condensor ?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 3:03 pm

Here's a newbie question. What does the condensor do anyway. my compufire points replacement went out and I put the points back in without the condensor. Engine runs fine.

Speedy Jim · Post by **Speedy Jim** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 5:07 pm

Very briefly:
Without the condensor, the spark will be weaker; may not start reliably and will mis-fire under load.

Also, the points will wear out very rapidly.

http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlux/hv/igncoil.htm
has some info first few paragraphs.

Speedy Jim
http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/

Josh Sullivan · Post by **Josh Sullivan** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 6:19 pm

Now there's some good info.

sagaboy · Post by **sagaboy** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 7:11 pm

<Guest said:... I put the points back in without the condensor. Engine runs fine.>

Does that mean that if in any event the condenser drop dead and I drive very slowly--I can still limp home... right

)

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:21 pm

sagaboy wrote:<Guest said:... I put the points back in without the condensor. Engine runs fine.>

Does that mean that if in any event the condenser drop dead and I drive very slowly--I can still limp home... right )

that should work as long as your points aren't to worn.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 5:10 pm

The condenser (capacitor) is a vital part of the Kettering ignition system. Without one, not only will the points degrade rapidly but the spark will be of very poor quality - possibly enough to make the engine run at low RPM but not well. In "electronic" systems which only rely upon the points to provide a trigger signal which controls the coil current (as opposed to the coil current having to actually pass thriough them) the condenser is not as important.
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepage ... n/CDI.HTML