I recently had the engine (258) on a '75 Hornet stop dead while it was warming up in the driveway. Diagnostics from the factory shop manual pointed at the distributor pickup being bad.
Although I know these Prestolite ignition systems are marginal and there are upgrade possibilities, due to having to work on this car outside in cold weather I wanted the quickest, easiest fix. Advance Auto Parts sells a rebuilt replacement distribuor from A1 Cardone for a little over $50, so I ordered one and installed it this afternoon. The engine fired right up and ran great for about 60 seconds -- then it died.
Diagnostics showed the same problem: dead pickup in the distributor. Anyone know if these ignition systems have a failure mode that can fry this thing? (Problem in the control box or the coil?) Obviously I may just have had the bad luck to get get a defective part, but it seems a little suspicious that the new unit failed so quickly.
-- Roger Blake