DavidM
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| posted on 20/10/08 at 11:04 PM |
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Lightning strikes twice?
On my Crossflow I was running a Lucas distributor with Lumenition Magnatronic electronic ignition. About 4 weeks ago the ignition amplifier went up in
smoke.
I changed to a Bosch electronic distributor from a Valencia engine (cheers Trev) and now the ignition amplifier on that has failed too.
I'm thinking maybe this is too much of a coincidence and that something else is causing this to happen.
Could it be a problem with voltage regulation, if so given the engine is not currently running, how can I test this?
Does anyone have any other suggestions as to a possible cause? I'm wary of fitting anything else, in case it is just going to cook.
David
Proportion is Everything
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hicost blade
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| posted on 20/10/08 at 11:32 PM |
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Does it have a ballast resistor?
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DavidM
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| posted on 20/10/08 at 11:33 PM |
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No ballast resistor, 12v electronic ignition coil.
David
Proportion is Everything
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zzr1100rick2
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| posted on 21/10/08 at 06:17 AM |
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If your distributor still has points you could try one of the ignition amplifiers from maplins
We had 24v through ours and it survived ( dont ask ) 
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nitram38
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| posted on 21/10/08 at 06:43 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by DavidM
No ballast resistor, 12v electronic ignition coil.
David
Could that be the problem?
Was the original amplifier through a ballast resistor and now it is not?
It could be that instead of something like 9V supplying it, you are now putting 12v through it?
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r1_pete
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| posted on 21/10/08 at 07:06 AM |
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Could heat be the problem? is the unit mounted on a steel / ally surface? mounting on glassfibre can cause an insulating effect and result in
overheating.
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jollygreengiant
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| posted on 21/10/08 at 09:59 AM |
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Amps fail usually for 1 of 3 reasons.
Bad earth.
Excessive voltage.
Over heating.
a good diagnostic tech with the proper break-out box could sort the problem. you just need it running first.
Beware of the Goldfish in the tulip mines. The ONLY defence against them is smoking peanut butter sandwiches.
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Dusty
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| posted on 21/10/08 at 10:50 AM |
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Not sure I remember clearly but I believe I had to run my magnatronic with a standard points type coil, not electronic.
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 21/10/08 at 12:20 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by nitram38
quote:
Originally posted by DavidM
No ballast resistor, 12v electronic ignition coil.
David
Could that be the problem?
Was the original amplifier through a ballast resistor and now it is not?
It could be that instead of something like 9V supplying it, you are now putting 12v through it?
Electronic systems don't use ballast resistors. The resistor was essentialy a crutch for the shortcommings of points based systems.
The magnetronic system is designed to be used with a standard points type coil rather than a low impedance electronic unit (as stated in the
instructions!). This is alsmost certainly the cause of death of the Lucas system.
As for the Ford system, it's demise may or may not be related. The amplifiers aren't exactly immune from failure on these, I had two go
during the time I had a Mk2 Fiesta (first one completely dead, the second causing the engine to cut out intermittantly due to broken connections
internaly, putting pressure on the connector would make it work). Also not all electronic coils are the same, you should be using the correct Ford
(or aftermarket) one that is matched to the amplifier.
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hicost blade
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| posted on 21/10/08 at 04:08 PM |
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R u using variable dwell coil?
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 23/10/08 at 08:38 AM |
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If it's the sort of amp that is screwed to the side of the dizzy, take it off, clean the mating surfaces nicely, then put some heatsink compound
on them and re-mount the amp. The heatsink stuff can be bought in a small tube from Maplins.
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DarrenW
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| posted on 23/10/08 at 10:59 AM |
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I cooked my first pinto amp by fastening to plastic panel. Replacement one was fastened to ali panel. They should also have heatsink paste on the
back.
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