My 65k mile Mk9 has its original coil, datestamed 1 60
It has run so well fot the 8 yrs of ownership, but now cuts the ignition quite regularly, after reachin runnibg temp. The coil gets warm but not hot. The 7 yr old capacitor does not get warm or hot.
It is not a fuel issue, as far as I can make out.
Easier to change the coil of course as the distributor sits deep wowwn in tge endine bay on a Mk9.
Any suggestions…?
My money is on the condensor: coils generally work, or they don’t.
Fair enough.
I thought of something regarding tge placement/inaccessibility of the dizzy on the Mk9: is it better to undo the securing nut of the dizzy, and just pull it out, and do tge fiddly work of replacing the condensor on the workbench??
I hate that job with small screws and nuts in a very tight space, even on the bench.
I did it on a 420G, in situ, but on that car there is more space and the dizzy is easily eccessible. Not so on the Mk9😱
Are your points also that old or recently replaced? Plugs? Plug wires? Dist cap and rotor? I would pull the dist if replacing points and condenser. Also good time to clean/lube the advance weights.
In almost all cases of the sedans, and the XK series, that’s what I did.
Here’s another way of looking at it.
The condenser does not actually have to be INSIDE the distributor. It can be on the outside, as long as it is in the circuit with the CB wire and grounded.
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Indeed! It can be mounted on the rear bumper… 
Back when I had a pile of the old-fashioned, big Mallory condensers (that dad had gotten boxes of back in the 50s), I mounted them elsewhere, so they were not in the distributor.
On DKWs, I’d mount them on the inner fender oanel, out of their normal position inside the timer, and away from the heat and vibration of the engine.
its better to take them out as there can be other things such as points mechanism defective, wiring or cap button issues etc.
It takes 5 min to remove one onto the bench
no stooping for the lower back, cursing with lights and fiddly parts
I would replace the condensor first, (but dont throw the old one out yet), and I number the wires
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Ha, ha! You don’t really have to put the condenser on the back bumper.
Although if you did people might think you have flame thrower tail pipes. 
I have it on the coil mounting bracket.
There is a short black wire over to the + or CB side of the coil.
This way I know the only thing inside the distributor that might go wrong is the points and rotor.
Of course you still need the wire from the + or CB to the side of the distributor.
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I spoke to Martin, owner of ”Distributor Doctor” in England. He said that coils generally last a long long time, but can then get into an intermittent stage, before finally dying. My Jan 1960 HA 12 coil seems to have reached that penultimate stage. I ordered a newbone, which he called HP 12, I think.
Hus red rotor arms are far better than other makes, and he saold me some very good condensors.
Once I install the new coil, I will test drive and report back.
His website is very good
I’m wondering if one could test for a bad condenser installed inside the distributor by simply hooking up a remote condenser. Or would the condenser inside the distributor need to be removed first before a second remote condenser would function?
To be definitive, you’d have to disconnect the suspect condenser.
I try to do the easiest things first…and discover if better or not. fuel deliver oK? fuel filters and floats good–easy. not last Falls old gas? Coil-easy, spark plugs -easy, check timing-easy, check connections of plug wires at plug and at dizzy–easy. Check if plug wires are shorting–kinda easy-sometimes hard to know. Points correctly set-easy. Condenser–a bit difficult in place–doable, block off all around with small tissue etc so nothing can drop down inside. Once I have a dizzy out–may as well rebuild it all including vac unit.
Nick