I have a 73 2.0 (original fuel injection no mods other than newer stereo and fatter tires) and was heading out to a Car Show/BBQ with my main squeeze and the engine was just humming along beautifully at around 3400/3600 RPM and it just died, no warning, tach went to zero and there I was, stranded on the side of the highway. Up til now the car ran beautiful, I went on a couple of long trips last summer trouble free which built up my confidence in the reliability of my car, any ideas about what happened much appreciated. The teener is at a friends farm about 45 minutes from where I live, I was doing the tow rope method with my daughter driving her mothers car and me in the teener and it was pretty nerve racking as she had difficulty maintaining a steady pace and I was getting worried about all the tow rope jerks damaging the car so I didn't tow it all the way home. Could it be the points??

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

If the tach went to zero while the engine was still spinning, it's almost certainly the points.

You should always keep spares in your glove box.

If the tach went to zero while the engine was still spinning, it's almost certainly the points.

You should always keep spares in your glove box.

It has no spark or no gas. If it died suddenly I would say no spark. Ray

Check Fuses! If it died without warning, I would suspect electrical issues. If the fuel stopped, I would expect poor running and then stop. It could be the ignition switch. Look for spark first. Use an extra spark plug with the base grounded and crank the engine. Go from there

With FI a loss of fuel pressure kills the engine just as fast as an ignition issue. Fuel pump may have died.

But it does sound like ignition and you can use the tach to troubleshoot it.

If the tach died then it has to be something electrical. If it was fuel the tach would have kept going until you clutched in.

That said my first response would be to check the fuse on the relay board that drives the fuel pump. I only say that because I too was left at the side of the road in the boonies and that was what it was. The fuse didn't blow - the bus bar inside had disconnected from the contacts. Easy check - does the fuel pump run for a second when you key on?

Went out to where the teener was with my mechanic and had a new ignitor module with me, pulled the distributor and sure enough the points were not working at all as the porcelan piece was broken. My mechanic said it was the first time he had ever seen that and he has been dealing with points for a long time, he installed the new module and she started right up and actually idled smoother than ever before, and really smooth acceleration, sadly I did not make it all the way home, the last 500 metres we towed it. I went from real happy to quite discouraged in a very short time frame. Any suggestions to what could have happened will be much appreciated.

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

What happened the second time? Did it repeat the same as before? Maybe the coil is going bad causing high current thru the points/ then thru the new module?
Distributer shaft slop? Bad advance plate ground?
Tom

why did you have to tow it the last 500m?
Did it die again? Start running poorly? Wat happened?

It died just like when the points crapped out, but til then it ran real sweet. There is a ground wire inside the distributor, does that need to be out of the way when you have the ignitor module??

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

You need the ground braid for the Pertronix as well as for points.

The Ignitor isn't the most robust thing on the planet, I have heard of them dying pretty quickly. Usually from overheating due to the ignition being left on without the motor running, but... Take a look at the module, see if it looks damaged or fried.

Could be something else, too, but recent work is always a suspect.

--DD

Bad dizzy bearing messing up the points? Check for wobble in the shaft!

Make sure your wires on the dizzy are tight on the spades, I had one before that was loose and it was enough to do what you describe. Good luck

Hah! Blue fuse on the relay board was blown which is the fuse for the fuel pump! But now I have a leaky injector, thank goodness this didn't happen two weekends ago as I organized the first ever PCA tour in New Brunswick and we had great weather and a great turnout.

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada