Today while I was out. My old 72 Ford Ranch Wagon, which normally is quite reliable. It started fine cold. Ran fine down the road, then after a quick stop at Home Creepo, the engine would turn over but not fire. So I got out, removed the air cleaner to see if I could see anything obvious, like a loose vacuum hose, loose wire, check carb to see if getting fuel, etc. Nothing obvious. So got back in the car, and it started right up. Hmmm.
I made another stop at Walmart, no problems. Starter turned the engine over about two revs and it was running again, but going out of the parking lot, it started running rough. Increased road speed and RPM, ran fine. I got home and it died in my driveway.
Since this car still has mechanical breaker point ignition, I checked the points and got it to run long enough to check the dwell which was within spec. Next, I checked the fuel filter to see if it was blocked, no, it was okay. It's a pretty simple lay-out with only a few vacuum lines to check. So I got out the spray can of ether with the idea that I'd get it running long enough to shoot some at the base of the carb to see if there was a vacuum leak there. But I didn't get that far.
The engine room in this car isn't very sano, but it had a nice, shiny, new ignition coil on it that I replaced about two years ago. When coils go bad, they can manifest their malfunction in several ways. Won't work cold, won't work hot, cut out under load, cut out at idle. So they can be confusing. But I'm thinking, "Made in China" may be a factor. So back into the garage I went. Where I have a stash of parts, including old Ford ignition coils, the ones with yellow tops that they haven't made in years. I picked one off the shelf, it was encrusted with baked-on engine grime. I took it back to the car, unplugged the three leads from the existing coil, and put them on the old Ford coil. The car started right away and ran fine thereafter. When I got the hitherto "new" Made In China coil off the car and looked it over, I could see some of the juice leaking out of it.
Moral of the story, I'm not gonna buy any more Made in China ignition parts. The used coil I put back on the car was made in the 1970's, still works, has lasted longer than the new Chinese coil and I will leave it on the car.
I made another stop at Walmart, no problems. Starter turned the engine over about two revs and it was running again, but going out of the parking lot, it started running rough. Increased road speed and RPM, ran fine. I got home and it died in my driveway.
Since this car still has mechanical breaker point ignition, I checked the points and got it to run long enough to check the dwell which was within spec. Next, I checked the fuel filter to see if it was blocked, no, it was okay. It's a pretty simple lay-out with only a few vacuum lines to check. So I got out the spray can of ether with the idea that I'd get it running long enough to shoot some at the base of the carb to see if there was a vacuum leak there. But I didn't get that far.
The engine room in this car isn't very sano, but it had a nice, shiny, new ignition coil on it that I replaced about two years ago. When coils go bad, they can manifest their malfunction in several ways. Won't work cold, won't work hot, cut out under load, cut out at idle. So they can be confusing. But I'm thinking, "Made in China" may be a factor. So back into the garage I went. Where I have a stash of parts, including old Ford ignition coils, the ones with yellow tops that they haven't made in years. I picked one off the shelf, it was encrusted with baked-on engine grime. I took it back to the car, unplugged the three leads from the existing coil, and put them on the old Ford coil. The car started right away and ran fine thereafter. When I got the hitherto "new" Made In China coil off the car and looked it over, I could see some of the juice leaking out of it.
Moral of the story, I'm not gonna buy any more Made in China ignition parts. The used coil I put back on the car was made in the 1970's, still works, has lasted longer than the new Chinese coil and I will leave it on the car.