Quote Originally Posted by pepi View Post
You can check the condenser with a volt ohm meter, set it to the 200 ohm scale, put your leads on the condenser, one on the wire terminal the other to the case, and watch if the number rises. Once you reach overload, switch the meter leads and it should climb back down. If this does not occur, you have a bad condenser.

The condenser works like a muzzle flash suppressor, prevents the arcing as the points open and close.
I'm ignorant of that test. Is this with the condenser loose (and discharged) on the bench, loading the capacitor with the VOM battery?