HELP WITH PERTRONIX IGNITOR, electronic ignition,

[bucketofbolts]

i was told that was one way to test the ignitor, was direct power (pos) and run the earth through a multi meter then to earth,

what do you recomend, because im ready to rip it out

[killer_garden_gnome]

do that while getting someone to turn the motor over at least ur dizzy will be spinning, but as i said too, doesnt the black wire goto ur coil negative? or is urs differnt

[bucketofbolts]

i had someone turning the motor over,

i have had the red wire from ignitor on the pos on coil, the black wire from ignitor to neg on coil , nothing,
red wire to pos side of the ballist resistor and black to earth on coil, nothing,

how is yours wired up

[killer_garden_gnome]

yeh thats how i got mine sorry i was just being dum, all i did was removed all the condenser loom, red to 12v side of ballast resistor, black to - coil, set the gap and hit the key, so i duno, sounds like uve tryed everythin, hows the coil earth? if it isnt earthed well there will be no circuit.

[bucketofbolts]

now the battery is dead, its on charge,

i put an external earth from the coil to the bolt, its showing there is an earth there but little current,

so see what happens tomorrow,

[rOd]

now the battery is dead, its on charge,

i put an external earth from the coil to the bolt, its showing there is an earth there but little current,

so see what happens tomorrow,

Sad to hear your having a shitful of trouble with it.

Looks like youve tried everything possible already.

When I did mine, it started pretty much straight away.

[bucketofbolts]

now the battery is dead, its on charge,

i put an external earth from the coil to the bolt, its showing there is an earth there but little current,

so see what happens tomorrow,

Sad to hear your having a shitful of trouble with it.

Looks like youve tried everything possible already.

When I did mine, it started pretty much straight away.

aaahhhhhhh,
yeah it should be that easy, find out tomorrow when its fully charged if what i've done tonight has changed anything,
bloody hope so,

cheers ray

[bilby]

check the fuses in the engine bay ( if there in there ) . they will be under the metal plate near the drivers side headlight ,


also do they have a fusible link in them anywhere ???

[bucketofbolts]

ok, here's where im at,
i have run the red ignitor wire to the positive side of the ballist resistor,
black wire to the earth on the coil,
fully charged battery and have got someone to wind it over while i moved the dizzy slowly from one end to the other and back,

still nothing, wtf is going on, i'm ready to ditch this idea,

[bucketofbolts]

just tested the ballist resistor,
12volts on the positive side, and 5.5volts on the negitive side,

that does'nt sound right to me,

is that what it should be,

[mattsluxtruck]

Ditch the ballast resister. It sounds like the module isnt getting a full 12 V for it to fire.
Short the resistor out and give it a rip.
I have had the exact same drama before with fitting an electronic dizzy to a non electronic car.

[bucketofbolts]

yeah, sounds like a dodgy resistor to me,
might replace it and see what happens

how do i short the resistor out to test if thats it

[killer_garden_gnome]

do it to try it but dont use it like that because u will fry ur coil in no time if its meant to run with a resistor, u can get a new one for like $5 from supercheap, but yeh u should have ur ignitor wire on the 12v side of the ballast resistor anyway but ur coil should stll be gettin 8V so 5.5 wont be helpin ur coil any, id say thats why its not goin

[bucketofbolts]

yeah, will test that tomorrow and post up results

[killer_garden_gnome]

and to short it just put the wire off the + coil to the 12v side of the resistor, basically ur bypassing the resistor, but id only do it for a few seconds if it does start, at lesat ull know its the resistor if it does start

[bucketofbolts]

retro rockets got back to me today and give me some ideas to look at,

they said to run a wire from the neg on batt to the black wire on the multi meter and red wire from multi meter to ignitor base plate,
i should get 0.2ohms, and i had 0.8ohms,
so i cleaned up under the ignitor, under the earth in the dizzy and under the coil, and its down to 0.5ohms now,

any ideas

[mattsluxtruck]

Remove the earth strap that goes from the battery or body earth to the engine block and clean it up. Also check the connections for corrosion ect.
A quick way to test would be run an earth wire direct from the battery negative to the body of the dizzy. If it starts then with a good direct earth you know where to look.
Matt

[bucketofbolts]

i have cleaned up all the earths i can find,
and still 0.5ohms,
even when i run a wire from neg on the battery to the multi meter and back to the neg on battery, it shows 0.5ohms,

im changing back to points tomorrow, i've had enough of being stuffing around,

ray

[bucketofbolts]

here's where im at,

0.00ohms at the ignitor earth, thats that sorted,

11.84volts @ ignitor wires with power on, (battery's on charge, so may go up)

