Hello there! Yes, yet another engine problem! Had a nightmare with the dizzy (being new to this and crap with instructions added to my fustration!) But it finally worked - Thanks to all those who suggested what it may-be However another fault has creeped up on me and taken my vans engine life. So basically... The live to the coil is live.. it measures at 9V (with a fully charged battery and with a not fully charged one) It also stays live when the ignition is on and the engine turned over.. however there is no spark out of the lead from coil to dizzy (the HT lead) .. btw I'm using electronic ignition if that helps! I've checked the HT lead continuity and and its fine so I've sort of ruled that out. To make this a more confusing situation again ... there is still no spark using my brothers coil which is working fine and powering his engine fine (same engine as in the bus) Is there anything simple it may be? or am I looking at a biiiiiiiiiiig problem ? Thanks Chris O0
Is there any chance you reversed the polarity on the wires to the distributor as if so your electric ignition may have been blown up
9V is not too good (lousy, in [glow=red,2,300]FACT[/glow]). Pull the +12 lead off the coil, and measure the voltage on the lead. Better?
What they said ^. Ig fried... Red from Ig should be on same term as black from loom (+ve). Black on -ve. done it myself...
Thanks guys, so should I go back to points and try again? also if the voltage is down on the lead ..what can I do to up it? Thanks Chros
If you've popped your Pertronix, it may well be pulling the volts down. As above, measure at the lead when it's disconnected from the coil. Going back to breakers will likely solve the problem.
if it worked before why would it not work now, that's what you need to check, so if it has blown it won't be because the wires were switched. Unless you know that you did switch the wires. Check your pertronix instructions - if you have low voltage it won't work, it shuts itself down http://www.pertronix.com/support/manuals/pdf/ignitor12vneg.pdf
9volts is usually to low for a 12volt coil to operate, they used to do nine volt coils to allow for current drop on start up. try a set of jump lead onto the main battery to see if it ups the voltage and you get spark, also give all your fuses a clean and roll them around whilest still in the fuse box, could just be a bit of corrosion on the fuse box
I agree with the previous posters. You should have battery voltage at the coil positive. Try charging up your battery fully, and then try with a lead directly from the battery positive to the coil positive. I had problems recently after doing a load of engine work that my bus had a really weak spark and wouldn't start, you could almost not see the spark at all if I stuck a spare plug in a HT lead and grounded it to the engine. Given that one of the jobs was that I had just swapped a 009 for a 123 dissie & new coil this was a surprise. It turned out the earth leads: from the gearbox to the chassis; and the battery to body, were in poor shape so I swapped them for nice new ones. When I then tested the spark from a plug to the engine block it was fantastic, maybe 1cm long. When the engine is turning over the starter is drawing big current and this can drop the voltage the coil is seeing. Hence the need for really good earth connections.
I'll say it again ...take the positive lead off the coil & measure the voltage. If it's 12V you know something coil/dissy-related is pulling the voltage down. If it's still 9V, either you battery's knacked or there's some wiring prob. 9V is too low to get the ignition going, esp when the starter current will pull the volts even lower. There's no fuse in the ignition circuit, BTW.
I too am with the too low voltage people on this one as if it has been OK previously and you have not changed anything you have to ask what has changed. You have tried your brothers coil and that didn't work, therefore I would say it is not coil related. Disconnect your battery from the entire circuit to check the voltage at the battery itself. How old is the battery? You may have a dead cell. How long ago did you last use your van? Does it live outside in the cold?
