Opel Corsa B 1993–2000 Service and Repair Manual: Condenser - testing, removal and refitting

Testing

1. The purpose of the condenser is to prevent excessive arcing of the contact breaker points, and to ensure that a rapid collapse of the magnetic field, created in the coil and necessary if a healthy spark is to be produced at the plugs, is allowed to occur.

2. The condenser is fitted in parallel with the contact breaker points. If it becomes faulty it will cause ignition failure, as the points will be prevented from cleanly interrupting the low tension circuit

3. If the engine becomes very difficult to start, or begins to miss after several miles of running, and the contact breaker points show signs of excessive burning, then the condition of the condenser must be suspect. A further test can be made by separating the points by hand, with the ignition switched on. If this is accomplished by an excessively strong flash, it indicates that the condenser has failed.

4. Without special test equipment, the only reliable way to diagnose condenser trouble is to renew the suspect unit and note if there is any improvement in performance. It is not an expensive component and it is worth considering periodic renewal on a preventive basis, to avoid the inconvenience entailed by failure in use.

Removal

5. To remove the condenser from its location in the distributor, undo the distributor cap retaining screws, lift off the cap and withdraw the rotor arm from the distributor shaft.

6. Move the contact breaker arm spring blade away from the plastic insulator and withdraw the condenser lead.

7. Undo the screw securing the condenser to the distributor baseplate and lift the condenser off.

Refitting

8. Refitting is the reverse sequence to removal, but make sure that the condenser and low tension leads are securely located in the insulator behind the contact breaker arm spring blade.