5.10volts @ the coil, (with power on,)

11.77volts @ ballist resistor (with power on)

does that sound about right,

ray

[lowexf]

here's where im at,

0.00ohms at the ignitor earth, thats that sorted,

11.84volts @ ignitor wires with power on, (battery's on charge, so may go up)

5.10volts @ the coil, (with power on,)

11.77volts @ ballist resistor (with power on)

does that sound about right,

ray

When you say 11.84 volts at ignitor wires, what are you testing? I'd say you might have incorrectly hooked the thing up to start with and fried it perhaps. Was the engine running before you started playing, or did you fit this to try and fix a problem? It just doesn't make sense why you are having trouble when they are so simple to setup with the instructions they give you.

[bucketofbolts]

here's where im at,

0.00ohms at the ignitor earth, thats that sorted,

11.84volts @ ignitor wires with power on, (battery's on charge, so may go up)

5.10volts @ the coil, (with power on,)

11.77volts @ ballist resistor (with power on)

does that sound about right,

ray

When you say 11.84 volts at ignitor wires, what are you testing? I'd say you might have incorrectly hooked the thing up to start with and fried it perhaps. Was the engine running before you started playing, or did you fit this to try and fix a problem? It just doesn't make sense why you are having trouble when they are so simple to setup with the instructions they give you.

where i joined the wires is where i tested it, ( i had to extend the wire sto reach the coil)
the engine was running before, but ruff, so instead of sending it to ultra tune, i thought i would install the ignitor and change plugs, leads etc,

i have only set up the ignitor one way, red wire direct from the power side of the ballist resistor and black wire to earth on the coil,
i have heard so many different ways,
straight from the battery, red wire to pos on coil, and black wire to neg on coil, etc,
but i have found out that what i have done is right, just isnt working,
i did hae a bad earth to start with, but thats sorted now,

not sure what else it can be

[killer_garden_gnome]

depending on what brand coil u have that 5v isnt right for any normal coil that runs a ballast resistor it should be more like 8v, heres a check to do on ur coil

resistance between ur coil + and coil - should be between 1.08-1.32 ohms
resistance between ur coil + and high tension lead output 9 and 13.4 k/ohms

[bucketofbolts]

just tested it, and it was 9volts winding over,

its showing 9volts from the coil lead aswell, (distributor end)

is that what you mean,

[bucketofbolts]

is that enough for it to start,

[bucketofbolts]

ok,
i have 9volts from the coil lead to through the dizzy cap, but no spark to anything else,

i'm thinking the timing is out heaps,

what should it be set at????
how many degree's before top dead center???

ray

[killer_garden_gnome]

10 degrees +-1 degree, its the middle pointer on ur timing scale

[lowexf]

ok, here's where im at,
i have run the red ignitor wire to the positive side of the ballist resistor,
black wire to the earth on the coil,
fully charged battery and have got someone to wind it over while i moved the dizzy slowly from one end to the other and back,

still nothing, wtf is going on, i'm ready to ditch this idea,

When you say earth on the coil, you mean the coil negative terminal don't you?, not the earth bracket that holds the coil on...

[bucketofbolts]

[/quote]
When you say earth on the coil, you mean the coil negative terminal don't you?, not the earth bracket that holds the coil on...[/quote]

yeah, black wire from ignitor to neg on coil,

[mikesmith]

had one of these in my mq. got the dizzy redone saw it working at the shop then i took it home put it in and it didnt work. the pickup shit itself on the trip i reckon lol.

just put the points in. never had a problem since.

sounds fried to me.

does not take long just put the points back in and see if it has spark. then u get a definate answer.

[David_S]

Hi Bucketofbolts, you seem to be having a big problem with the Pertronix. Sounds as if you might have fried the unit. I would test it like mikesmith said.

I put a Pertronix in my MQ several years ago and it has never missed a beat. Certainly beats points (provided it works) - engine revs much more freely at the higher end.

During the conversion of my carburetted truck to Efi I made drawings of the wiring as I went so I could keep track of everything and put it back the way it was if necessary. Below is the drawing of the Pertronix installation and the original Points installation. It shows both connected together but obviously I only have one setup at a time. Ignore the relay box, the tach connection and the extra fuse box which were part of my efi modification. And ignore the radio suppressor which is not relevant. The Pertronix does NOT need a capacitor (condenser) either.

The sole purpose of the red lead is to supply 12V to the Pertronix unit. The coil is just a convenient place to take it from as it is switched on and off by the ignition. The Pertronix is just a switch which earths the negative coil terminal just as conventional points do. This is the black lead.


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I hope this is of some help in clarifying things.