autocon

Hi 72'240 Your problem with condensers (capacitors) sounds a little spooky. Here are some thoughts. Why do you need a capacitor on the distributor in the first place? Answer: The primary of your ignition coil is opened by the distributor contacts and when this happens the magnetic field in the ignition coil collapes and creates the high voltage for your spark plugs. At the same time a high voltage spark occurs across the open distributor points. The cap. acts as a low resistance path to ground attempting to do three things. 1. reduce pitting on the contact point 2. reduce electrical noise imposed on the 12vdc engine system. (Ever hear buzzing noises in your radio that vary with engine speed) 3. The most important one. Allow the magnetic field in your coil to collapse quickly to produce the spark The cap then acts like a resistor. Voltage drop across it and some value of current shunted to ground thru it. Capacitors die easiliy Exceed its temperature rating. Exceed its voltage rating Exceed its current rating All of these things can lead to failure of the capactor dielectric and turn the cap into a shorted one. No capacitor-no spark! What to do, What to do. Try to get the manufactures specifications for the cap and see if it will work with the Mallory dual point distributor and your MSD Blaser coil. The blaser coil may be creating too much kick back voltage. I assume that the capacitor did not come with the distributor. Also ask MSD what capactor they might recommend. Make absolutly sure that one side of your capacitor is connected to a really clean chassis ground. Good luck Oops! Should have read your post a bit more carefully. The cap came with the distributor. So this might be a marriage problem. Talk to MSD first.