Intro New Member

[ezuskin]

Hi Group,
Eddie Zuskin
Member yahoo group March 2000
1972 Twincam 2067
British Leyland Green 29(formerly Pistachio)

Currently back on its wheels after another 3 year project, damn thing won't start, think I've diagnosed distributor not triggering coil

[blasterdad]

 
Lots of people here glad to help, let us know if your diagnosis was correct!
I might as well be the first to hound you for PICS too...  

[LotusJoe]

Hi Eddie
 
Good to have you on board.

[ezuskin]

I have been using Mark Ten CD Ignition box since 2005 without a problem.

No spark from coil to dist, no spark dist to plugs

Coil shows correct ohms + to - and tower to -

Disconnected CD box went back to points and still no spark

Next will look at points. Rotor and cap seem ok.

I am using remote starter connected to solenoid so that wire is removed so I could connect remote starter. I tried all my regular tricks before when using key to start, Vaseline in oil pump to prime oil pressure, then a little fuel in carbs to prime fuel pump but no kind of spark or running.

[jbcollier]

Coil getting power?

[ezuskin]

Yes, 12v to coil+ when key on and CD ignition whines as usual

[EuropaTC]

Hi Eddie, welcome to the group.

15yrs on Yahoo is a long time, no doubt you'll recognise a few of the names on here as well.

I'm afraid my approach to ignition solving on my TC is one of the "sledgehammer" approaches.  Back when it was on points igntion and not starting, providing I was getting power to the distributor I'd usually throw out the old points and condenser as a pair and install new. 

Sometimes they were ok but going that route made me check for grounds where they shouldn't be any plus of course the new points would be timed & gapped correctly, the condenser would be certain to be good and in doing so I'd automatically see the cap & rotor arm as well.

One other thing came to mind - are you using the original ballast coil or a normal 12v one ? The comment about the removing the wire on the solenoid made me wonder if the wire from the solenoid to coil was still there ?  I'm on shaky ground on that suggestion and it could easily be a red herring as I've had un-ballasted coils on my cars for years, so memory fades there.

Brian

[4129R]

Put a test lead on the wire to the distributor and see if it is earthing and breaking to earth when the distributor goes around when the engine is turning over.

If you have power to the coil, it must be the wire from coil to distributor that isn't doing the right thing, either to or in the distributor.

[StrawberryCheesecake]

What  ^ he said ^ - I was just going to suggest checking the resistance across the dizzy as it rotates - either when the engine is turning, or by pulling it out and rotating by hand

[4129R]

When the same thing happened to me, I took the points out of the distributor, cleaned up the two contacts on the points with emery paper, put the points back in, set the gap, and all then worked fine.

Unless the points are making and breaking properly to earth, you won't get a spark.

[ezuskin]

Thanks, I will try the distributor troubleshooting. Even using the CD ignition the points still need to properly open and close to trigger coil. Also I bought a replacement coil but nothing improved and these are internal ballast resistor type coils.

I will soon reveal the dirty secrets of my replacement steering rack. It may or may not be everything of which I hoped and dreamed.

[BDA]

 

I think your answer is probably above. It probably doesn't have anything to do with your problem, but I recommend going to Pertronix ignition. You'll never have to deal with points again!

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[ezuskin]

I have never had a problem with that Mark Ten ignition except for tach problems that I have read still occur with the Pertronix. Did you get entire distributor or just insert and is it the Ignitor 1 or Ignitor 2?. My car came to me with a 70s era distributor that matches British Ford products, definitely not a Lucas.

[BDA]

I have the 23D distributor, I think. The cap has the wires coming out of the side rather than the top (see picture). I'd bet they make a unit for the Pinto distributor too (I assume that's what you have). I replaced my coil with the Pertronix coil and installed the Hall effect pieces in the distributor. I have the original stock tach and don't have any problem with it. In fact, it fixed the tach  bounce problem I had when I had an Allison (optical) ignition. I had a Delta Mk. 10 in my MG Midget race car back in the day - shortly after the invention of the wheel!) and I never had any problems with it either, but then, I had a mechanical tach. I think it's a good unit and it might be possible to to incorporate it with the Pertronix but check me on that.

I think most people have positive experiences with the Petronix. I really like mine.

Good luck!

[StrawberryCheesecake]

I don't know if they do a 'Twink' version, but I've fitted a 123 Ignition distributor to a friend's MGB, and know of them being used on other classics with great results. The electronics are all in the distributor boxes so it looks pretty much like the original. No points and a selection of predetermined advance curves for different fuel quality / state of tune.

They also do a version that's mappable on a PC, but they're up around £500 or so.