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I jinxed it for sure. Last night, I backed off my advance slightly to reduce/eliminate the pinging I've had. I ran a quick errand last night and the car ran a little oddly, including not starting when I went to come home. Waiting a bit took care of that.
This morning, I was heading to work, and I got close to the interstate when the car began to run very badly. Misfiring and losing power. I made an abortive attempt to "run it out" and ended up pulling off near Forest Park. I adjusted my timing and it ran well again. Got back on the highway, then a mile or two later, began to sputter, pop, and misfire. I pulled off, re-adjusted the timing, then started taking a major street towards work - avoiding the highway. Again, the car began to run poorly and I pulled off several times to re-adjust timing. Eventually as I got back to Forest Park, the car finally gave up the ghost and died. A large group of friendly joggers gave me a 30mph push the last few hundred feet into the safety (and free parking) of the park.
I tinkered for a while, but the car would not fire. I confirmed fuel, and then discovered (with my timing light) that I was getting ZERO pulse from my coil.
I checked the fuses, connections, ignition connections, allison ignition wires under the dash and nothing will give me a pulse from the coil. I also repeatedly checked the distributor.
I'm not sure how this all fits together, but if something in my ignition unit was damaged or dying causing intermittent ignition control, it might explain why the car would sputter and then run perfectly and then sputter again.
I initially suspected fuel, but the lack of a pulse from the coil seems pretty damning.
I'm a *little* bothered that these symptoms were similar to the initial problem that took me off the road back in early December. I've since replaced my coil, ignition switch, distributor, plugs, plug wires and ignition system.
I am heading back to the park shortly with my original points dizzy, my bosch blue coil and a smattering of tools. I think putting the original ignition back on will get me going again, but it looks like I'm in the market for a new electronic ignition unit. Crane or Pertronix????
I can't express how disappointing this is. I'll post again once I get the car home...
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