Thread: 65 galaxie 352 burning points after 150 miles or less

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Has a new coill, put a resister in the wire before the coil, and of course new points and condensor.

Runs well when the points are fresh, but the idle is rough, like a dead miss, which smooths out a little when in gear at idle. (automatic)

any ideas for me? any help is appreciated, it's been 25 years since I fiddled with points. Thank you

Ford distributors were notorious for the breaker plate wearing and causing an erratic idle and spark. It’s the first place I would start looking.

thnank you, I'll get on it tomorrow

From a personal screw up, I installed a coil with the two primary wires backwards on a '65 - and it would burn a set of points out in just a few days. A bad condenser will also cause points to fail. Also, that new ballast resistor in the system - even new ones can be bad allowing too much current flow. Most of these older cars ignition parts are now made 'elsewhere' in the world, and in places with less QA.

Why not consider changing over to something like a Pertronix - they will keep a stock appearance but be an electronic breaker less system (Ignitor)

would the breaker plate wear cause the points to burn (wear) erratically?

YES, it will cause timing problems also

65 ford should've had a resistance wire going to the coil. If it was still in place there wouldn't be any need for a second resistor. Did you measure the voltage(s) going to the coil? With the key on around 6 volt, turn the key to start should be around 12 volts, as long as no one has changed the wiring before you.

A previous poster mentioned pertronix. I would advise the same. Would make your life a whole lot easier and make your ignition system a lot more dependable.

The voltage to the coil was ~9 volts, too much I was told. Mechanic put the resistor in line before the coil, I was told by someone else the resistor should be inline between the coil and points.

This seems to be what I recall in my younger days and does tend to make sense. I would prefer to stay with points, but if this problem cannot be remedied, I may need to go to electronic.

The breaker plate is in good condition.

The resistor/resistant wire goes before the coil and there should be a 12v bypass from the starter solenoid to the + side of the coil so it gets 12v while cranking--

What gap or dwell setting are you using on the points---are you lubing the dist or do the points have a lube.felt rubbing block wiper???

Are all your engine grounds in place and good???

Do you have an electric choke possibly hooked into the ignition on circuit wrong?

I finally got the car running, turned out to be a bad ign. distributor, I had also wired the electric choke via the the oil pressure hot lead, as I put on a direct reading oil press. gauge. I disconnected that wire from the choke to be on the safe side.

I do not know if the choke was part of the problem, but it is out of the equation now. the rebuilt dist seems to be working fine, have put 300 miles on the car. Thanks for all the help, R.

Thanks for letting us know you "back in the saddle again" - here's hoping that you get to enjoy a lot of cruzing in the 65 this year!!

You are not going to believe this, I went out and put a flex fan on the 65, and was letting it idle to see how the temp would do, and after about ten minutes, it started doing the same exact thing as before!

idling rough, almost dying, and it would "catch its breath" so to speak and almost die and repeat the cycle, I went to drive it and it will no longer even run. I have not yet pulled off the cap to look at the points, I am so disappointed.

It has a new ign switch on it now as well.

when I put three gauge set on, I wired the amp meter and the gauge lights (red wires) to what is now clear to me a terminal on the ignition switch. There are two terminals on the switch that have nuts on them, I thought this was a fuseable link, could this be part of my problem?

the gauges have been on almost a year, Hard for me to believe it is related, but I am out of ideas again.

well, the points don't seem to be burnt, I jiggled some wires under the dash (near the ign switch) and it seemed to make a difference for a minute.

I think I am going to try to bypass some wires and see if there is any change.

Hot wire it with a wire from the + post to the resistor, that bypasses all the car's wiring that may be causing the problem. Narrows down the possibilities.