The Ford Barn

Ford coupe · 07-23-2022, 07:02 PM

coming home from meet today my vicki suddenly stopped on the road as if someone pulled the coil wire..Got under hood and all wiring seemed in place and could see nothing wrong..Got in and tried it several times and all of a sudden started up and ran fine...It was very hot today but temp guage was only up a little over half so ifeel it lost fire since it stopped so quickly ...Could yhe coil break down because of the heat...Scared to go drive now so need some help here///Thanks in advance..

Lamar Wadsworth · 07-23-2022, 07:45 PM

Coil could do that. Also inspect the wire from ignition switch very carefully. I had the same thing happen on an off-topic '79 Toyota pickup. The wire to the + terminal on the coil looked fine but when I touched it the end fell off. Replaced the terminal and solved the problem. Also could be a bad condensor.

50fordcoupeman · 07-23-2022, 11:34 PM

I had the same issue with my avatar. Turned out to be a bad coil.

Daves55Sedan · 07-24-2022, 01:22 AM

Heat can break down these cheap chinese made ignition condensers. It is probably the first thing to check. But the ignition coil can fail due to heat also.
I'm still running my '55 Y-block load-o-matic distributor with conventional ignition, but nowadys, I don't go far and always carry a couple spare new NAPA Echlin condensers with me just in case. All you need is a screwdriver and two 5/15" open end wrenches to change one.

Anteek29 · 07-24-2022, 10:22 AM

Bad coil. Had an intermittent coil on a brand new '53 Willys. Same on a '67 Austin Healy. Both would quit while driving...drove dad and me nuts until we found the problem!

Ole Don · 08-01-2022, 11:21 AM

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My 55 quit at a stop light years ago. At home later, I chased wires down to the distributor. Where the hot wire went under the plate, it broke inside the rubber insulation. The wire broke from years of the advance moving to advance and back. Darn thing failed after only 55 years of constant moving.

07-23-2022, 07:02 PM	#1
Ford coupe Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Napanee ontario Canada Posts: 395	55 sudden stop coming home from meet today my vicki suddenly stopped on the road as if someone pulled the coil wire..Got under hood and all wiring seemed in place and could see nothing wrong..Got in and tried it several times and all of a sudden started up and ran fine...It was very hot today but temp guage was only up a little over half so ifeel it lost fire since it stopped so quickly ...Could yhe coil break down because of the heat...Scared to go drive now so need some help here///Thanks in advance..

07-23-2022, 07:45 PM	#2
Lamar Wadsworth Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 315	Re: 55 sudden stop Coil could do that. Also inspect the wire from ignition switch very carefully. I had the same thing happen on an off-topic '79 Toyota pickup. The wire to the + terminal on the coil looked fine but when I touched it the end fell off. Replaced the terminal and solved the problem. Also could be a bad condensor.

07-23-2022, 11:34 PM	#3
50fordcoupeman Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: LaGrande Oregon Posts: 866	Re: 55 sudden stop I had the same issue with my avatar. Turned out to be a bad coil.

07-24-2022, 01:22 AM	#4
Daves55Sedan Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Granite City, Illinois Posts: 3,008	Re: 55 sudden stop Heat can break down these cheap chinese made ignition condensers. It is probably the first thing to check. But the ignition coil can fail due to heat also. I'm still running my '55 Y-block load-o-matic distributor with conventional ignition, but nowadys, I don't go far and always carry a couple spare new NAPA Echlin condensers with me just in case. All you need is a screwdriver and two 5/15" open end wrenches to change one.

07-24-2022, 10:22 AM	#5
Anteek29 Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Santa Maria, CA Posts: 985	Re: 55 sudden stop Bad coil. Had an intermittent coil on a brand new '53 Willys. Same on a '67 Austin Healy. Both would quit while driving...drove dad and me nuts until we found the problem! __________________ Alan 1929 Special Coupe 1941 Pick-Up 1955 Victoria

08-01-2022, 11:21 AM	#6
Ole Don Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: St. Michael, Minnesota Posts: 1,713	Re: 55 sudden stop Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) My 55 quit at a stop light years ago. At home later, I chased wires down to the distributor. Where the hot wire went under the plate, it broke inside the rubber insulation. The wire broke from years of the advance moving to advance and back. Darn thing failed after only 55 years of constant moving.