Following basic ignition troubleshooting works -Or, I'm not as clever as I think I am

[billh1963]

This summer I went to drive my '76 911S. I tried to start the car up, it fired maybe one cylinder and died. Car would not start. I verified the car was getting fuel but that's as far as I got.

Because I have other cars to drive and work was really busy, the car sat all summer.

Several weeks ago I figured I needed to get the car running. Well, thinking I'm a clever chap I decided I didn't need to do basic troubleshooting. The engine was rebuilt a couple years ago and I have around 3500 miles on a nicely running engine. Assuming I had all new parts in the engine I convinced myself it was the CDI box. I bought one from the forum and replaced it. Still would not start.

Well, since the coil is original my thought was it must be the coil. Replaced the coil with a known good one....no joy.

Hmm...I'm thinking all sorts of bad things at this point. Maybe the distributor needs rebuilding, broken wires, etc.? I pop the cap distributor cap off in preparation to pull the distributor and think, well, maybe I should replace the points first just to make sure.

Bingo! It looks like when the engine was rebuilt they reused the original points. The plastic block was well worn and the points weren't opening. I put in new points, went through the iterative process of setting the dwell angle (.012" gap gave me 36 degrees) and the car runs better than ever.

Moral of the story? If I had done basic troubleshooting early on this simple problem would have been very inexpensively and quickly solved. Instead, the car was off the road for several months and I bought a few hundred dollars in parts I didn't need. I paid my "idiot tax" on this one for sure.

[Discseven]

Yeah... IT. Levied on us all at some point---never alone in this!

PS---Cool that you spill the beans Bill. Is good reminder. TY!

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[Dpmulvan]

We all pay the idiot tax sooner or later whether it's a car, a woman, furnace or other household appliances. Being poor I always start with the cheap parts and work my way up the price ladder. Unfortunately for me it's never the $5 part that fixes the problem always the $500 part.

[billh1963]

I've paid the tax too often...and will again I'm sure!