Re: Battery trouble-now possible ignitor failure
Sunday, and yet more testing!
After having time to reflect on what i'd done on friday, i was unconvinced the Ignitor has actually failed.
Following some instructions on the Pertronix webpage:
Firstly, i tested the flamethrower coil's resistance which is meant to be 1.5 ohms. I got a reading of 1.6
Then i attached the -coil terminal to an engine earth, +coil to +voltmeter, -voltmeter to engine earth.
As previously, i got a reading of only 4 volts.
Their instructions mention a reading of 9-6 volts indicates a ballast resistor.
So current is only 2.6 amps.
Secondly i tested the ignitor module again.
I connected ignitor plate to battery -
Red ignitor wire to battery +
-voltmeter to black ignitor wire
+voltmeter to red ignitor wire
Rotate magnet in front of module.
Meter should fluctuate between battery voltage and zero, a constant measurement indicating a failure.
The reading definitely fluctuates from 12.6 down to zero volts but is extremely sensitive- you can hold the magnet on the 'sweet spot' where there's no magnetism and it reads zero volts
So the ignitor appears to function correctly.
What i did notice this time was the module has a little groove on the inner face.
My newly discovered wonky distributor baseplate has clearly caused the magnetic sleeve to rub quite significantly!
So not happy about the groove, but happy that it still functions, i tried a couple of other avenues.
Screwing the dwell in as far as possible, the module just clears the magnetic sleeve.
This must be how i had it set up before. But in losing 2 of the 3 nylon pads from the baseplate, when advanced the module must touch :shock:
I tried a 12v feed from the washer motor to the ignitor, coil fed as previously installed- didn't fire
The same 12v feed to the coil, ignitor wired directly to coil+/- still no start.
Ignition on i tested voltage at the coil, initially 12 volts, after turning over it went down to 10, and the second time down to 8 :?:
I watched the voltage dropping as the fuel pump was operating, from 10 toward 8 until i switched off ignition.
I went to check battery voltage immediately, and it was 12.6.
Seems like i have a number of problems here.
Distributor baseplate
Bad wiring to the coil
and going back to what this thread was originally based, a battery not up to the job
Jim