HEI condensor

[turtlevette]

My old suburban wouldn't start due to no spark. I replaced the cap, rotor, coil and module just to blanket everything and the damn thing still wouldn't spark.

I bought a new Accell dist from Autozone for $124 and that worked.

I'm thinking now i could have just snipped the wire to the condensor and that might have done it. I'm thinking the condensor is not even required for functionality.

The only other thing it could have been is the pick up coil. I've never seen one of those go bad.

 

[mrvette]

I have seen the pickup coil go bad, I even saw a in the cap SPARK coil go bad, the silly crimp through the form var on the yell/wh and red wires open circuit....and intermittent to boot....caught by seeing NO + on the tach wire with ign on.....but + on the pink+ wire.....only one thing home at that point...so I soldered the connections and the coil ran for years.....

:hissyfit::huh::clobbered:

 

[Stpman]

My old suburban wouldn't start due to no spark. I replaced the cap, rotor, coil and module just to blanket everything and the damn thing still wouldn't spark.

I bought a new Accell dist from Autozone for $124 and that worked.

I'm thinking now i could have just snipped the wire to the condensor and that might have done it. I'm thinking the condensor is not even required for functionality.

The only other thing it could have been is the pick up coil. I've never seen one of those go bad.

I had the wires break on a 79 Gran Prix I had, I had to pull the dizzy break it down and solder the wire back together so I could get home from mom & dads house

 

[69427]

My old suburban wouldn't start due to no spark. I replaced the cap, rotor, coil and module just to blanket everything and the damn thing still wouldn't spark.

I bought a new Accell dist from Autozone for $124 and that worked.

I'm thinking now i could have just snipped the wire to the condensor and that might have done it. I'm thinking the condensor is not even required for functionality. I assume the condenser you mention is a noise filter on the B+ line. If it failed open, the HEI shouldn't know the difference. If it failed shorted, then some fuse or link should be blown or damn hot (thermally).
The only other thing it could have been is the pick up coil. I've never seen one of those go bad.

The two wires from the pickup coil to the module break on occasion from fatigue. When the vacuum advance rotates the "breaker" plate the pickup wires have to flex during this movement. After several years and thousands of flexes the wires can break.

 

[TimAT]

IT's not all that uncommon for the wires to the pickup coil to break. I've replaced a bunch of them back in my dealer days.

Clamp the dizzy gently in a vise, then hook a battery ground to the vise and feed 12v+ to the BAT terminal. When you turn the shaft, it'll make sparks.
On the car, if you hook a 12v testlight to the TACH terminal and crank, the testlight will blink- no blink and it's either the module or the pickup coil.



I did this demo with a soldering gun to let guys know that the HEI system WILL spark if the key is left on and you solder a wire close to the distributor. Back when we were learning about HEI, there were several guys hurt fixing a wire, (usually the hi-blow feed), by soldering.

 

[big2bird]

The only other thing it could have been is the pick up coil. I've never seen one of those go bad.

There is a good chance you have.:nuts:

 

[mrvette]

My old suburban wouldn't start due to no spark. I replaced the cap, rotor, coil and module just to blanket everything and the damn thing still wouldn't spark.

I bought a new Accell dist from Autozone for $124 and that worked.

I'm thinking now i could have just snipped the wire to the condensor and that might have done it. I'm thinking the condensor is not even required for functionality. I assume the condenser you mention is a noise filter on the B+ line. If it failed open, the HEI shouldn't know the difference. If it failed shorted, then some fuse or link should be blown or damn hot (thermally).
The only other thing it could have been is the pick up coil. I've never seen one of those go bad.

The two wires from the pickup coil to the module break on occasion from fatigue. When the vacuum advance rotates the "breaker" plate the pickup wires have to flex during this movement. After several years and thousands of flexes the wires can break.

The stock pickup coils I have seen are formed/wrapped in white materials, and so as they age, any time I pull one apart, I look at that coil, the darker a brown it is, I pull it and replace....PIA, but just DO it, beats walking....

cheep at the parts store too....

:hissyfit:

 

[turtlevette]

[The stock pickup coils I have seen are formed/wrapped in white materials, and so as they age, any time I pull one apart, I look at that coil, the darker a brown it is, I pull it and replace....PIA, but just DO it, beats walking....

cheep at the parts store too....

:hissyfit:

You have to drive the pin out of the gear and pull the shaft out to replace it....right?

And i thought i was safe carrying a module and coil in the car.

 

[mrvette]

[The stock pickup coils I have seen are formed/wrapped in white materials, and so as they age, any time I pull one apart, I look at that coil, the darker a brown it is, I pull it and replace....PIA, but just DO it, beats walking....

cheep at the parts store too....

:hissyfit:

You have to drive the pin out of the gear and pull the shaft out to replace it....right?

And i thought i was safe carrying a module and coil in the car.

Well, what can I say,? I solder the crimp connections on the coil tabs, and carry a module, and always look at the sending coil plastics whenever I pull the cap/rotor....but then again, I tinker, I don't run any car for years on end without playing.....:clobbered:

 

[big2bird]

[The stock pickup coils I have seen are formed/wrapped in white materials, and so as they age, any time I pull one apart, I look at that coil, the darker a brown it is, I pull it and replace....PIA, but just DO it, beats walking....

cheep at the parts store too....

:hissyfit:

You have to drive the pin out of the gear and pull the shaft out to replace it....right?

Yep. Be sure to align the dimple on the gear with the rotor tip.