Condenser failure - I've seen it all now !!

Replaced two in the last year. One in our old fork lift , and a mallory in my 32.

 

I had a Jeep and did the tune up with everything new . Anyway ran good for about a week , then while I was driving it would start bucking and sputtering then die out . I would try to start and nothing . Would sit for a while then would start and down the road I would go . Then for no reason do it all over again . Well I thought it was a bad coil running hot & cold . Replaced that and was fine for about 2 miles then started up that BS again . Got it back home and checked everything out . I couldn't figure out a thing . So I was checking the points and cleaning them and they broke . So I stuck the old condenser & points back in and it ran fine . I drove them like that for another month . Still ran fine . I got a new set of points and used the old/new condenser . Well come to find out it started doing that sputtering again . So I knew the only thing replaced was the points so I knew the condenser was bad . Went and got a new one and it ran fine till the next tune up .
Just never know until something goes wrong with new parts . That was the only time I ever had that happen to me .

Retro Jim

 

I had the same thing happen in my 66 Shelby. Ended up blowing up a coil and getting stranded in South Dakota

 

A couple of years ago I had the most frustating situation with the 327 in my 34 Chevy. Would run fine around town but get on the highway and about every few minutes or so it would act like it was running out of gas. Miss, stumble, cut out, etc for about 5 to 10 seconds, never quit running completely, then everything was OK for another 30 minutes or so then do it again. Didn't seem to matter if it was hot or cold. Checked fuel filter, float level, fuel pump, etc etc and nothing corrected it. Finally found nothing wrong with the fuel system so changed coil, then ballast resistor, and no help. Finally changed the condenser as a last resort and has run fine since.

 

maybe the issue with my A....hey why hasn't that "Petroix" guy chimed in - that couldn't make it to the show last week?

 

Ive had a couple go bad in the old Harley, never in any cars or trucks,think its the vibration, the OL likes it though. Ive found Blue Streak to be the best points and condensor on the market now. Spike

 

When I was way younger, I would do all the usual checks when the engine wasn't running right, then I'd listen to my dad, "change the condenser", he could tell everytime.

 

Never had a condenser issue in my 30 years of working on cars...bought this old Dodge Coronet that really seemed like it needed a rebuilt carb. It would run ok, then sputter, then backfire in the exhaust...I thought it was dripping gas and running rich. I had the carb rebuilt and it ran WORSE! I see Groucho at a cruise night...and he says "change the condenser"...the more I thought about it the more sense it made...spark scatter was the source of my engine's problems...long story short...it was the condenser. Never needed a carb. After I swapped it out it ran like a champ...since then if I ever encounter a weird running motor...the first thing I try (and cheapest by the way) is to change the points and condenser....

 

My 65 Mustang was running just slightly out of tune, and every 10 seconds or so it would have a miss. I totally blew out the carb and checked the points. Ended up being the condenser . thanks for the help HAMB members.

 

When I was spannering for a Cobra racing team, we had to run points distributors (as they were 'period' parts) and had no end of problems with condensors until we started to fit two wired in parallel.
As soon as we'd done that mod we had no further problems, even when the car would not run with either wired individually.

 

Our shop had an Allen Scope back in the 60's and a tune up guy that was a whiz on it. Showed condition of points, condenser, coil, plug wires, plugs, and many other readings. Bad condensers were not common but not unheard of either.

 

I'm glad someone resurrected this. Here's one from the Twilight Zone file. ("submitted for your approval") I was way "out in the sticks" working on an HEI ignition. It wasn't "gettin no fahr" as we say in this part of the country. I went through everything, multiple times. Swapped coil packs, plug wires, ignition modules, and cap. Still "nuttin." I've always thought the condenser in HEI is for radio interference only. Pulled the shop manual (Chilton or whatever) and sure enough it said the condenser serves no purpose other than radio interference. Knowing this full well we drove off the mountain (anyway) to the parts store and they didn't have the correct condenser (it was a plug in type deal) and the guy behind the counter said "you don't need it no way." I was feeling thoroughly defeated. So we called it a day and when I got home, I looked through my stash 'o' dizzies and found a condenser that would work. Drove back out the next morning, popped it in and it fired right up. Why? Dammit why!? Looking back, I just figure that pulling everything out and putting back may have relieved the components of some oxidation and allowed for a good ground. I know I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth but it just bugs the crap out of me. If it's the weirdest thing that can possibly happen, it will fall on my watch.

 

The old guys over on Fordbarn go crazy over bad condensers in 30's & 40's distributors. Mostly from offshore junk. On a somewhat related story, my 38 Ford had been running like crap for a few months. Popping, backfiring, hard cranking when starting & no power. Finally got tired of the way it ran and looked into it. Pulled the rotor out of the helmet style dist. and saw where it had burned through to the shaft. Not having a spare I wrapped some tape around the shaft and put it back together. Ran better than it has in months. New one on me for something that old.

