Need help!! Tachometer or distributor?

[sigkadetm]

I am going crazy trying to figure out why my 1980 spider is not running great. I seem to have a slight miss that I can see with a timing light connected to #3 plug wire. The funny thing is the tachometer is not responding at idle but will respond when I rev it up. I'm leaning towards the magnetic pick up. Another thing is I have 4.2 ohms between the negative side of the coil to the negative side of the battery. I cleaned up all the connections and it doesn't seem to help. I went through the tests and the coil tests ok and what is really confusing the magnetic pick up read 750 ohms. The tachometer not responding has got me stumped. My spider always ran tip top. Any suggestion before I start buying new parts...

[carl]

Remove the distributor cap and take a look at the pickup wires which are in plain view with the cap off. If the wires are burned with the insulation coming off the wires then you have probably found the problem.

[sigkadetm]

I started at the spark plugs checked and gap all. They looked good. Checked all the plug wires and they all checked out. Then I tightened the ground wire from the engine to the distributor housing maybe that was it don't really know. Then I checked the pickup in the distributor and the wires looked good and the ohms checked out at 750. Then I cleaned and tightened the coil connections. Started the car and all is well. I'm still wondering what in the world was wrong.....

[carl]

It's all about good electrical connections and our spiders are old enough that every electrical connection is suspect. Looks like you randomly succeeded in finding and fixing a corroded connection.

[spider2081]

It's all about good electrical connections and our spiders are old enough that every electrical connection is suspect. Looks like you randomly succeeded in finding and fixing a corroded connection.

Amen

I remember as a kid many people worked on their cars on the weekends, cleaning them and looking them over to be sure they were ready for the next weeks use. Weekly maintenance included looking at the battery connections making sure they were clean and tight. Today I see people hopping in their cars and driving them until they break and then act surprised or victimized by the car.
Its my opinion electrical connections are part of every cars routine maintenance and need to be checked periodically.