Electronic ignition issues

[tempest]

Hi All,

I sure you have answered this so many times but please help me to get my car running.

During restoration my paranha electronic ignition got damaged so i bought and fitted the accuspark system

Unfortunatly the car will not start, it fires on some cylinders but not all, sometimes almost starting.

Ive checked and double checked the timing, changed the plugs, dizzy cap, rotar arm and HT leads just incase but still wont start.

Question:- i dont understand the ballast resister, is this in use with electronic ign? what is the significants of the 12v supply? does this bypass the ballast resister?, what coil should i use? ive used the same one that was fitted and also tried several others to no avail, is the accuspark crap and should i just bite the bullet and get a lumination system.

Please help me its driving me mad.

Thanks Troy

[Richard]

Hi troy, i also fitted the accuspark ignition to mine, make sure that you use a full 12volt supply to the module, i fed mine from the live side of the fuel cut out switch the black wire then goes to the negitive side of the coil this is because the ballast resistor reduces the coil voltage to 6 volts so cannot be used to power the module. I fitted mine using accusparks blue coil and their plugs also and guess what, the car ran like a bag of crap !! I diagnosed that the module must be at fault and they sent me another with no arguement even though i had had it for 3 months !! Changed the module and ran perfect !! So dont assume its not faulty Hope this helps Richard

[Stagdad]

Hi Troy ,in normal operation the coil is 6V fed via a ballast resistor knocking 12V down to 6V,to beef up the spark on starting the resistor is bypassed and 12V is fed to the coil from a different wire off the starter solenoid.These electronic ignitions need 12V so if you have pulled your power + from the coil it is only getting 6V in which case pull the power from the fuel inertia swith from the side that does't have power in a shunt that way if you have a crash the engine will stop.


Cheers Steve

[ChasR]

Hang on, did you say that you have the Piranha ignition system on the car?

If so I was informed by a few specialists at the time that the Newtronic/Piranha systems use different baseplates to a stock Stag distributor and other igntion systems which utilise the stock baseplates. Whether that would affect how the AccuSpark system works and is mounted is another question. Do you have any photos of the distributor and module inside?

[V Mad]

Troy, the Accuspark is OK so no need to bin it.

The red lead on the Accuspark MUST go to a proper 12 volts feed. Do not connect it to the coil +. You can get a 12 volt feed from the white wire circuit, for example this goes to the inertia switch nearby. Black lead goes to coil -.
All stags originally had a ballasted system, and the Accuspark is fine with that. Do not short out or remove the ballast.

[KOY 23]

Chris. I'm impressed that you can diagnose a unit from 120 miles away. I seem to remember that a number of the TSSC members had reliability issues with this system.

Tempest. Suggest that you connect a strobe light onto No2 to see where the timing is when you attempt to start it. I assume you have replaced the baseplate as the Piraña is quite different as ChasR said.

John.

[ChasR]

Did you change your ignition timing after fitting the system or has it been left as it was?

[tempest]

Hi All thanks all for your advise.

After trying a few of the suggestions on the forum it still wouldnt run. Finally i bit the bullett and opted to change back to points. ChasR your right the old pirahna system does use different base plate however Rimmer bros do have a replacents at £40 ish anyway fitted new points turned the key and it started straight the way.
Dame you Accuspark three weeks of utter hastle.

Troy

[WealdenManinKent]

<---- hopes my 'Piranha ignition dosnt bite' the bullet

[ChasR]

As long as the chopper doesn't break you can still get spares for the Piranha igntion system in the Newtronic guise via Autocar/Lumenition. ATM I can't even take the chopper off my dizzy .

[V Mad]

I am doing test on a range of elec ignition systems for a futue mag article.

Troy, if you are not going to return it to supplier for a test/refund send me your old Accuspark. I can pop it onto a dissy and put it on my test rig. If there are any failures I would like to add the info to my database. Also I can return it to you if you like (no charge of course).

[wilf]

Chris - are you going to include some the US ignition systems, MSD etc.? I have experience of them from my Cobra days, they can be very good indeed.

[V Mad]

Wilf, the MSD looks very interesting and I have done some research into them. I think they are mostly based on capacitive discharge technology, but they seem to have a huge range of different products its a bit bewildering.

I would like to test an MSD system if it was likely to be a contender in the Stag market, but I think they are mainly used on the American engines. Can you shed any more light on this?

[KOY 23]

Chris.

I know of some Stags that are fitted with the MSD system. Yes you are right that they are mainly used on American engines, I guess that's because they are an American manufacturer used to firing V8's. I had a capacitive discharge system on a Ford in the '70s. Superb starting and totally reliable with 50 thou plug gaps.

John.

[V Mad]

I built a capacitive discharge ignition and fitted it to my Cortina GT in 1968. As far as I remember it worked well enough.

CDI is said to be more suitable to small engines. The spark is very intense but short lived, whereas Inductive Discharge (Kettering) has a longer spark duration more suited to most car engines. Having said that MSD have clearly bucked the trend, but I think some of their systems are more sophisticated and use multi sparks. Check out the prices though!