Ignition Condensers

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bunnspecial

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Yes, I know...get rid of your points, etc, etc-I don't want to.

I just changed a condenser with right at 1000 miles on it, and it's not the first I've had give up at relatively low mileage. Talking to other guys in my little niche of old cars says that this is pretty much par for the course these days to the point that the overwhelming advice is to never change a known good condenser.

This one showed up as a typical intermittent failure-the car would idle fine but would stumble on acceleration. As it got worse, I'd get misfires at speed and finally I got to the point where I was limping home so that I could change it(I should know to carry a spare in the car-I had one sitting on my kitchen table). Post mortem showed extensive arcing between the end cap and electrode/dielectric "roll."

Some hunting around shows that even though I mostly hang out in the old British car circles, the problem with condensers doesn't seem isolated to them.

Does anyone know if there's a marker of quality ignition condensers these days? An MG mechanic(John Twist) suggested Blue Streak brand to me the other day, but they seem to have vanished. His other suggestion was to watch Ebay like a hawk for an OLD Lucas one...
 
I honestly think that are all the same. They don't "have to" be mounted inside the distributor - anywhere in the primary circuit ( - side of coil) is fine.

I know the ones for older International Harvester tractors were stout - they never failed.

Also, you could try one from an aircraft (Slick, not Bendix) magneto.
 
If you surf RockAuto..there are some different condensers available..Beck Arnley (could be OEM Lucas old stock), Airtex/Wells and Standard Motor Products..less than $5 each.
 
Go to the wreckers and get a bunch of them for $1 a piece. Find a nerd in your area with a capacitor checker. Keep all good ones and toss any that don't meter well.

All that stuff is made in China now. Trying to get good is hard. Try NOS Delco on eBay for Buick and Cadillac maybe ...
 
Back in the day, they rarely failed. However, I had one that suddenly did, circa 1978. It almost left me stranded at night on an Interstate in Pennsylvania on New Year's Eve. Cold! Luckily, I had an older one in the car, and changed it by the light of a closed gas station. Colder by then!
 
I've had good luck with Mallory condensers when working on older cars. I can't remember getting a bad one but if one is working it stays put.
 
There's a guy on ebay who sells ignition parts. He has points, condensers, rotors, and caps for cars back into the 30's. I've been dealing with him for over 30 years. He sells under the name USAPARTS and has a feedback rating over 10,000. His email is [email protected]. He buys stock of old Auto parts stores so there is no chinese junk.

Tell him eddie hudson sent you.
 
Condensers failed periodically in the good old days as I got stuck a couple of times because of condenser failures. I agree that the new stock condensers are failing more often than back in the day as I've had several fail in recent history that I installed in cars that I've serviced. That being said, be very wary when using a NOS condenser as they do have a shelf life and they can go bad just sitting in the box. The only way to be sure that condenser you plan on using is good is by testing them on an old style capacitor tester that was made for use with vacuum tube electronics as they can generate the necessary voltage to check for insulation breakdown and correct capacitance. Ignition condensers have a working voltage rating between 400 and 600 volts so the new style cap testers won't do an accurate test as they are usually powered by a 9 volt battery.
 
Thanks guys.

I'll look into Mallory and the suggestion to find some from the junk yard is good.

The above linked one from the BPN is the same one I've been using, although I've bought them from a few other vendors.

I do have a VOM that can measure capacitance, but as said ignition voltages are a lot higher than 9V. Also, the issue often is intermittent failure that only shows up when the car is at good and warm and will usually only rear their head at higher RPMs.
 
I drove Fords and GMs with points from the fifties into the seventies and never had a condensor fail before I had to change the points.I usually changed at about 15,000 miles and never had an engine quit running well.
 
Originally Posted By: ffhdriver
I drove Fords and GMs with points from the fifties into the seventies and never had a condensor fail before I had to change the points.I usually changed at about 15,000 miles and never had an engine quit running well.


That's kind of the point(no pun intended).

I know MG guys still running the same condenser that was on their car when they bought it 40+ years ago.

Somehow or another, in the past 5 years all the companies have forgotten how to make them and they're pretty universally trash...

Here's an analysis of the same Lucas condenser I'm using, although the construction of it is typical of most on the market these days regardless of what name is on it

http://www.nonlintec.com/sprite/cap_failure/
 
Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
Find a nerd in your area with a capacitor checker.


I guess that's me. I bought a capacitance tester on eBay a couple years ago for $14, from Korea. I wanted it to test HVAC capacitors. My first car was a 1972 Pontiac Catalina that used a distributor with points and condenser. The little "hatch" on the distributor cap was a trouble spot due to water infiltration any time I drove through a large puddle - common in North Texas flash floods. I could get less leakage with a higher quality (Blue Streak) distributor cap or a bead of silicone sealant around the hatch. But, the best solution was an HEI (electronic) distributor from a 1975 Pontiac, purchased at a swap meet for $25. The additional benefit was double the lifespan of spark plugs.

My point is, don't automatically dismiss taking the old-school ignition components out of the equation.
 
Those HEI ignition modules can be a pain in the a** at times too when they fail intermittently because of heat. My old 1979 Datsun 510 wagon went through three of them over the course of it's life.
 
Originally Posted By: BigD1
Those HEI ignition modules can be a pain in the a** at times too when they fail intermittently because of heat. My old 1979 Datsun 510 wagon went through three of them over the course of it's life.


Not HEI.....
TFI, mounted on it's own heatsink.
Failure rate is very, very, very, very low
 
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