Hi all,
I cant seem to access my old acct. and have tried emailing the administrator with no success, so I opened a new profile.

After six good years of dependable cruising, I had an event where upon pulling out into traffic the car seemed to switch off. When trying to restart I could only hear the starter solenoid click but no starter motor. I was able to push it into a parking lot with the help of a good Samaritan (also an old car enthusiast).

The car had been running so well I even stopped carrying all my tools and voltmeter.

I tried starting several times with the same result. The flashers and lights seemed to be working fine. While waiting for my wife to bring me my meter and tools, I tried starting again after about 15-20 minutes and it fired right up. When i got home the battery and charging system were fine.

I'm trying to make the link between the car dying and the starter not engaging, assuming the battery is OK (its a yellow top Optima relatively new).
I'm not sure if the schematic I have is for a Lumped 1973 XJ6 (SBC), is there a commonality in the ignition switch for the starter and the coil that could cause this?

My starter/Solenoid may be starting to go away but that doesn't explain to me why it died. I've driven it a couple times since without problem but you know it will happen again at the worst time.(reference Murphy)

 

Could be a failing ignition module. The clue was it started once cooled down. The V12 engines used the 4 pin GM ignition module and it was the most failure prone part on the car. The trick on V12 cars was to only use the genuine GM module, as the aftermarket ones were worse.. Part is AC Delco D1906

 

I did have a problem about six years ago with the HEI distributor cap. The center graphite wiper was worn down. I replaced but maybe should buy a spare cap.