Hi All,

Hope everyone is safe during the quarantine. I've been social distancing in my Cutlass as much as I can.

My 1972 Cutlass 350 has had some electrical gremlins acting up this spring. I was driving to a friends house and went to put it in park in his driveway and the car shut off. I turned the key off/on and it started back up fine. I immediately started heading back home and on the way pulled the light switch out and it cut out again. Restarted and made it back home. Got it back into the garage and tried all the lights several times and tried the top and putting in in drive and park as well with no cut out. It did this once last year and I could not duplicate it either.

It has a new-ish battery and alternator(within the last 2 years). I have an aftermarket radio(that also shuts off and come back on every once in a while). I also had replaced the points with a Petronix Ignitor ignition module.

I chased the power cable/grounds and did a visual inspection of wiring with no obvious issues. Going to do a deeper dive, but wanted to see if anyone might have some thoughts. I was thinking maybe a bad voltage regulator.

As always, thanks for any help. Barry

 

Voltage regulator is very unlikely. Use a voltmeter to test the charging system should be approx 13.8-14.2 VDC with car running and battery fully charged

Look for loose connections starting with every ground you can find and also the bulkhead connector.

A voltmeter temporarily connected to the primary side of the coil would tell if power is getting interrupted to the coil.

Was the ignition coil resistance wire removed/replaced when the Petronix was installed? Was the Petronix coil installed also?

Check the connections at the starter. Is there a ground from the battery to the fender and one from the engine to the firewall?

Good luck!!!

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Back in the early 80s I had an issue with the engine shutting off on left hand turns. It would crank right back up and run fine afterwards. Finally traced it to the battery positive cable that runs down to the starter. The insulation had melted off a spot on the wire and on a left hand turn, if going fast enough, the wire would move over and touch the exhaust manifold, which shorted out the system and killed the engine.

 

Thanks for the input boys! The petronix coil was not installed and I am unsure about the Ignition coil resistance wire was probably not replaced. The swap was done by a local mechanic.

Hopefully in the garage tomorrow night and will start a deeper dive with your direction. Thanks!

Stay Safe.

 

Good Morning All.

Just an update, bad coil wire connector. Could wiggle it and the car would cut out. new wire and it's running great.

Thanks for the help Sugar Bear and Fun 71...