Electrical firing problem

[paul_q]

A friends bus cut out while driving and wouldn't start again. Fuel supply is fine. I have pulled off the king lead and held it 20mm from the distributor cap to test for a spark. It turned over, started and ran. I tried it attached to the cap and nothing. Tried again 20mm off and it ran. It's a 009 distributor and it is missing the dust cover, the coil is a flame thrower.
I'm guessing the spark is so powerful it's finding a ground in the distributor. I'm going to take a cover plus new leads, cap and rotor over on Monday. Does anyone have any other ideas in case this doesn't work? The odd part is everything looks in good condition and it's been running very well. It's always been maintained at a respected aircooled workshop. The only thing I can see wrong is the missing distributor cover. It started and ran fine for 20 miles the day it broke down.

 

[slippy8v]

Electronic ignition (pertronix) or points?

 

[harper1980]

I no this might sound way off the mark but what fuel filter is he running?

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[paul_q]

Electronic ignition (pertronix) or points?

Electronic

 

[paul_q]

I no this might sound way off the mark but what fuel filter is he running?

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No filter unless it's between the tank and engine bay.

 

[harper1980]

I take it hes not running a fuel regulator either then?

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[paul_q]

I take it hes not running a fuel regulator either then?

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No still running a mechanical pump

 

[slippy8v]

I had a pertonix distributer in our splitty which gave similar symptoms, it eventually failed took along time to find what was wrong after checking every thing else we swapped the distributer over to a spare one I had with points and the fault was sorted.

 

[paul_q]

I had a pertonix distributer in our splitty which gave similar symptoms, it eventually failed took along time to find what was wrong after checking every thing else we swapped the distributer over to a spare one I had with points and the fault was sorted.

I'll take a set of points aswell. Thanks

 

[slippy8v]

lets us know how you get on

 

[paul_q]

lets us know how you get on

Insulation/dust cover made no difference
New rotor and cap sorted it out,
Don't know if there's a underlying problem or a just a dodgy cap. Will look at the module if it happens again.
Thanks

 

[slippy8v]

good news looks like you got to sorted