And it still ran

[bruakeman]

Drove my recently tree smooshed 85 to the body shop the other day for an estimate. Car was hesitant to start, very unusual. Nearly killed the battery when leaving the body shop cranking away till it finally fired and then ran fine. This car has always pretty much run flawlessly, what the heck.
Well,

Hard to believe it ran at all, hot ass spark to bridge that gap. Would a failed ignition condenser contribute to this?

Found a new rotor off the shelf at Advance Auto $7.49. Nice surprise, common to other Bosch ignitions?

Car runs great again.

 

[Jefco]

Yes, common to older Volvos too, cap also fits but has wires out the top; same reluctor and coil assembly inside too. Similar 6 wire ignition box, but NO CONDENSER to fail, like points would have.

 

[dllubin]

Looks like a resistor rotor with a burned out resistor. You can solder a wire across where the resistor was and end up with a hotter spark than when that rotor was new. However, you may get more ignition noise in your AM radio as a result.

 

[Mechanogeek]

Looks like a resistor rotor with a burned out resistor. You can solder a wire across where the resistor was and end up with a hotter spark than when that rotor was new. However, you may get more ignition noise in your AM radio as a result.

What is this "AM" radio of which you speak? I had a quick nostalgic moment recalling listening for lightning during a rainstorm during my favorite 60's songs... Hehe. Does anyone really use AM anymore?

 

[dllubin]

What is this "AM" radio of which you speak? I had a quick nostalgic moment recalling listening for lightning during a rainstorm during my favorite 60's songs... Hehe. Does anyone really use AM anymore?

Or is the question "Does anyone really use radio anymore?" Actually, many major news and sports stations still use it because it has a huge range compared to FM. It is also much more robust in an emergency than the Internet or the cellular network.