hit a bump, engine stops

Will the engine quit if a battery lead is loose? You can test easily enough I guess. Only other things I can think of are coil and alternator/generator leads

Sorry not a more authoritative answer

I'm with @msjulie on checking the battery cables if you haven't already.

Another possibility is that the bump dislodged something that caused a temporary short (across a battery connection?). I'm less inclined on this one because it would likely cause overheated wires or blown fuses.

Finally, does your distributor have points? Maybe something (sand?) got between the contacts during the bump and fell back down after the points opened and closed a few times.

Going on someone else's recent experience with this sort of thing, find your ignition coil and check that the wire connections are tight.  You're right that this is prob'ly an electrical issue and it sounds like a loose wire, somewhere.  Not a sparkplug wire - that would only make it run rough.  The coil is a good place to start, both the top center spark lead as well as the wires going to both sides of the coil and back over to the distributor.

We've also seen something like this cured by removing the electronic module inside of the distributor and cleaning up both the connections as well as the mating surfaces of the module and plate it is screwed to.  Contact cleaner in there works wonders.

Good luck!

Yup, definitely electrical in nature.

Check and clean both ends of both positive and ground battery cables. Try to use star washers under any cables. Check all connections, especially spade connectors on coil power.

It might be the ignition switch as well. Gordon is spot-on about the screw holding a point-eliminator module inside the distributor.

had this happen once...bump, engine stops....it was the wire connection from the dizzy to the coil...came loose,, looked ok but put a little squeeze on connector and no problems since..maybe clean both ends with electrical cleaner,,lots of oil flyin round sometimes.

If you’re looking for a lifetime supply of contact cleaner to use on cars, relays, scratchy old radio/stereo volume controls and a whole buncha other electrical stuff, NAPA sells some really good stuff from the Chemical Rubber Company (CRC).  Cheap, too.

https://www.napaonline.com/en/...801?impressionRank=4

Hey, had this in my 57 truck last year.  It was a loose wire on the coil.  Snugged it up and was on my way a few minutes later.
-=theron

Thanks for the quick comebacks.

All the connectors (battery, coil, ignition switch, etc) are tug tight. No chance there of coming loose. Next is the suggestion to look inside the distributor.

Thanks again!

Check the ground strap from the transaxle to the frame. A broken strap is hard to see and a bad ground will cause it to die, and can be intermittent . Found out the hard way on several VW's.

"All the connectors (battery, coil, ignition switch, etc) are tug tight. No chance there of coming loose."

No, but they might be dirty.  Go back to each of them and pull them off, clean them up and then push them back on, one by one,  just to clean them up.

@msjulie posted:

Will the engine quit if a battery lead is loose? You can test easily enough I guess. Only other things I can think of are coil and alternator/generator leads

Sorry not a more authoritative answer

Ignition switch.

My Alfa did that a few times before the switch completely failed.

@dlearl476 posted:

Ignition switch.

My Alfa did that a few times before the switch completely failed.

Good one - we had a 90's VW cabriolet that didn't appreciate extra keys on the key ring and a jostle would literally rotate the key enough to switch off electrical w/o locking the column.  I feel like a similar thing happened to a bunch of Chevys..

Yeah here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...ition_switch_recalls

Any progress @wombat ?

Nothing has shaken loose. The main ground is tight, the engine bay wiring is clean and secure, as is everything behind the dash. Next is to get the car onto a lift and check the hot wire from the battery to the starter and on to the key switch. I'll pop open the distributor, too. But it seems an unlikely source.

Thanks for checking in!

Only time he ever failed to get me home. Turned out the old school fuel pump relay fuse had corroded to the point it no longer conducted electricity. Driving down the road and it died. Dead as a door nail. Not a hint of warning.

@wombat posted:

Nothing has shaken loose. The main ground is tight, the engine bay wiring is clean and secure, as is everything behind the dash. Next is to get the car onto a lift and check the hot wire from the battery to the starter and on to the key switch. I'll pop open the distributor, too. But it seems an unlikely source.

Thanks for checking in!

RE: distributor and stuff

You won't be able to "see" if anything is wrong. Everything can be "tight" but still have a questionable connection and thus questionable current flow. You must remove things, clean them, put grease/conductive spray/star washers then re-attach.

Of special importance is the points or point eliminator on the breaker plate in the distributor. A ten minute remove/clean/re-attach is OFTEN the culprit here. But what do I know? It's only been the cause of this problem dozens of times.

I've seen battery cables that look fabulous on the outside have corrosion inside the wire and crimp connector end. They don't work very well...

@DannyP posted:

I've seen battery cables that look fabulous on the outside have corrosion inside the wire and crimp connector end. They don't work very well...

When I relocated my battery, I checked the old cable to see if it was worth keeping. It wasn’t. The whole cable was corroded from post to starter.

this thread could be renamed and go on constantly till the end of time.....it may well have already been used...but that guy murphy said it best..."what ever can go wrong, WILL go wrong"   and we all have come to know this all to well...usually at the worst possible time...like forrest gump said.... "__IT HAPPENS"