Engine just flat out stopped 3/4 thru 4th parade?

[Francis F.]

Need places to look to solve this mystery,temp gauge was reading aprox 180*.pushed 60 corvette out of parade,checked carb. yep fule to jets..good.Engine cranks over well,but no firing.after resting engine for about 30 min.decided to check for spark.pulled lead from coil while cranking,observed spark AT this time.Pushed lead back in to coil...and drove HER home.Any areas to check would be appreciated,thanks.
Kind of dont want to take long trips until solved.
Francis (1960)

[Michael W.]

Re: Engine just flat out stopped 3/4 thru 4th parade?

Ignition coil is tired, they tend to give up in extreme heat and progressively get worse.

[Frank P.]

Re: Engine just flat out stopped 3/4 thru 4th parade?

Check your points. I had a similar problem with my 58. It would idle, but not run above 900 rpm.
Good Luck

[Joe R.]

Re: Engine just flat out stopped 3/4 thru 4th parade?

Would recommend replacing the distributor cap and rotor. You have a crack that is tracking the spark in the wrong direction. No use looking, just change the cap.
Experience talking.

JR

[Stuart F.]

Re: Engine just flat out stopped 3/4 thru 4th parade?

Do all of the above to make sure.

Stu Fox

[Clem Z.]

Re: Engine just flat out stopped 3/4 thru 4th parade?

replace the condenser before anything

[Kenneth S.]

Re: Engine just flat out stopped 3/4 thru 4th parade?

I had a similar problem once. The screw that holds the band that holds the condenser in the distributor had come loose just a couple of turns so the condenser had lost its ground connection.
Ken

[Jack H.]

Re: Engine just flat out stopped 3/4 thru 4th parade?

When mine did that it was the ballast resistor. Hard to find. When it cooled, it started.

[Francis F.]

Re: Engine just flat out stopped 3/4 thru 4th parade?

Thank to all for your responses,I think I'll try all,they are all simple and not terribly expensive.I hope to build confidence in the car again.
This is a great site ,with a group of helpful guy's...THANKS
Francis

[John H.]

Re: Engine just flat out stopped 3/4 thru 4th parade?

Had two condensers go bad with same symptoms as yours. Also check wire connections around distributor and coil . Had a broken connection at coil under factory insulation at crimp . Intermittent no go drove me nuts for weeks until I found problem as everything looked good from the outside.

[George C.]

Re: Engine just flat out stopped 3/4 thru 4th parade?

Frances,
I had a similar problem and as Clem and others suggested it was the condensor.
If you buy all the parts and keep them with you you can change them out one at a time. I would change the condensor first, and keep the rest of the parts with me and see what happens.
It is a real confidence booster, when you can be sure which part failed.

George

[Francis F.]

Re: Engine just flat out stopped 3/4 thru 4th parade?

Hey good ideas I will try them.
when I was visiting my brother in law he took me fishing in the gulf,we motored out in his i/o\ boat all of a sudden the engine just flat out stopped.He casualy got up ,reached in the glove box,retrived a new coil ,and away we went.He said he was wating for that coil to fail..again...seems like a good place to start.

thanks,Francis

[John D.]

Re: Engine just flat out stopped 3/4 thru 4th parade?

My buddy had 50 of NOS DR condensers. He tested them all and found out that only 13 or 14 out of 50 were any good.
NAPA has a good one made by Standard.

[Stuart F.]

Re: Engine just flat out stopped 3/4 thru 4th parade?

When I read all these horror stories about points, condensor, coil and connection failures, I wonder where all the critic voices and electronic ignition conversion bashers are. They spoke of the awful dread of being "dead in the water" when their Pertronix unit failed, and how they at least could carry a spare set of ignition parts to get them going again. Well, if they don't know what the problem is, does it matter when you're stuck on the side of a parade route or in a driving rain storm what the cause is. Oh let me see, "hang on joe, let me just get out and change the points. We'll be going again in no time".

My Pertronix unit has never failed me, and I'll never go back to the dark ages like "Lucas, Prince of darkness". P & C's are for show only.

Just my opinion. I've enjoyed this a lot.

Stu Fox

[Clem Z.]

Re: Engine just flat out stopped 3/4 thru 4th parade?

back in the day when you had to race with points and condensers we always use a external mounted large diameter mallory condenser trying to keep it cool.