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GT6 Electronic ignition OR timing issue


AidanT

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Hi All,

 

Want your opinion on what has caused and is the issue now with my ignition.

 

on a trip out today the car became very hesitant to accelerate. It ticked over fine and runs at a steady speed OK but when power is needed the car hesitated badly. I got home and the dizzy and points were as per pictures. I have replaced with others, and although the majority of the hesitance has gone there is still some. Its especially obvious if you blip the accelerator when at a standstill.

 

Should i look at timing or could there be an issue with the electronic ignition starting to fail,? what would cause this damage to the dizzy central contact?

 

Just in case you cannot see from the picture the centre contact has burnt down to almost flat with the encircling ring

 

Aidan

 

post-170-0-21772200-1491147316_thumb.jpgpost-170-0-55662400-1491147330_thumb.jpg

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Looks to me that the sprung contact has not been up against the cap brush , this makes the spark jump the gap and errodes the centre brush and gives the excessive burn you can see

 

do make sure the riveted sprung blade is tight , it the rivet goes loose the sprung contact becomes

Significantly misaligned

 

its again poor aftermarket rota quality

 

I reckon if you can measure the height of the rota contact and the depth of the cap it will show theres been a gap

Pete

pete

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Hi Pete

 

i have now swapped it for one from the club shop, but still there is a slight stutter. The replacement dizzy cap is in good clean condition. I will check the timing next weekend anyway, I have not adjusted it since last year when I adjusted it to stop the pinking when I went down to Somerset. (Do you remember Pete? I asked for your advice then!) I just have not thought to check what i adjusted it to! OOPS)

 

Is there a chance it could just be the electronic ignition failing? In which case I need to get back to H&H

 

 

Aidan

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Aidan.

 

Are you happy with the ignition coil and also the King Lead (KL) between the coil and dizzy head ??

 

What make are they and how long have you had them on the car ??

 

I think it would also be worthwhile pulling all the spark plugs out and see if there is any significant colour discrepencies at the tip end.

 

Personally, I feel this is ignition rather than timing.

 

Worth checking all the above to get a better idea of the current health. The KL and coil need to have their resistance checked to see if any breakdown is occurring.

 

Regards.

 

Richard.

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Hi Richard. I will check these out. The leads are luminition blue, so really good quality and have been on since autumn 2014

Plugs are ngk

 

 

The coil is the original 3ohm No idea on the make age etc but would that be the cause of the symptoms I have? It's not as if it's a problem only when the car is hot

 

Aidan

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Hello Aidan.

 

If the coil is starting to breakdown it may well cause arcing - they are funny little blighters and have a very odd life style, so can be difficult to know what symptoms they can throw at us before leaving you in the lurch.

 

The rotor arm, from what I can ascertain from the photos, does appear discoloured almost blue and as Pete has pointed out it is certainly bearing the brunt of all things bad at the moment.

 

You have decent plugs and leads - so that's encouraging. I doubt the plugs will be causing the problem as the issue appears coil end not engine end. They may however provide a clue as to a potential issue. It really is going to be a case of step-by-step to identify the problem but that's no bad thing for peace of mind.

 

Excuse my ignorance, but is your car ballast or non ballast ??

 

Regards.

 

Richard.

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Hi Richard

 

It's a 3ohm coil so non-ballast on the low voltage side. It maybe as well to get a new coil anyway. Always useful to have a spare around if it does not solve the conundrum!

 

I will pull the plugs out and see what they have to say

 

Cheers

 

 

Aidan

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Just recently there seems a trend in Ngk plugs breaking down at a short life and in patricular when

running a bit sooty

 

plugs life and soul of the machine , cheap enough to try a new set

but the rotor and cap are stuffed , these you have replaced , the extra gap acts as a spark improver

and the plugs may have suffered

 

the earlier pinking wont have helped the plug life

 

do the easy first before you dive into the more difficult deep pocket solutions

 

amd timing static is 10deg. From memory or vac off with a strobe idle under 600

and 29 to 31 at 3000

 

pete

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Hello Aidan.

 

I have electronic ignition on the Vitesse and use a Lucas Sports Coil DLB105 - no issues to report and has been in situ fro nearly 3yrs with plenty of mileage clocked up.

 

As with all items these days, source from a decent supplier if you decide to go this route for a replacement coil.

 

Best wishes.

 

Richard.

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Hi Richard,

 

i was wondering about this so thank you for the recommendation  I see the club shop have these (Not sure on the model) so I was going to get one from there. As said previously I think it would be useful to have a spare anyway. i might also do a re-mount to the bulk head while i am at it

 

Aidan

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Just to mention, i have just had a reply from H&H, they are happy to send me a new ignition unit to test. I purchased it in August 14, so i think they deserve a very positive mention here!

 

Aidan

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Aidan ,  its the  HT  arcing between cap and rota thats wrecked them  , nothing to do with the electronics, or coils ..........   its the gap !!!

 

the spring has to contact the cap brush , no gaps..

           on the replacement   bend the spring upwards so it has to be loaded against the cap brush..    get that sorted change the plugs and then think about 

deeper routed components 

 

you can set leccy static with a bulb same as with points ,, small pea bulb from coil neg to earth  , turn engine slowly  and with ign on the bulb will light as soon as its triggered by impulse or mech points  both do the same   . check the pulley marks as soon as No1 is approaching TDC  you want around  8-10deg btdc.

 

Pete

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Hi Pete

 

That's my plan and i will check the timing, but as I am purchasing from the club anyway I might as well get a replacement coil, its not exactly expensive!  plus will save on postage. I will add plugs to the shopping list!  The new cap and rotor have improved the symptoms but not solved them,

 

To my mind that leaves plugs, coil and possibly the electronic ignition. If I have all three to hand and keep my "Claasic Car" fingers crossed, the problem will go  :D

 

Aidan

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So I have taken all the plugs out, they are all in very similar condition as per the picture, grey at the spark point with a slight brown tinge but very sooty around the edges. I am not really surprised by the soot as the engine has been warmed up every two weeks over the winter without the cr going anywhere

 

I am kind of happy they are all in the same condition, but could do with a damned good clean up. Ordered some nw from the club today anyhow

 

Aidan

 

post-170-0-88338500-1491239817_thumb.jpg

 

 

post-170-0-57698900-1491240161_thumb.jpg

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Aidan,

 

I don't know why the picture is so small! The measurement is taken from the top of the lower electrode (with the rivet) to the top of the spring.and is 0.30 - 0.35 in (7.6 to 8.9 mm) If you go back a couple of pages in the electrical forum you'll see my post with a picture which is big enough to read. When the spring is high enough you'll find that there is a definite resistance when you fit the distributor cap. I found that this tweak stopped my centre electrode from eroding.

 

Wayne 

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Fitted replacement plugs last night from the club shop ngks out and ngks in. I also bent up the rotor contact to around 9mm

 

Ran the car up to temperature and no hesitation left!!!

 

Still have to take it out on a test run but fingers crossed it was the plugs.

 

The old plugs had been in a couple of years. Is this more mounting evidence of an issue with ngk plugs?

 

Aidan

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