> In the last few years I have three times experienced the sudden and total
> failure of a rotor arm.
I won't say it's common, but my first thought on rotor failure is "What
caused this to fail ?". Any problem with the plug leads, connections or the
plugs themselves puts extra strain on the rotor and is apt to make it fail,
especially if you have something like a Lucas Sports coil or an electronic
ignition.
"Carbon core" wires in particular are prone to fail to a high resistance,
with no other indication they are bad. The engine may even still run OK on
that cylinder, but the extra voltage developed across the high resistance in
the wire puts extra strain on the rotor and coil. IMO it's worth checking
the resistance of your plug leads occasionally, I do it as part of a 'major'
tuneup.
> Best way is to take the distributor cap off, unplug the HT wire
> from the top
> of the coil, take a screwdriver from earth to the top of the coil
> and flick
> the points apart woth the other hand. A great big spark from the
> screwdriver
> to the coil means another rotor head has bitten the dust and shorted to
> earth via the rotor shaft.
Assuming of course that you've already found you have no spark at all of the
plugs !
Otherwise, it's quite normal to get a spark from the coil <g>
Randall
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