This is what a bad condenser sounded like.

My V6 has been making me throw fits lately. I had random, sporadic episodes of bucking, misfiring and a very seldom backfire, several times out the exhaust and once through the carb. Those few backfires were the only things that me pointed towards ignition - and probably not carb issues. It could run fine between five minutes and two days without issue, and then it would act up to the point that I'd be down into first gear, fearhering the clutch just to keep moving.

Here is what it sounded like. It's fine for the first 10 seconds, then it acts up. (It was night time, there's no image.)
http://youtu.be/geaWMoILtYI

I had a hard time believing it could be the coil since it was fairly new, but I've heard of crazier things. I swapped the one off my 3B and it ran perfectly. I found my receipt from the O'Reilly's in Chicago and took advantage of their lifetime warranty. They traded me with one off the shelf, no questions asked. I took that one home, swapped it out, and it was back to its old ways again.

Meanwhile, I had checked EVERYTHING else, because as hard as it was to believe one new coil was bad, it was inconceivable that two coils would exhibit the exact symptoms. Points, carb, fuel pump, ignition switch, resistor, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, alternator... But not the condenser because I didn't have an easily accessible spare. This sounded so much like a problem with the coil, and it ran perfectly with the one off my 3B, I was convinced that's what it was.

I prepared myself for the questionable looks and the dumb questions from the guys behind the counter, and headed to O'Reilly's for yet another coil, and a condenser. I opted for a different brand this time. I swapped it out in the parking lot, and I hadn't made it 3 miles until it was missing and bucking again. I hopped out and threw the new condenser on, just for kicks. That seemed to be it, but my power was now way down.

I made it the rest of the way home without issue. I checked the timing when I got back, and it was now directly at TDC. How would this have changed? It was right at 8 degrees BTDC when I left. I turned it back, and all has been good.

Why was my other coil working without issue? That thing is ancient. It came on the f-head engine when I bought it 20 years ago.

In case you were wondering what a symptom of a bad condenser could sound like.

Now to live with the guilt of taking advantage of O'Reilly's warranty program due to my ignorance...

 

Category Comedy ?

I think educational. Thanks for posting that!

 

Knowledge gained through actual experience. Tell the family you gained, and benefited others through Empirical Research. Thanks!

 

My curiosity got the best of me yesterday. I ground the top off the bad condenser to see what could/did go wrong.



Inside was a tightly wound 15 foot(!) strip of Mylar on both sides of cellophane, wrapped in a layer of insulating paper.

What I found was, there was poor contact and a fair amount of char and corrosion between the brick of Mylar and the two ends. Arcing was evident. This condenser (Mallory brand) was only on the jeep for less than two months and had around 4000 miles on it.





Unwound

 

Its cool that you did that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor Its funny that we call them a condenser when its really a capacitor. big ones can give you a big shock! ZAP!!!

 

When I was working in the shop reconditioning Rovers, it was a pretty normal shop prank to charge up a condensor you were pulling out on a tune up, and throw it to one of the other mechanics.....

I had my arm go numb for hours more than once, by being dumb enough to actually catch one of the damn things.

 

Where I worked we used to plug them into an electrical outlet that would be turned on with the lights.
120 volts AC will unpack them much quicker then the method done above. More smoke too.

 

Got kicked out of shop class for that exact thing shop teacher thought some one set a bomb off.