Electronic ignition

[Ennva]

Frustrating failure, I have no spark, can anybody help?
I am currently running lumenition system and all of a sudden no spark, I have changed starter solenoid, ht leads, dizzy cap, rotor arm and coil. I have checked all connections under under ignition I have 8.6volts to dizzy from coil, I have followed lumenition checks and can get a spark from optical sensor and overriding system showing 2.6 volts as required. Simplistically, everything appears to be working but won't start. As everything was fine I assume timing is not an issue. Suggestions more than welcome

[delle]

Did you check the contact (coal) in the center of the distributor cap?

[Andy8421]

Ennva,

I am not quite sure I understand the steps you have taken from your email, but one simple check is to remove the distributor end of the HT lead that runs between the coil and the distributor, turn the engine over and see if there are sparks. Make sure you don't get a shock doing this by wedging the HT lead close to an earthed object, don't hold the cable. Aim for a gap of about 1cm from the end of the wire to the earth, and you should get a decent blue spark.

A decent spark means that the lumenition, coil and associated wiring is OK and the problem is dizzy cap, rotor arm or timing (timing could include plug leads out of order).

No spark means that lumention has packed up, low tension wiring is adrift or coil is a dud.

Good luck.

[Hawksfield]

Hi

Pull off a plug lead, fit a spare plug into it and lay it in cam cover, crank engine a see if it sparks.
If it sparks its down to petrol or timing.
A simple quick test

Good luck

[Ennva]

All,

thanks for the replies, i have completed the test below and it shows the lumention system is firing as i get a spark to earth, however to me, it appears to be more yellow than blue and does not appear to be strong. I have checked the coil to dizzy ht lead under ignition and it shows 8.4volts.
Whilst I am confident i have the leads in the correct order does anybody have a simple picture, showing leads in order from dizzy.
Would the timing change on an engine when it has not been touched?

many thanks

[billwill]

I have checked the coil to dizzy ht lead under ignition and it shows 8.4volts.

Not sure what you did there I think you described it wrongly.

You would be unlikely to be able to measure the ht voltage with any normal measuring instrument at home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you meant the LT side then 8.4 volts instead of near battery voltage would indicate that you have a 'ballasted' ignition coil and dropper resistance wire in you car, so your starting troubles may be due to a missing or faulty wire that runs from the STARTING position on the ignition switch to the LT side of the coil.

The function is to feed the full battery voltage to the coil during starting. and is used because the heavy current drawn by the starter motor pulls down the battery output voltage to about 9 volts.

So a ballasted coil is DESIGNED to work at about 9 volts and is given its full rated voltage doring starting, then when the engine is running the ignition key is released from the starting position and the ignition coil is then fed through a resistor (or resistive wire) that brings its feed voltage down to its designed figure of about 9 volts.

[stugilmour]

Great explanation Bill.

Check that your replacement coil is correct for the ballasted setup. I am not sure, but checking with Google it appears the coil should be 3 ohm for un-ballasted and 1.5 ohm for ballasted setup.

The Moss video's look pretty good, although I have not gone through them all. The last link Moss video has the diagram for the ballast set-up and an explanation much like Bill's above.

It is quite possible you don't have an issue with the Lumenition, but with the other ignition changes and wiring.

http://www.ccee.nl/accuspark/accusparkwire.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKWsI2v ... r_embedded

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRN0ofFc0uo

HTH

Stu