VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Mechanical - Engine, Trans, etc 283 just died

Here in Ohio, it is time to get the vintage Chevrolets out in the fresh spring air and finally go for a drive. I fired up the 1966 283 and drove around the block a few times. All went well. The next day, I fired it up and headed for the interstate. My goal was to go about 10 minutes on the interstate and turn around and head back home. The outside temp was 70 degrees and after driving about 8 minutes, the tachometer went to zero while I was cruizing along at 60mph. I pulled over and the starter turned the engine over just fine, but the engine didn't want to run. After a 5 minute break, it fired back up and I drove on the interstate for another 6-10 minutes. It died jut like before. It fired up again after a 5 minute break. When I pulled onto my side street, I turned the car off for a minute in front of my house. I attempted to restart it to no avail.
I changed the distributor condensor and no restart, even after the car was cool. I changed the ignition coil and it started right up.
Can an ignition coil really act like this? Is there anyway to check an ignition coil either on the car or off? In my younger days, we would pull the high tension lead off of the ignition coil and point it towards a ground. Then we would evealuate the color of the spark and determine whether the coil was good or not. Not real scientific but it was a lot of fun watching the spark.

dtm

Coils failing when they get hot is becoming more common. I have had that problem several times with 6 volt coils made in Mexico. Have also talked to an electronic distributor conversion that told me it has been a problem he has become aware. I have found that pouring a little cold (or cool) water directly on the coil restores the spark. What we suspect is that the two internal coils expand with heat and eventually make contact with each other. When that happens the coil does not function properly. Cooling shrinks one or both internal coils restoring the proper electrical paths. I've had several people look at me like I have lost my mind pouring water on a coil.

Toolman
I have seen similar situations to yours and new coil has generally fixed the problem and not only in the older models. The newer coil on plug dry type are worse than the oil filled type.
Tony

I have had coils act just like that.

I drove the 283 today for 35 minutes at 65mph with no problems. Maybe the new ignition coil is the answer? The car will be driven on a 5 day VCCA trip real soon. I want to make sure that I have solved the problem before the big trip.

dtm

Maybe need a new old coil! I had a 1963 Pontiac Laurentian that had a 283 Chevy engine that died on the highway but in my case it was the condenser.
Neil G. (Canada)

On a six cyl tour with the temps in the 90 deg range a friend experienced what we diagnosed as coil breakdown so we removed it and put it in a bucket of ice. This was in a fast food parking lot so we had lunch and afterwards reinstalled the coil and the car ran fine. Also had a problem one time with coil breakdown due to an incorrect rotor which had too great a clearance to the distributor cap causing too high a voltage requirement from the coil to cross that gap.

It is common for a coil or a condenser to break down when hot.

Thanks everyone for the wealth of information.

dtm