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Distributor and open/burnt wires


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Hi all

 

All of a sudden, difficulty starting. Seems to turn and turn then catches, pops a bit, possibly dies and if it does run, its rough and unable to rev clean and high.

 

I checked distributor and recently I put new condenser in, new arm (from Dist' Doctor) and also saw what looked like open and burnt wiring (see pic). Thing is, where wire goes to seems to go to a Philips screw but this screw almost looks melted itself (again see pic).

 

Appreciate any pointers and also am aware this may not be the root cause but this does not look to good to me.

 

Rich

post-14945-0-72310000-1531643522_thumb.jpg

Edited by AarhusTr6
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That looks like the distributor plate earthing lead but it doesn't look like an original to me - rather a replacement which has been badly soldered-in hence the 'burnt' look at the connection. This has to be a very flexible lead as the plate rotates when the advance/retard operates and (at least in all the ones I have seen ) is a woven wire inner with fabric cover rather than the heavy stranded wire with thick plastic cover as in your photo. If that connection is broken ( probably through fatigue because its the wrong type of wire) it would explain the rough running.

 

The originals are permanently attached to the moving plate by a spot-weld under that u-shaped clip that can just be seen under the soldering mess.

Edited by RobH
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Hi all

 

All of a sudden, difficulty starting. Seems to turn and turn then catches, pops a bit, possibly dies and if it does run, its rough and unable to rev clean and high.

 

I checked distributor and recently I put new condenser in, new arm (from Dist' Doctor) and also saw what looked like open and burnt wiring (see pic). Thing is, where wire goes to seems to go to a Philips screw but this screw almost looks melted itself (again see pic).

 

Appreciate any pointers and also am aware this may not be the root cause but this does not look to good to me.

 

Rich

attachicon.gifIMG_2111.JPG

Hi Rich,

 

Looking at your picture the Tinsulate wire seems to be missing and has been replaced by something else which looks horrible! This wire should go from the distributor body to the moving base plate which the points are mounted on? There also looks to have some soldering where the terminal tag s/b riveted on to the base plate? I would speak to the Distributor Doctor for a replacement base plate with the correct Tinsulate wire. This wire has to be super flexable and was used by BT in the 1930's for phone handset cords.

 

Bruce.

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That looks like the distributor plate earthing lead but it doesn't look like an original to me - rather a replacement which has been badly soldered-in hence the 'burnt' look at the connection. This has to be a very flexible lead as the plate rotates when the advance/retard operates and (at least in all the ones I have seen ) is a woven wire inner with fabric cover rather than the heavy stranded wire with thick plastic cover as in your photo. If that connection is broken ( probably through fatigue because its the wrong type of wire) it would explain the rough running.

 

The originals are permanently attached to the moving plate by a spot-weld under that u-shaped clip that can just be seen under the soldering mess.

This is what it should look like (image from the DD site)

post-7865-0-23458100-1531646372_thumb.jpg

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This interesting . . but annoying as I am wanting to drive in the sun! Anyway, their is an issue with the dizzy as I get no spark. I think I call DD tomorrow and send him the picture here. I have noticed rough running also when warm and maybe this is also not helping this..

 

Rich

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If that connection is as bad as it looks it would explain the present non-starting and the previous rough-running Rich. As a quick-fix to get you going until you can get the proper part, you could try re-soldering the joint on the plate.

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This interesting . . but annoying as I am wanting to drive in the sun! Anyway, their is an issue with the dizzy as I get no spark. I think I call DD tomorrow and send him the picture here. I have noticed rough running also when warm and maybe this is also not helping this..

 

Rich

Hi Rich, I cannot see the termination to the distributor outer body as your Rotor Arm is in the way of the Posi drive screw which it s/b terminated to. Is that horrible wire terminated to that screw as it s/b?

 

Bruce.

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An additional comment: are you sure the horrible earth wire is not connected to the points? The moving arm should not connect to this wire (the base does)

To check, remove the feed from the wiring harness (connector) and check the moving arm is not connected to earth with an Ohm meter (should read infinite).

Waldi

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