Random "no spark" incident

[The Neck]

Hi everyone,

I was out tonight for a leisurely drive and all of a sudden the car died. Pulled over and realized I had no spark. I did however have spark going to the distributor, hence spark coming from the coil, but I was getting no spark at the plugs.

I get in the car, start pushing cause I was only about 1/4 mile from my house, and about 10 minutes later it fires back up without any issues at all.

I assume it's an issue with the distributor, but since it's intermittent and began working just a few minutes later this will be a difficult thing to isolate.

Anyone have something like this? What would I start digging into first? The car has been running great aside from that, I recently pulled the distributor and checked everything, relubed, and have put many miles on since then.

Thanks,
Mike

[Nissanman]

Have a good look at the HT terminals inside the cap as well as the rotor, there may be a continuity problem with the centre (coil) terminal.

[Linda]

Do you have points or an EI distributor? I had the pick up coil go out on a few cars, including the Roadster.
Linda

[The Neck]

I have the stock distributor. After some digging it looks like it's the coil. The part that is confusing to me, is that the wire from the coil was producing a spark, but the plug wires we not.

My thought process was that there is an issue with the distributor, not necessarily the coil, although it's sounding like the coil is the culprit.

[notoptoy]

Replacing the condenser is always a cheap preventative measure. I also always like to check ignition wires and components at night or in very low light so that you can easily see arching due to bad wires, cracks in coils and caps etc.

[Curtis]

Check the two wires inside the distributor. Mine was broken and sometimes it worked and well sometimes it didn't. It was really hard to tell until i wiggled it.

[C.Costine]

Check the wire and insulator where current goes into the distributor.

[redroadster]

replace points, condenser ,rotor ,cap maybe coil wire
or check with a multimeter all over .... tows $100

Sure it didn't fuel fowl the plugs all of a sudden or starve for gas ?
Debrie in the dizzy ?
Dizzy grounded good ohms check

[The Neck]

replace points, condenser ,rotor ,cap maybe coil wire
or check with a multimeter all over .... tows $100

Sure it didn't fuel fowl the plugs all of a sudden or starve for gas ?
Debrie in the dizzy ?
Dizzy grounded good ohms check

I had fuel, could hear the pump and I have a clear fuel filter that was full the entire time. I know for a fact that I had spark from the coil based on grounding the wire, and no spark form both #1 and #2 plug wires.

Upon removing the cap, everything is looking good, although there's been a wire in there that's lost the majority of its insulation which I'm currently replacing. I can only assume this was the issue.

https://imgur.com/KUhvvQ5

[Linda]

See the little wire to the left that is braided? That one can break inside and be intermittent and then no start. Suggest you replace it since it looks old.
Linda

[Curtis]

Holy crap, it's not supposed to look like that.

[The Neck]

Holy crap is right!!

It was a little too dark to really notice much last night. Pulled it part this morning and about 20 minutes later I was back in business.

I should start a thread titled, "Stupid stuff Mike does that you shouldn't do"

[Curtis]

I guess this means you're running well now?

[redroadster]

I would avoid any railroad crossing with that set up

[The Neck]

Yeah, for the most part.

I've been chasing an overheating type issue that's causing me to vapor lock, but THAT issue is done. The car is going to be a SR swap eventually so I'm just trying to enjoy it around town more than anything.