Greg, I replaced my Allison because of problems when it ran hot not
cold. Also your symptoms sound like what I used to have on my Dolomite
in the UK. Same engine. That time the problems were dirty petrol
clogging the fuel filter and the points failing. My original 76 coil by
the way still works fine although I did upgrade to a hotter (ballasted)
coil.
Alan
Greg Rowe wrote:
>I've been running into one of those streaks.
>
>First the vertical link breaks. Two tows and parts on the
>slow boat from California later, I sort that out. The very
>first day that I have the car back on the road, the rear
>leaf spring breaks. FortunatelyI have a spare. Unfortuneatly
>the spare spring is also broken. Fortuneatly broken on different
>leaves so I now have a build-it-yourself spring.
>
>And today - for the third drive in a row - I have more problems
>with the car suddenly completely cutting out. This happened
>5 or 6 times on the drive home; luckily it restarted each time.
>The fact that the electronic tach immediately goes to zero even
>though the wheels are still turning the engine makes me think
>the problem is electrical in nature. Plus once the car backfired
>(just to draw even MORE attention to the stalling sports car).
>I can't think of how to test it though since by the time
>I get out and set up some tests, the car runs perfectly again.
>
>I checked all the ignition wiring and it seems to be tight and
>unbroken. I've also tried jiggling the key (not very scientific
>I know) to see if the ignition switch is good and it seems to
>be OK. I have no idea how to test the electronic ignition which
>is a 10 year old Allison/Crane unit, but typically they're pretty
>reliable so I'm just going to let that go and hope for the time
>being.
>
>My number one suspect (opportunity, weapon and motive) is therefore
>the ignition coil. It's old and it's probably overdue for
>replacement anyhow. One problem: it seemed to act up more
>when the car was cold and actually behaved itself the last 6
>or 7 miles, I always thought a failing coil would be more
>troublesome when hot.
>
>Anyway, my questions (I DO have questions) are:
>
>1)Is there any way for me to test the coil other than swapping it
>and driving around for while and hoping I don't break down?
>
>2)Is it OK for me to put a coil from a 72 (non electronic ignition)
>spit in for the time being? (all that 6v vs 12v vs ballast resistor
>stuff confuses me).
>
>3) Anything else I should look for?
>
>Thanks as always, you guys and gals are great!
>
>Greg Rowe
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