Subject: My Ambassador has an intermittant!
Author: William Dudley
Date: Jun 11, 2001, 5:49 AM
Post ID: 1707068445
Folks,
My 71 Ambassador has been wonderful and trouble free but lately
has been intermittantly "dying" while I'm riding along.
Duration of the intermittant can be very short (like one or two
missing plug firings) to "long" like 15 seconds.
Symptoms:
1. Seems just like I shut off the ignition - power goes away,
then the intermittant "repairs" itself and the motor starts
pulling again.
2. Generator light goes on (dimly) during intermittant failure.
I don't know what this is telling me.
3. Highbeam indicator stays on (if it was on) during failure, implying
that lighting circuit is unaffected.
4. Tachometer needle swings wildly after intermittant is restored,
suggesting power to tach is also restored. This suggests (to me)
diagnosis (b) below.
My guess would be (a) an intermittant failure of the ignition feed
or (b) intermittant failure of the points (due to oil or grease
getting on the points, for example) but I'm looking for other
suggested diagnoses in case my logic is incorrect.
I also welcome suggestions as to how to debug this. Here are my
ideas:
One way would be to continue to use the bike but carry a voltmeter
and a coil of wire and some electrical tape in my pocket at all
times.
Another way would be to instrument the bike by adding LED indicators
showing voltage present at crucial points: feed to coil, fuse in
headlight, . . .
Or I could just examine all the connections on the bike, but it
would seem difficult to ensure that I've found them all.
Bill Dudley
71 Ambassador