Ongoing Hot Restart Issue

Posted by PennyPackard On 2019/8/15 17:08:42

Hello,

I'm wondering if you all can let me know if my reasoning is sound here. With my 49 288ci deluxe(22nd) I have the very common issue where the car will start and run, but not restart. It has a rebuilt carb, new distributor cap, rotor, coil and coil-dizzy wires, condenser plugs & wires, battery and giant 00 cables. I've gapped the points and also cleaned the spark plugs so they're not fouled.

In my diagnostics based on other threads while the engine is hot, when I pull the main coil lead out of the distributor it sparks very well on a ground, but the spark plug wires show little to no spark. This makes me think it's the distributor where my issues lie. I tried re-gapping with no success/difference. I'm thinking my next step is to replace the condenser again, since it sounds like those can be pretty weak even off the shelf when "new," and this one endured a long, cold, winter outside with good amounts of cranking and engine troubleshooting. Though I know there can be many electrical things drawing more current while hot, I would think that the coil lead spark would also be weak were it something outside the distributor like a failing starter or a major short (which hopefully I've found all of). Electrically otherwise the lights and everything, even when hot running/not running are working better than they ever have.

Is there something else I'm missing here?