you do a tune-up, add equipment or ?????

 

i rebuilt the motor and it starting happening the first day back on the road, also new coil was put on and then another new one last week,

 

I had a car that would do something like your saying...after checking around in and out I found that the wires connected to the starter were not connected tight enough... Miller

 

I'd look at the ballast resistor as it seems you've gone over everything else. Any chance the coil is using a breaker instead of a fuse on the fuse block?

 

i have been looking but cannot find any ballast resister, it should be ceramic right?

 

I just went through the same problem. I had to strip/sadder new wiring, and add new connectors (o-ring connectors) ...mine was the ground/negative wire running from my ignition.

I would be driving/everything is fine, and then surprise...all power gone, just like turning off the vehicle..? Is that what is happening to you?

Id give it a shot. If its the same thing, its a very cheap/easy fix!

 

Wow, there was just another thread very similar to this one. A Chevy ignition epidemic maybe?

 

Also, Im not sure what youre running as far as an ignition modual, but...were ever you have it bolted down, if it isnt grounded well enough, it will bounce around, and cut you off also.

But I honestly think that changing out the connectors, cleaning up some wire would help.

 

You have a resistance wire buried in the harness and it is not visible without removing the harness wrap. I've never seen any ballast resistor be an intermittent heat related problem especially a GM resistor wire. They all seemed to be either good or bad. Easy to diagnose.

You could by pass the resistor wire with a ceramic generic BR but I'd make it temporary in case that it is not the problem.

 

Check the connections on the stuff you worked on just before it started happening. I'm willing to bet there's a bad connection / splder joint or similar happeneing.

Several years ago, I crimped a fitting on a wire going to my tach, but forgot to solder it. Tach would work for a few minutes, but would then started working erratically. I went to remove the tach and the wire in question came out of the connecton with a very slight tug. I soldered it and it's been fine since.

My 2¢

 

thanks for all the help, i do have a new engine wiring harness i just bought, i will change that now, i will report back to all who gave me advice after i change the harness,

 

OK, so I take that back. Kinda running into the same problem again today. The heat here in MO is horrible. My coil is just a normal house brand/doesnt protect against heat well (thats gonna change, lol) I dont know what kinda coil youre running, but of course, if they get too hot, the spark starts cutting out.

 

coil is from napa auto parts, i just changed the engine wire harness today,the only problem i had was when i was connecting the solonoid wires the threads on the nuts started to strip out when i tighten them,will replace nuts tommorrow,the old harness did look warn, im hoping that was the problem and will test drive this weekend,

 

today i drove my car to the style kings car show in hayward about 1 hour drive and no shutting off problems at all, thanks tommy for the advice on the wire harness,

 

I had the same thing on my Biscayne. It was the resistor ignition wire.