Date:         Sat, 8 Mar 2003 13:19:28 -0500
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: hall sender vs points
Comments: To: John Jensen <mudbug@TOAD.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <008a01c2e4fb$b5bad600$6601a8c0@JOHNSNEWDELL>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 05:48 PM 3/7/2003, John Jensen wrote:
>   Anyway, I'm wondering what the standard protocol for fall back is with
>these.  Do I carry a spare distributor, all set up to go?  Or what?
>I've been in the habit of keeping a few spare sets of points around.
>What goes bad on the Hall Unit?

The connector at the distributor has a tendency to deteriorate sometimes --
I'm guessing that it's mostly in hot-weather vehicles.  This can cause
intermittent failures because -- I think -- of shorts btw two of the three
wires.  Temporary fix is some electrical tape.

Beyond that, they either work or they don't, and they rarely fail.  I
suppose a full distributor would be the desirable spare, but personally I
wouldn't worry about it.  You might consider carrying a spare ignition
module, but they fail rarely as well.  Cap and rotor are subject to the
usual gradual deterioration, as are the wires.

I'd carry a headlight switch and an ignition switch myself -- both are
somewhat overstressed, subject to abrupt failures, and can stop you in your
tracks.  And I'd go the whole heavy-current portion of wiring harness and
fuse panel and ground connections to find signs of overheating at terminals
(and replace those terminals).

david


--
David Beierl - Providence RI USA -- http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage"
'85 GL "Poor Relation"