Broken Advance

[mrkprsn]

Hi Peeps,

My NC Sebring stopped running suddenly last week. Felt like an electrical issue so I went through everything: coil, condenser, spark plug, connections, battery, points, switches, etc. Finally I decided to check the timing and something seemed off. Tried to move the advance and it didn't move clockwise and I couldn't retard the spark enough using the point plate. Decided to take the plate off and this is what I found.

So my questions to you are: The springs look OK. The posts that hold the springs were sheared off. You can see one in the picture. There was another one behind the advance. I guess if I experience a similar thing again I should check the advance unit sooner? How common is this? What would cause the posts to shear off? As always thanks and Happy Thanksgiving to the Americanos.

-Mark

DucatiAdvanceSmall.jpg

[Duccout]

Weird. I wonder if all of the debris at the bottom of the housing had something to do with it? Maybe a good time to switch to an electronic system....


Cheers,

Colin

[LaceyDucati]

I've only seen this sort of destruction when a screw fixing the points or condenser is installed into the backplate that is too long. Another cause of failure could be trying to alter advance by bending or tweaking the stops, resulting in cracks, maybe something broke off or came adrift. Normally these units seem pretty robust.

Nigel