Troubleshooting a points ignition

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Old October 23rd, 2017, 10:49 PM
  #41  
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Apopka, FL
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Originally Posted by oldcutlass
While points are still relatively inexpensive, I recommend an inspection and recalibrate rather than replace every year. When I run points I do no parts tuneups twice a year and replace them when I feel they are no longer serviceable.
Good advice if you live in dry , toasty , Texas .
However , in the cold , wet , climes of the north , the points can corrode enough over winter to make them useless .
My advice still stands .
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Old October 24th, 2017, 06:37 AM
  #42  
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Location: The Hudson Valley
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Originally Posted by Supreme455
... it is parked nose in first and it can't be rolled out...
I always back in to a garage when I'm storing an old car, that way I can pull or replace the battery, fill up the float bowl, and mess with the ignition if I need to whenever I finally get back to it. Even if it's difficult, it's a good practice.


Originally Posted by Supreme455
... the condenser looks prehistoric and I guess when I installed that coil years ago I used the same condenser.
Condensers seldom go bad, so that probably doesn't matter.
You can test it functionally if you follow the procedure at the top of the thread.


Originally Posted by Supreme455
I don't know the name of that part under the rotator but it is a pain in the *** in the way metal thing.
It's the centrifugal advance.


Originally Posted by Supreme455
So I bring a file with me for the points and when I open it up......yeah they look burned.

And the file did nothing to the contact that you can see looking at the points.
The points can be good and look bad, or be bad and look good.
It doesn't matter what they look like, and, be honest, you can't really see them in there anyway.
The point of the procedure at the top of the thread is that it allows you to test the points with minimal tools to see whether they are good or bad.
Most good ol' dwell meters also have a setting to measure points quality - you could use that pretty easily as well.

- Eric
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