power loss suddenly

[ramonesfreak]

hi..hopefully someone can help. i suppose this could be any number of things or maybe nothing.

was just driving down the highway at 60mph in 4th gear, for about 15 minutes when suddenly the car lost what felt like 50% of its power and the alternator light came on.

i pulled over immediately and shut it off thinking the belt broke. i checked and the belt is fine. i was in a dangerous spot and needed to move so i started it up right away and it was fine, and decided to drive the 10 miles back home. car drove fine. no alternator light, no loss of power. totally normal at highway speeds.

when the power loss came, i could put the pedal to the floor and nothing happened. i was too worried about the traffic behind me to notice what the tach was doing and since the alternator light came on...i didnt attempt to keep driving to see what would happen. the car did not stutter or surge or anything. just power gone and alternator light. car is a stock 83 sc with new belt, new wires, new plugs. in the 4k miles i have had it, not a single problem.

any ideas? now im paranoid
thanks
scott

[ramonesfreak]

-after driving some more, and looking at the engine compartment closely, i noticed 2 drips of a dark substance....sorta greasy maybe it is oil - im not sure, on the distributor cap. there was some of this gunk under the coil, near where two wires are entering the coil.

i dont know anything about coils. do they drip? any ideas please? ive done a search and dont find any similar situations.

could there be a substance leaking from my coil, and could that be the reason why i lost power suddenly and had the alternator light come on?

[Mo_Gearhead]

Scott,
Coils are filled with oil as a 'semi-coolant/insulator'. Not sure if that caused your particular problem but I can tell you if it is leaking oil, it is not long for this world.
Replace it soon!

[ramonesfreak]

yup. ive ordered one. unfortunately i ordered the silver bosch but im going to order several other brands just in case.

i dont understand - do the coils fail because the oil leaks out and then they overheat? if that is he case, isnt it possible to seal them so the oil stops leaking...with epoxy or something?

[Mo_Gearhead]

Scott,
True, once the oil leaves ...insulating/cooling factor gone, bye bye coil shortly.

I guess you could try and reseal one (in an emergency). But something has caused it to fail, could be a problem internal (in the windings, etc.).

Not that much money, so why chance being stranded somewhere?



Quote: "im going to order several other brands just in case."

Whats up with that???