1980 Lincoln warms up and shuts off

CRAZYNAVYJEFF

MEMBER
1980 LINCOLN MARK VI
V8
2WD
AUTOMATIC
63,000 MILES

1980 Lincoln Mark VI, very low miles, newer tune up (wires, cap rotor plugs high quality but almost a year old) timing on the money, new coil and new ignition module (replaced tonight). Car will just shut off after it warms up, troubleshooting found not getting spark, the cap and rotor (high quality not cheap one) were badly corroded on cylinders 1, 4, 6, 7 (split level cap/rotor) and one wire bad (cylinder 7) as well, even the post on the cap for this cylinder was about 1/4 gone. Could it be this simple as bad parts or could it be another problem that burned up the cap/rotor and wire and this is a symptom? I have not seen a cap in this bad of shape sense the old days of dual points and old performance super coils.

3 Replies

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,871 POSTS

Check the pickup coil in the distributor for continuity. Also try flexing the wires while taking the reading. Normal, as I recall, is somewhere between 500 and 800 ohms. Shorting isn't typically a problem. If it is failing when warm, you can expect to find an open circuit.

Caradiodoc

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Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 AT 4:43 AM

CRAZYNAVYJEFF

MEMBER
4 POSTS

Yes all wires going to and from the coil are in good shape and we replaced the coil, the coil was reading OK but who knows how old it was (I can get parts at cost.) I may not have been clear, we found the problem with the distributor cap and rotor, and one totally burnt wire at the cap. Really my question was do you just believe it was a bad cap/rotor and wire set or could something else have been causing this voltage spike that would have done this much damage under the cap. It was odd too, this cap has 2 levels, the upper level is for cylinder 1, 4, 6, 7 and that side was totally burnt up, but the lower side for cylinder 2, 3, 5, 8 looked like brand new which would be what you would expect for the low miles and age.

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Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 AT 12:48 PM

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,871 POSTS

Here's what I was going by:

"Car will just shut off after it warms up, troubleshooting found not getting spark".

Besides the module which you already replaced, that symptom is typical of the pickup coil inside the distributor, not the ignition coil that makes the spark, although he can cause that too.

The burned contacts in the cap suggests carbon tracking from moisture at one time. Usually you will have a misfire condition but it really shouldn't cause stalling unless it is just from the engine running too slowly. If you're getting no spark right from the coil wire, that eliminates the cap and rotor as the cause of the problem.

Caradiodoc

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Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 AT 4:27 PM