engine and drivetrain Engine Cut Out On Freeway And Won't Restart

[golf73]

On my way to work this morning and while at freeway speed, the engine suddenly stopped running. when i pulled over it would turn over, but not start, and would hear a little pop or backfire after i stopped cranking.

 

It has just received a new blue coil, and ireland tii distributor with "pertronix-like" electronic ignition module inside. i think one of these is the culprit? how i should test the coil and the ignition module? i have some points and a condenser i could try to set up, but i don't know if they would work with the Ireland distributor and whether the coil i have will work with them either. Any advice?

[peterschop]

Will it start once it cools off? If so, that was happening to me. Turned out to be the "pertronix-like" ignition module. Replaced it with a new one and everything was fine.

[golf73]

No, mine has been sitting all day since being towed home and it still won't start.

[ray_]

Well...

 

Check for spark at the plugs and go from there.

 

My money's on the module.

 

GL,

[TobyB]

heh.  My money's on the coil wire popping loose, but then, I was never much of a gambler...

 

Stick a plug onto the coil wire, ground it, and look for spark when you crank.

 

If it's blue and regular, check the cap and rotor over (I've had rotors fail internally)

and also see if the module's come loose inside the dizzy.  That does happen, and the

gap does matter, some.

 

Then it's back to basic troubleshooting- fuel, air and spark.  Check spark first, because that was what

was touched last, but that doesn't mean you're not out of gas...

 

heh

 

good luck,

 

t

[DRedman]

Backfire?  Timing off if distributor moved after driving it.  Try moving the distributor a little each way and see if it starts.

[peterschop]

Check that your rotor is locked in position on the shaft. That was another problem when I replaced my petronix. It sat too high on the distributor shaft, not allowing the rotor to lock all the way in. The car would run fine  sometimes for days and then just quit. I would pop the cap off and find the rotor lifted slightly and spinning free on the shaft. I used a belt sander to take 1/8" off bottom of rotor. After that, the rotor locked in place on the shaft and has not come loose since.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willys]

did you replace a blue coil?  do you have the proper voltage going to the pertronix? 

lots of options to what may be wrong

good luck

Jeff

[golf73]

i really appreciate the comments, but you guys say check for spark here, and there, but i've never done this before. i need more description. spark plug to coil wire, ground it and crank is pretty confusing as that in itself raises questions for me, which end of the plug? how and where to ground safely. 

 

anyways i pulled the center wire from the coil to the distrb out of the distrib. Connected (touched) the electrode end of a brand new spark plug to the metal at the end of the coil wire inside the rubber boot. connected a jumper clip to the other end of the spark plug and grounded to neg post on battery. had my son turn the engine over, i heard a small zap sound but didn't see any spark. turned the plug around and tried again still didn't see a spark. wires seem to be seated tightly and all wires are snug on their connectors at spark plugs and at distrib & coil. one thing i noticed however is that the distributor cap seems to be just sitting on top of the distributor as if it's a little too small for it. i.e. the inner diameter of cap is less than outer diam of ireland distributor top. the 2 clips are holding it on but it seems too easy to move around. The mechanic reused my old one and if it is the problem i don't understand as it's worked fine up until yesterday.

 

i did test ign to coil and i have power at coil.

 

now i should disconnect all wires from coil and test resistsance at primary and 2*?

[DRedman]

You need to use the cap that came with the IE dist.  Not the one from your original dist.  They are different and won't seat properly on the dist body.

[golf73]

is it a special cap? is there a brand or part number? their website is not helpful. they list 2 different red bosch caps.

[DRedman]

You indicated that you had the IE distributor installed.  It normally comes with a black cap with the proper protusion located to fit the notch on the distributor body.  Not sure what the p/n is but some bosch distributors have the notch in a different place, hence a different cap.

[DUDONLY]

Your problem sounds like it's the magnet that sits on the distributor shaft for your pertronix.... It's either to high or to low..... It must be even with the sensor.

[ryansti]

I had the same problem with my 70 1600 after I installed my red coil and IE distributor. It ended up that the tach wire was grounding out as it passed through the fire wall. I unplugged that wire and it fired right up. Probably something else but worth a shot. 

Edited October 14, 2013 by ryansti

[golf73]

well i seemed to have had a coil that was giving me resistance numbers when checking the primary and secondary using a multimeter, then i tried TobyB's advice and didn't see any spark. i tried reading the coil again with the multimeter and got nothing at all.

 

now i'm going to replace it all.

 

re: the ireland distributor cap - i called to see which cap they use on it (the black one they show on their website picture). he says they use OEM. I ask can you please give me the part number? he goes and checks and says its 03001.  i ask if it's a bosch? - he says yes.

if you look at their site, they don't even sell that one separately - they only show the 03010 and the 03012! i scoured the interwebs for the 03001 and it's listed for the common air cooled VW's (Typ 1 - 3). how strange...