[T3] 73 type 3 FI ignition condenser ?

William Jahn willjahn975 at gmail.com
Tue Mar 19 18:07:22 PDT 2019


Forgot to add the old regulator was the same part number and made in Mexico as well.

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: Jim Adney
Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2019 3:14 PM
To: type3 at vwtype3.org
Subject: Re: [T3] 73 type 3 FI ignition condenser ?

On 13 Mar 2019 at 14:35, William Jahn wrote:

> Jim , turns out the one Bosch condenser I have has a 1 237 330 220 part
> number. You say they never go bad , does this include one I used than it
> sat in  a bag since 97?

Most of the ones on my cars date from the 60s or 70s. They are some sort of 
film capacitor, not the alum electrolytic type which typically age and die. I've 
never seen nor heard of one going bad. I never replace them. Yours is 
young and should be fine.

OTOH, I don't know if other brands are as reliable, so I will sometimes 
replace aftermarket ones, just to be on the safe side.

So, to be clear, the following ignition parts wear out eventually and will need 
to be replaced: ignition points (but not FI trigger points), spark plugs, spark 
plug connectors, spark plug wire. I've never seen a bad Bosch OE coil, but 
the Bosch Blue coils are not nearly as durable, unless maybe if you have an 
old German one.

The hard part is knowing when the part is worn out and needs to be 
replaced. Points need to be replaced if the rubbing block is too worn down to 
be adjustable, or if the contacts are too worn to be filed further. Spark plugs 
are worn out when the center electrode has significantly rounded corners. 
SP connectors should be replaced when the resistance goes to infinity. SP 
wire should be replaced when the insulation has gone so hard that it cracks 
when it's bent.

I'll look at my VRs next time I'm downstairs and think about it. The lack of a 
Bosch logo on the diode bases should not matter. And keep in mind that 
your 5 mA of leakage amounts to much less than the self discharge rate of 
your battery, so it's insignificant, but still interesting.

-- 
*******************************
Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
*******************************

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