Cam oil pressure and ignition

[Aurel]

Yesterday, after running flawlessly for hours, my car died at a stop and never restarted…I lost ignition and had it towed back home.

Now, I need to figure out what happened.

I noticed lots of oil on the top end drivers side, as if it sprayed from somewhere.
I also noticed very low oil pressure at the gauge when cranking to start it

Question is: does low cam oil pressure result in ignition cutoff for safety of the engine?
Car is 1978SC.

My hypothesis is, a rodent chewed through the rubber of the cam pressure tensioner oil line, and after getting real hot, oil started leaking from that line.

Does it make sense that would cut the ignition?

Thanks,

[Aurel]

Actually, the rubber part of the line is below, so that would not put oil on top. But I found the oil leak originates at the oil line connection to the cam tower.

And a pic of the car, few hours in the trip before it quit running:

[ahh911]

Sorry for the bad luck,
Nice car, love the silver bar with black.

If the weather is warm, how much pressure do you expect to see by using the starter to turn over? For me, I thought it was fairly low in a warm garage.

Oil level or has it been sitting too long?

As far as I know, the 81sc so pretty much the 79sc has no shutoff for oil pressure.

Phil

[Aurel]

I should see 1-2 bars during cranking if I recall correctly. Now the needle barely moves.
Oil level is good, just changed oil before the drive. It may just be a coincidence that the oil fitting is leaking a bit. I will check for spark at the msd street fire, then at the plugs.

[Aurel]

All right, as it turns out it was just a dead coil. I had a good spare one, put it on and she fired right away. The oil leaks are an unrelated issue that will have to be dealt with in due time. As a side note, that msd street fire coil wasn’t very old, so I am a bit disappointed with the product, which cost me a hefty towing bill…but the fix was free.