"Dizzy" Martin Gutkowski (we call them "distributors" on this side)

["content22207" <brobertson@xxxx>]

I've seen it! (I think). Climbed up into my engine bay, stood on my
head, and there in the distance was the faint outline of an electrical
distributor. Until now thought its existence was just a vicious rumor.

Seriously, the thing appears cocked to one side, with the sending unit
wire halfway down the slope. Unless they've repealed the law of
gravity, could any water that condenses, sprays, etc on it flow along
the edge of the cap (leaking inside?), puddle wherever the sending
unit connects, and otherwise cause mischief? Just a thought.

When I excavate mine (if NASA can put a man on the moon I *SHOULD* be
abe to change a stupid cap & rotor), may wrap the edge the cap with
tape. If the base has no drain hole I'll leave the low side free.
Couldn't hurt. Might treat myself to a new sending unit wire (it's
only money) and seal it too.

I washed the engine in one of my Lincolns once. The key word here is
"once". Give me a dirty engine that starts over a shiny dead one any
day. My usual practice is to spray several cans of engine degreaser
(engine hot) and just let it drip off. Leaves a white residue, but
even that eventually burns away.

Speaking of water, is the ignition resistor supposed to have a cover?
Of course mine doesn't. Think I'll rig one up (and cover the relay).

Notice Yahoo truncated my eMail address. Try me again:
brobertson(at)carolina.net.

My own moisture problem appears to be those insidious little drops in
a cold misty morning, not big fat drops from a garden hose. Next time
the car does it I'm going to crawl all over the thing with gauges &
lights. Hopefully it'll be in my own driveway. Ignition circuit is
really quite simple -- there's only *so* many places the problem can
be. I'm really beginning to suspect the resistor & relay (whose bright
idea was it to put a relay outside in the engine compartment anyway?).
Next *little* rain will tell.

Disected my melted headlight switch. Was actually only one small blob
-- scraped it off and now works fine. Remember earlier DML thread Re:
amperage through the switch? Of course full brunt of side & tail
lights in there (I still maintain headlight amps are minimal needed to
trigger the relays). Tomorrow will add a relay next to headlight units
for the side & tail lights (remember: I'm eventually going to add two
more bulbs to my circuit). Then can guarantee switch will be subjected
to negligible load. 

Re: David Teitelbaum's suggestion for Rich to look for pinched wiring
harness -- is not far fetched. My A/C evaporator drain hose was
pinched between frame and body at the factory. Trapped water for 20
years (and ruined my carpet, thank you very much).

Enough bandwidth for one evening (shoot me an eMail address so I won't
bore the List to death next time),

Bill Robertson
#5939

>--- In dmcnews@xxxx, Martin Gutkowski <webmaster@xxxx> wrote:
> Hi Bill
> 
> I'm deliberately posting this back to the list to tell you about
another of my car's
> symptoms. You can mail me anytome on webmaster@xxxx
> 
> I took the car out for a spin on a sunday afternoon - a SUNNY, warm
sunday. On arrival
> back, I decided to give her a wash. This included a good hose down,
and more than a
> little spray of the engine bay. Sure as god made little apples, she
wouldn't start
> immediately afterwards. I waited 5 minutes (hot engine remember) and
she fired first
> time.
> 
> To be honest, there's not much "electrics" actually involved here!
Something's getting
> wet, and it's almost certainly the dizzy. How I have no idea -
unless the cap's been
> cracked as John suggested (looked fine in October, but a number of
20-year-old parts on
> my car have gone wrong in the "shake-down" time since!). It's
certainly not an expensive
> part to replace anyway. Just haven't got around to it yet.
> 
> My ignition circuit is working fine - mine will cough on 2 cylinders
when cranking, but
> won't fire up. Next time it happenns I am going to try a direct 12v
across the coil.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Martin
> #1458
> 
> content22207 wrote:
> 
> > Attn: Martin Gutkowski -- would you be willing to correspond about my
> > little situation? A British electician may be just what I need (can
> > you spell "wet weather"). If so, please eMail me direct:
> > brobertson@xxxx (no sense in wasting the group's bandwidth).