Random, instant power loss

[jjcollier]

Hi guys:

Road tripping with my son last week, my '79 911SC had been running like a top from San Francisco to Utah and then we had a sudden, instant power loss (with a backfire as I rolled to a stop).

I turned the car off, checked for anything visibly wrong, nothing was and she fired right back up and drove another six hours before it happened again.

This has never happened with this car before. Temps were warm, but not overly high. Everything running great otherwise.

Any ideas for a cause?

Thanks in advance.

J.

[75 911s]

I've heard the coil can get heat soaked and cause issues like this. Blue replacement or black original coil?

[Jonny H]

Originally Posted by 75 911s

I've heard the coil can get heat soaked and cause issues like this. Blue replacement or black original coil?

...or worse still, silver

Could also be CDI box or fuel pump relay.

[allaircooled]

Yes I had this happen with one of those wonderful silver coils, now a nice $250 paper weight.

[jjcollier]

Thanks, guys.

Black coil and original as far as I can tell. The car has been hot before, but never for as sustained a period as that day crossing the Nevada desert (a Carrera cooler is in my future for her). Strange though to have it cut off again the next day after only a few hours of driving at lower temps?

Thanks again for any insight.

[KNS]

The CD box can also die (Jonny beat me to it), same thing happened to my old '80 SC. They make a faint high pitched whine and supposedly stop whining when they die. Mine was making the noise but it was still bad.

If you're not familiar it is the silver/gray metal box on the left side of the engine compartment. It's about 4x5x3 inches roughly in size.

[jjcollier]

Much appreciated, you guys.

I'll sniff around the CD box too, then.

J>