Technical Need help with engine issues

[the hobbler]

Update: i retarded the timing a little and it fired right up for me...no push back on the starter that i had been feeling. i just had the timing a little too advanced. I still haven't timed it properly but at least i got it to fire right up and idle although it still had the same issue of trying to die on acceleration. as i have shared i have literally replaced every part i could with new. the last item on my list was the condensor, which showed up a few days ago. i just replaced it and the car runs like before. i am simply beside myself. i don't see any signs on the points of a bad condensor but that is 100% what the problem was. i started today by messing with that timing and got it to where it would start and idle, just not accelerate. i replaced that condensor, fired it up and accelerated with no problem...just like new. i can't believe it. i want to go celebrate. 2 months of ****ing with this thing only to finally figure out it was a $5 part. LMAO

As I have mentioned earlier in this chapter of bafflement and woe, the problem with most 'pattern' condensers is that they are crap! We have a company in the UK called "The Distributor Doctor" who have modern, high spec condensers made for them (among a lot of other things). When I was speaking to the Boss of this company re. a litttle project that I had, he told me that he had taken a 'pattern' condenser apart and found about 1-1/2 metres of wiring in it---his condensers have THREE metres of wiring in them! The original "O.E" condensers hardly ever gave a problem. One of his condensers, the "484249 with the long bracket" can, if the mounting bracket is given a little bit of a 'tweek', made to sit very neatly on the distributor, as per factory. Alternatively, one of the "Competition" condensers from either "Swiftune" or "Shacktune" because they have both a long 'feed' lead and a long 'earth' lead, can be mounted up by the coil, away from the enemy of 'pattern condensers---heat (the 'cooling' air coming from the engine).

 

[124BC1]

Update: i retarded the timing a little and it fired right up for me...no push back on the starter that i had been feeling. i just had the timing a little too advanced. I still haven't timed it properly but at least i got it to fire right up and idle although it still had the same issue of trying to die on acceleration. as i have shared i have literally replaced every part i could with new. the last item on my list was the condensor, which showed up a few days ago. i just replaced it and the car runs like before. i am simply beside myself. i don't see any signs on the points of a bad condensor but that is 100% what the problem was. i started today by messing with that timing and got it to where it would start and idle, just not accelerate. i replaced that condensor, fired it up and accelerated with no problem...just like new. i can't believe it. i want to go celebrate. 2 months of ****ing with this thing only to finally figure out it was a $5 part. LMAO

On a brighter note , you've now renewed just about all the parts that might otherwise have given trouble in the future, possibly even causing a very inconvenient breakdown and in the process have gotten to know your car a lot better than many owners do, which might be to your advantage in future.

Might I suggest you now obtain and carry a good spare condenser in the car in future. ($5 sounds a little cheap for a good condenser).

 

[fiat500]

On a brighter note , you've now renewed just about all the parts that might otherwise have given trouble in the future, possibly even causing a very inconvenient breakdown and in the process have gotten to know your car a lot better than many owners do, which might be to your advantage in future.

Might I suggest you now obtain and carry a good spare condenser in the car in future. ($5 sounds a little cheap for a good condenser).

Good advice. I would add to that; carry as many spare ignition parts as you can easily obtain. If you can get genuine parts, even if they are used, so much the better.
I carry a fully assembled spare distributor in my car. I find the risk of breakdown is inversely proportional to the number of spares you have onboard.

 

[the hobbler]

Good advice. I would add to that; carry as many spare ignition parts as you can easily obtain. If you can get genuine parts, even if they are used, so much the better.
I carry a fully assembled spare distributor in my car. I find the risk of breakdown is inversely proportional to the number of spares you have onboard.

Would I be correct in thinking that you still have 'points' ignition Peter? It is so much easier to initially set the timing with points---all you need is a litttle test-lamp (which can be a part of your on-board tool-kit)

 

[fiat500]

Would I be correct in thinking that you still have 'points' ignition Peter? It is so much easier to initially set the timing with points---all you need is a litttle test-lamp (which can be a part of your on-board tool-kit)

Yes, I reverted to points several years ago; nothing else that I have fitted fit to a Fiat 500 comes anywhere near in reliability. If, as you said recently, the 123 ignition has deteriorated in quality due to outsourcing of production, they must now be extremely poor. My real-life road-testing found them to fall very much short of the hype. Clean, well adjusted breakers work well for the 6000 mile service interval, and can then be easily adjusted or replaced.