Old 79 stepside

I have a 79 Chevy K10 pickup and while driving down the interstate the engine lost all power. Still had power to dash and starter just would not fire. No fuse-able links as I rewired with Painless re-wire kit over 6 years ago.

My coil is built in the distributor HEI system (one wire to BAT, 3 wires from base of distributor to cap. (assume I have an intermittent coil or distributor issue)??

After it cooled down for 30 minutes and checked all wires it fired back up and ran fine. Which was good I got home but bad in that I cannot test the failure.

Any thoughts would be helpful.

Thanks

oilcanhenry

Never liked the HEI coil design. Something got too hot, when it cooled down, you had power. I'd toss the cap/coil if it happens again.

Old 79 stepside

My thoughts as well, just ordered a Proform distributor tune up kit to upgrade Cap, coil and control module. If that does not fix it I would guess it is a short in the power supply to the coil.

kevinkpk

Is the power to the coil from a resistor switched from the stater solenoid?

Old 79 stepside

Nope goes direct from the coil to the fuse panel and connects to the BAT terminal no tach so thats the only wire coming in.