| Moderated by: Greg Fletcher | ||
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j4jacob Member
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Greetings all. I'm blasting down the highway this evening accelerating hard (but nowhere close to redline, about 5K) and the engine looses power abruptly. I limp home but the car will bearly idle. It is pretty obvious that not all cylinders are present and accounted for. I remove all plugs and test them for spark at lead one. All the plugs check out. Upon further investigation cylinder lead #2 is not firing. I try all of the plugs there and none will fire. All will fire on the other 3 leads. I replace the #2 lead with a spare. No dice. My dizzy is fitted with a pertronix but this seems to be an odd failure. My experience with these is that failure is not uncommon but it is usually all or none. The other 3 cylinders have a nice fat even spark. I looked at the cap but nothing seems amiss. My next step will be to check the cap for continuity on the troubled cylinder? It seems down to the cap/rotor or the pertronix. Any other ideas? My next step should be what?? The only other strange thing is slightly erratic behaviour of the tach. Thanks in advance! You guys pretty much make it possible for me to run this car. Can't thank you enough.... |
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Judson Manning Member 
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The tach behavior suggests the distributor inconsistantly firing (i.e. exactly what you've observed). If it were a simple misfire meaning a plug, wire, or cap going bad the tach would be steady. My guess the problem is between the trigger wheel and magnetic pick-up. The easiest thing to do is pull the distributor and give it the once-over cleaning and look for anything obvious like a broken trigger or foreign debris. If you can't find anything, there may be something more subtle such as a wobbling bushing, or other misalignment. I recently sent my Lucas 45DM to a guy in MN for service. $50 and he had me running perfectly within a week - tell him I sent you. Jeff Schlemmer, Advanced Distributors 1149 Quincy Street Shakopee, MN 55379 (612)-804-5543 jschlemmer1@comcast.net |
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John Finch Member
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I've also had my distributor rebuilt by Jeff and recommend him. Required new bushings and replacing the aluminum securing collar with steel. Some one overtorqued...........He does very good fast work. Also adj my Pertronix. Good Luck! John |
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j4jacob Member
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As Judson suggested I pulled the distributor whereupon I discovered signs of SLIGHT interference between the rotor and the top of the Pertronix module. The module had some light scuffing along the leading edge and the rotor had some minor grooving. This was accompanied by a light dusting of yellowish residue. This cleaned up very easily and with the damage bearly perceptible I reinstalled the rotor correctly(no interference, fully seated) and had high hopes it would all be fine. No dice. It runs on fewer cylinders than before. Where do I go from here in terms of what and how to test further? Could the coil be suspect? I've tested the basic, i.e. plugs and plug leads, distributor in the correct position, condition of cap/rotor, and this all checks out but I still do not have fire to some cylinders. I have no problem sending the dizzy out to be repaired as suggested but before I do so I would like to be able to assure myself that is the problem. Wisdom/advice greatly appreciated.....Albert |
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John Finch Member
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How about reinstalling the points? |
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j4jacob Member
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Good thought John. Unfortunately I was not the one who installed the Pertronix and none of the old stuff came with the car. Points/condensers are cheap though. If it is a simple bolt back in and re-set the timing deal, I may try that. In my admittedly limited experience with these types of conversions, there is usually some kind of mounting plate etc. that gets discarded along w/ the old p&c but I don't know in this case. Also thanks for seconding Judson's suggestion regarding Jeff. Even if I can get the car to run with the points, I'll probably still send the distributor out to him. Albert |
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John Finch Member
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In my opinion you won't be dissapointed with Jeff's work. I live about 25 miles from him so was able to see his shop, equipment and get a quick class in distributors. Hope you are back on the road real soon. John |
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j4jacob Member
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Postmordem: It turned out to be a failed Pertronix Module. I'm not sure why it failed but it was about a year old and had very few miles on it. It was installed by the PO's shop. It is annotated on the shop's invoice but since I do not have a pertronix-specific receipts or documentation I doubt they will warranty it. Any one have any experience with Pertronix's warranty policy? I installed a new one which works fine. There was no sign that the old one had come adrift but I used some locktite this time to be on the safe side. Thanks to all, Albert |
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Greg Fletcher Administrator 
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I would tell them the story, return it to them and let them know you're not happy about the unit failing, receipt or not. They should be interesting in any of their products that don't perform as they should. |
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Steve Jarvis Member
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Pertronix Support (1-800-827-3758) - Difficult number to find as it is not on their website. |
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