009 Distributor with pertronix ignitor 1 kit fitted 10yrs ago.... 1974 1600 beetle engine in a T2 do the pertonix deteriorate? If so what would be a good replacement? what HT leads would you go for? Thanks for any suggestions..
Loads of info on LB on this. Only new electronic distributor that people trust is 123 Ignition which are about £330. Many stories of all other types failing including Pertronix. If it’s 10 years old it may have been made in USA, not China etc, so may be ok? See thread below
Modern electronic ignition modules work OK for quite a long time until they become more and more sensitive to temperature. The best value replacement is probably £7 for points and a condensor for the 009. Better option would be using a Bosch 205 SVDA with electronic module or points for better performance in a bus. Keep the 009 with electronic ignition as a working get you home distributor, leave the clamp on it. The best but expensive will be a 123 distributor.
The older Pertronix seem to last longer than the newer offerings , I had one in a 009 for 15+ years before seeing the light and fitting a cheapo SVDA which transformed the pick up from tickover. I sold the old 009 with Pertronix to a mate and it's still going strong on his Beetle so pot luck really .... As for the HT leads, I probably should renew mine which have been on for 10 years or so and like the angled ends on the Pertronix offerings but if it ain't broke.... Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
HOW MUCH ??????? ok so what’s the benefit? I’m interested in at least thinking about a 123 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I just bought one after trying 009 and an SVDA with points. Also had a Pertronix in the past. For me it was a pretty dramatic step up. starts better, idle is even and creamy, no flat spots at all through rev range and no reports of them failing. I suppose I was comparing to points though
What's the symptoms? Elec modules usually fail completely or misfire so badly it's nigh-on impossible to drive. My Pertronix must be coming up to 25 years old and still works fine.
Zed - .... I started off buying stuff to change the oil myself, then thought I should renew the dizzy cap, then thought HT leads and before you know it, I've fallen into the Just Kampers rabbit hole... I've just serviced the ICT 34s and to be fair it's running well, so it was just a thought as I have no idea how long Pertronix last. You guys have way more knowledge than me so it was just a question. I'm now looking at a 123 for the future
As for ignition leads, provided the engine runs well and yours dont have cracks in them or melted bits or the ends rotted off, just keep going. If they pop and crackle or flicker in the dark with the engine running then replace them.. I dont think Bosch is an option any more so its going to be generic bits of wire from the usual sellers. As usual the older leads will have brass ends and not suffer from corrosion as much if you drive it in a cloudburst and kill the engine with the rain. Some replacement leads may have brass plated steel.. (The cloudburst was in the Loire Valley, suddenly roads turned into rushing streams and our engine just stopped as we pulled off into a car park full of a 2CV rally ) The long lived Taylor silicone leads are very heatproof so they dont melt or crack. They are annoyingly fatter 8mm vs 6mm than the originals, and the ends have a habit of popping off the spark plugs until you learn the knack of getting the tension right ( the air shrouds on the ends of the leads can push the plug clips off) And after many years the steel clips on the end corrode and fall apart, so I replaced them. But the wire carries on as it should. Unlike PVC which goes hard and brittle above the heat of the engine, or gets melted ..
What I don't get is why folk don't make up their own leads. Everyone highlights the lack of genuine Bosch but surely there must be some decent quality componentry out there to make a custom set for either T1 or T4 engines
Right haha, most posts on here relating to electronic ignition are from when it goes wrong. So for me anyway the answer is "forever". I don't carry a spare but If I did it would be points and a condenser.
I'm in the retro camp. Was very excited to fit a Pert about 5 or 6 years ago, maybe more I don't recall. After 3 years or so we started having intermittent, short burst (literally fraction of a second) ignition cut out. You couldn't duplicate when it was going to happen but it felt like any number of things. Failing ign switch, fuel starvation (we get that from an occasional blocked FI filter so I was pretty sure it wasn't that). Loads of folk said that it couldn't be the Pert, they never fail etc etc but guess what. Reverted back to adjustable points and condenser and Chip hasn't missed a beat since. Subsequently MDJ started to do investigation into the heat on components thing and deduced why they potentially fail. And he was evangelistic almost about the Accuspark modules at the time. It does really seem that lower quality componentry makes all these modules a bit of a lottery in present days.
It does. Until about 5 years ago I'd never head of a Pertronix failing and even the cheapy accuspark until 10 years ago. I fitted loads of their distributors for people who's Bosch's were worn out and they were good! Points are fine, I just liked the idea of one less thing to service and it's worked out for me.
I agree. I may go back but baulk at the cost. Since I got the confidence to actually take out the dissy to check and change the points it's been a game changer to be honest. It used to hold this unfathomable fear that if I took it out I'd somehow break something. Odd and irrational but just one of those things. I'm now freeeeee....
I've been running pertronix on mine for the last 10 years without issue (granted it was off the road for a fair chunk of that!). I'm tempted to just fit points in the baja for now though. I bought a bunch of bits from Kingfisher Kustoms including a £15 set of HT leads which surprisingly turned out to be a set of american made Bosch leads.
I think its the more recently added (very oldest Pertronix dont have) timing circuit that detects the rotor stopping and turns off the "contact breaker" transistor to save cooking the coil and ignition module. It gets hot and drifts and starts deciding the engine has stopped when it has not.
I was just idly clicking things over on the Samba, and found that a reconditioned Bosch 205 distributor with new old stock vacuum canister is $175, so its only about twice as expensive. .. The 123 has the major advantage that it is made of new parts, and its electronics are much better protected from idiots than any Pertronix, Accuspark etc. I was having a junk box throwout yesterday, and I found my destroyed basic Pertronix Ignitor from 11 years ago... It had been dropped to the bottom of a box of things that might be interesting to have a look at in the future, maybe. I think I shall pick at the rock hard resin encapsulation to take a closer look. Along with another two Bosch distributor bodies in various states of scrap. The distributor I am currently using is made from two or three others.