 

I had one years ago in a GTO I had that drove me bat shit crazy. When hot would backfire and die and not restart. By the time I got it home it would start and run great. Turns out that when it got hot, the strap around the condenser to hold it down would expand enough that it didn't ground the condenser. New condenser and problem solved

 

For awhile, I was replacing condensers on a regular basis on the Jimmy 302 in my '37 Chevy truck. I got pretty good at driftin' across two lanes of traffic and into a parking lot when the engine shut down on me. Condenser was mounted on the outside of the distributor so I could swap it out and be on my way again in about two minutes. The problem disappeared when I swapped distributors so, in retrospect, I suspect an intermittent short in the distributor internal wiring was the real cause of my problem.

 

Failed the first one in about 1975, but most of my vehicles have had electronic ignition since then, except for my boat.

They seem to last about a year now., but you can guess where they are manufactured these days.

 

Resurrected old thread that may be more prevalent today, with even the major brands sourcing poor quality off shore parts.
I'm sure it is one of the main reasons many have switched out point type to electronic, for this very reason.
Years ago you could either have quality, or cheap..but you couldn't have both.
Now you can't have either.

 

Old guys on the Ford barn ??????????????????????????????

Condensors are a major issue on the early Ford units, they get old are not sealed real well and fail especially when hot..

Heres some more condensor verbage from our site :
http://www.bubbasignition.com/condensors.html

 

Condensers and ballast resisters used to be a common item in parts stores. You relied on your counterman to have the right one and you didn't have to know anything about them. You just told the guy you had a Mallory in your sbc and he'd give you the right stuff. Nowadays the new countermen don't have a clue what they are or even that there are different ones - 'ya sure, we got one of them' and hand you one hanging on the wall. Same way with power valves. It isn't enough that we know points settings and dwell specs, now we got to learn about microfarads and circuit resistance.

 

The counter guys at the chain stores are a joke. If they can't find it in their computer they have no idea what you are talking about, and trying to get them to understand that the motor you have in your car came from something else is a lost cause. The sad thing now is that when you actually do get the part you want, it's quality is sub-par at best. It seems the new standard for quality is 'It doesn't have to be good, just a little better than everyone else's junk.".

 

Like many of you, changing points and condenser is a standard tune up procedure. Change them out, old ones if they were working go into the box and into the glove box or vehicle tool box just in case.

Noticed good points were getting harder to find, labeled made in "China".

Then I came across this article about condensers on the internet, a VERY INTERESTING READ. While it is based on English cars, I think the same problems apply to the parts we are buying.

http://www.nonlintec.com/sprite/cap_failure/

Just another insight into the quality of replacement parts that we are all faced with.

Canuck

 

Modern condensers are junk. I've started using Boyer Brandsen transistor ignitions on anything with points because it removes the need for a condenser.

See here;

http://boyerbransden.com/

 

When I was a kid you could buy a shrink wrapped tune up kit for about 7 bucks, the condensers in those kits were iffy at best. I always kept a few Echlin condensers around just so I could toss the condenser in the kit when I tuned someone up. My father in law was an Echlin Rep and kept me in tune up parts for the people I really liked.

 

I always tossed the old points & condensors into the glove box when I did a tune up... and the tools needed to change them on the road. Never had to do it, stuff back around 1982 and before was pretty good.

 

Cheap off-shore condenser was hard on the muffler in grandpa's '37.

 

had my share of them on older , points cars and many a farm implement , the older ones would last it seamed for ever till it got hot out on the tractors then they would go bad we had a few that popped like popcorn ( moisture) but as a kid of the 70's and curious , I remember opening a few up to see how they were made , and remember some oil coming out of them , yes oil not water , I wonder if they used to coat the paper with PCB's back then like the good capacitors , as the post PCB era ( after the ban ) ones seem to last only a year and then die and they are dry inside .

 

Stimpy I'll bet that you are onto something right there. but now I got to worry about getting cancer. thanks a lot.

I got one of those old trash can condensers that Mallory used way, way back before you and I had a lick of sense. I'll bet we could hook it up and use it today no problem.

 

Sorry .. just remember to wash your hands and not smoke when handling it and your OK .

 

I have been having a real bitch of a time with my 42Fargo. Going up-hill a bugger and eve blew a muffler apart. Rebuilt carb and thinking about timing chain and gear replacement. Replaced coil after changing points and condenser multiple times. This thread has me thinking condenser again. Are condensers engine specific or voltage specific or both? Ant good brands out there?

 

When I was a kid in High school working at the local Esso station I asked the mechanic why he always changed
the condensor on a tuneup. He said they rarely failed but if it did he was going to have to go get the car, bring it in, then change it. Simpler to do it when the car was tuned up. He did not change it on his own car, but did carry a spare in the glove compartment. 10 years later I had an employee call in , claimed he and another employee had
just done a tune up on his Datsun and it would not start. On a hunch I drove over and checked what they had done, then asked for the old condenser. Installed the old one the car started right up. Brand new and a name brand but nfg.