How reliable has your Pertronix electronic ignition been?

…and if they pack up and you don’t send them back, nothing will ever change. Only when they’ve got a crate full of duffers will they think about looking for alternatives.

I don’t agree that they’re more likely to fail in a bus. Summut else.

 

Not sure it’s our fault when often it’s Hobson choice. Bought a brake switch last year, £4.95 failed a week ago. Tried to find a better quality one, still £4.95’ish with all the usual suspects. Got one from Schofields, seems heavier. £7.50. In their description they actually say that they have had trouble with cheap ones and theirs are now German made, hence why they are more expensive. Always happy to pay more for better quality. ….hope it lasts

 

I think its the "shutdown when no ignition pulses" feature that does it, there is a timing circuit which uses a 5,100,000 ohm resistor. Which allows maybe 1 microamp of current to flow when its working. Which is similar to the kinds of leakage current that flows in hot transistors .
The oldest Pertronix units dont have that feature so they dont suddenly shut down..

However on most modern and classic water cooled cars, the distributor sits over a water cooled engine block , so it is likely only to see a bit over 100 degrees C depending on the coolant pressure. On our buses where we take the block up to say 110C with more for heat soak when you stop for a while, the distributor is a less friendly place.

 

Interesting, I have two, the first fitted by a VW shop, not unlike yourself, the other I fitted, so far so good.

Now, where's the "touch wood" emoticon

 

If they have been fitted a while, and haven’t played up, you will probably be alright

*Also looks for touch wood emoticons*

 

Had mine about 14 years with no issues. Maybe it's the earlier incarnation? Maybe that makes a difference? Maybe I've just been lucky?

 

So Mike , are you suggesting that what we are are being sold is, perhaps, not really suitable for our air cooled buses. Also , why ( although I almost definitely won’t understand your answer) would Pertronix have deleted the feature you refer to…inbuilt timed obsolescence perhaps. A concept that seems totally accepted by us now.

 

They’re fine for aircoolers. I ran a Pert 1 for years. I’d suggest you get the basic one with no fancy features.

 

They added a feature to stop cooking the coil. The feature turns out to be temperature sensitive, and something in there ages with heat. So the points replacement unit becomes less reliable.

And Pertronix units are so very expensive for the £5 worth of parts inside. You can get the same function and exact same failure for a lot less money..

Reading the spec sheets for the 123 I think the T1 / T4 distributor location may also even get hotter than the 123 is meant to be rated for.

Points may be the answer, or a sensor with a remote electronic switching module like most mainstream manufacturers use.

 

..what I meant was whats the point of messing about with chinese carp?..obviously you right on high performance..no connection there really


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I can't leave that unanswered. What has China got to do with it? If you pay them properly they make good stuff. Pay them peanuts, they put monkeys on the job. Same the world over.
Right now they are making fantastic engine parts while our American friends can't even cast and machine a head properly... and then they sell them anyway with almost zero QC. It might hurt but it's a fact.

 

..well imo and experience with my bus and my bugs before..it does..I no they are able to make good and quality stuff but unfortunally I pretty much never came accross a good (read reliable), china made part for my old vws..In fact I still run old w. germany made stuff on mine (dizzy cap or coil for instance)..Obviously we don’t have much choice these days really..


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Yeah, I'd agree with that, pay them properly and they do great stuff at good value. Pay them poorly and they'll do it, but you get junk, whereas in the rest of the world, they just wouldn't take on the job in the first place.