I just thought I would share this event so others might not have as hard a time as I did. My 73 Maverick has always performed flawlessly until last week. I was driving on the freeway for about 2 hours when the car started to slow down. I pressed on the gas pedal and the car accelerated and then lost all power. This has happened on other cars and I thought that I had a fuel contamination problem. Either I had enough rust accumulated that the tank filter (sock) was plugging or I got a bit of moisture in the tank and the alcohol and gasoline had separated. I figured I was going to have to replace the tank or at least clean and line it. When the car stopped the first time I was alone and when I checked for spark I had a nice blue spark so I decided that the fuel was my problem. I shook the car a bit and it started right up and ran great for the next two hours on the highway and around town briefly. I got the tank cleaning and lining kit and planned to do the update to a spare tank and then just swap it in. Had to duplicate the same drive today and it again stopped (at nearly the identical spot as before. This time my wife was with me so I had her crank it over so I could check for spark. The spark was there - nice and blue. I got back in and started the engine and drove the car about 200 feet and it stopped again. I quickly got out and checked for spark again 9thinking it would be fine) NO SPARK! Hmmmm I checked the points and all looked fine so I waited for a moment and tried to start the car again - NO START. Ok, so I checked the voltage to the coil and to the points all OK. Still no spark. I decided that I needed a coil - it all pointed that way and the coil was the original (or a Ford replacement with lots of miles on it). Got a ride to where I was going and got a local guy at NAPA who had the coil. I decided that I would go ahead and replace the points and condenser while I was there as insurance. Went back to the car and changed the coil and when I removed the condenser the terminal fell off the end of its wire. I replaced it with the new one and replaced the points. The engine fired right up and ran great - I am going to test the coil with my coil tester but I suspect it is fine - the broken lead on the condenser was my intermittent problem - there must have been a few strands of wire making contact until it got hot enough and then it would break the connection. When I stopped it would make contact long enough to fire the coil and just the right bump or amount of heat and it would break the connection again - until it completely failed. I have been a mechanic for a long time and I sometimes forget to complete the diagnosis and just buy the part that is pointed to first.... If I had checked the rest of the components I may have just had to replace the condenser and saved a few dollars in the process. If I had not replaced the points and condenser with the coil I may have been stuck there for a lot longer than the 30 minutes it took me to replace all the parts. Proper diagnosis is always cheaper and faster than replacing parts one at a time.
I think they are shiny metal things that make pretty blue sparks. Can you still buy these??? Good post. Same here as a tech I still manage to overlook things. The most popular over the years being fuses and egr valves. Even though I know to check everything sometimes I still go running to the parts counter like rookie then kick myself in the rear a few minutes later.
Get this, on my car the darn thing started and ran without a condenser! Don't ask me how, an long time Ford guy was dumbfounded too. Heck the thing ran without acting like it was missing even with several plugs not fully seated and several plug wires not all the way on. Only thing it did do to tell me something was up was to not have much power (302) and an occasional hesitation, or sometimes a stall when leaving a stop. ???? All new plugs, wires, condensor, points, coil etc. Still doing some work so haven't had it out for power, but starts on the turn without any gas pedal. Can't wait. Thanks for the heads up on that stuff, sounds like mine was headed that direction but found all the other--still confused about no condensor and it started though??
Mine are in a landfill somewhere Thanks for sharing Paul. Your story reminds me of the no start condition with my GFs bronco. I changed the...Starter (autozone said it was sorta bad). I changed the solenoid...(it was cheap, so why not). Damn thing still just made one click. I Ran the starter power wire to the pos side on the battery and it fired right up. I then tightened the two screws on the pos battery connecter and her bronco started and ran great. I think it is human nature to assume the worst possible case.
I have seen something like this a couple of times but it was usually where the wire comes through the distributor and makes a bend as it heads to the points and condenser. After years of the vacuum plate moving back and forth with the vacuum signal it will wear and break the wires where they bend either shorting them or causing them to open up. Good find clint
