No spark from ignition coil

H

happless

New member
I recently purchased a 78 traveler with 345. The electronic ignition burned up so I replaced it with a pertronix ignitor setup. I thought it would be pretty straight forward. However I am getting no spark from the ignition coil.

I replaced the ignition coil and wired it up as follows:

-12v starter wire to positive side of coil (verified 12v when ignition is turned on)
-red wire from ignitor to positive side of coil
-black wire from ignitor to negative side of coil
-condenser to negative side of coil

I have tried two different coils.

What am I missing here?
 
No spark from coil.....

I recently purchased a 78 traveler with 345. The electronic ignition burned up so I replaced it with a pertronix ignitor setup. I thought it would be pretty straight forward. However I am getting no spark from the ignition coil.

I replaced the ignition coil and wired it up as follows:

-12v starter wire to positive side of coil (verified 12v when ignition is turned on)
-red wire from ignitor to positive side of coil
-black wire from ignitor to negative side of coil
-condenser to negative side of coil

I have tried two different coils.

What am I missing here?
 
No problem with the thread location. Electrical and ignition are closely related. Now, if you'd posted this in the hvac section...yeah, that would be a goof. I've merged your two threads into this one spot to prevent responses being scattered between the two.

First, did you get the correct p-tron module to match your distributor? Original for '78 would be a prestolite electronic distributor. When you say "starter wire" to coil pos, I think you mean a feed from the ignition switch that is hot in both start and on switch positions. Is your battery up to snuff and fully charged? How are you checking for spark at the coil? Which coil do you have? Condenser? Are you referring to the coil-mounted rf noise suppressor? Its only function is to suppress electrical noise coming through your bangin' am sound system when the engine is running.
 
Last edited:
Since I have installed the ignitor™ the engine won’t start.
What can I check?

The first step in troubleshooting involves answering a few questions.

Do you have the correct kit for your application?
Did the ignitor install without any modification?
Was the ignitor installed according to the instructions?
Did the engine run prior to the installation of the ignitor?

If you answered "no" to any of the previous questions, go back and correct the condition before proceeding. If the answer to these questions is “yes”, then review some additional common solutions to a no start condition.

The position in which the ignitor red wire is attached to is not supplying sufficient voltage.
The air gap between the module and magnet sleeve is too great.
The ground wire inside the distributor is not connected.
The wire connections are not tight.
The polarity is not correct.
 
scoutboy74 said:
no problem with the thread location. Electrical and ignition are closely related. Now, if you'd posted this in the hvac section...yeah, that would be a goof. I've merged your two threads into this one spot to prevent responses being scattered between the two.

First, did you get the correct p-tron module to match your distributor? Original for '78 would be a prestolite electronic distributor. When you say "starter wire" to coil pos, I think you mean a feed from the ignition switch that is hot in both start and on switch positions. Is your battery up to snuff and fully charged? How are you checking for spark at the coil? Which coil do you have? Condenser? Are you referring to the coil-mounted rf noise suppressor? Its only function is to suppress electrical noise coming through your bangin' am sound system when the engine is running.
Click to expand...

Thanks!


I 1483a p-tron. I believe that is the right one for prestolite.

You are correct. It is the wire from the ignition switch. It is labeled bk 16.

Brand new battery with 840 cca.

I checked spark with an in line tester as well as using a jumper wire.

I have two coils, the delco that came with the Scout and a bwd coil I picked up at o'reileys.

Ignition condenser to do just as you said.

I just noticed the new coil requires a an external resistor.
I also verified coil by testing resistance
 
Obviously, with a burned out presto module, your engine was unable to start and run prior to your purchase of the p-tron. With the well known cost and difficulty associated in finding a necessary replacement part to service the presto, its pretty clear why you chose to go with the p-tron...to restore lost engine function. That answers that burning question. Yes, 1483a is the correct part for your distributor.
What is the primary resistance of the presently installed coil in ohms when the pos and neg terminals are probed with your dvom?
The newness and advertised cranking output of the battery means less to me than a timely reading of the stored surface charge, which should be 12.x volts when fully charged. A new battery can be run down or discharged same as an older one. In other words, I care more about timely observed numbers on a meter than I do about what's printed on some fancy marketing label stuck to the outside of the battree.
Regarding the condenser, which is actuality a noise suppressor, it can be omitted if you desire with no ill effect to the ignition system. An actual condenser as used with a breaker points ignition, would be housed inside the distributor and would be a critical part of that style ignition system.
 
rmscout said:
since I have installed the ignitor™ the engine won’t start.
What can I check?

The first step in troubleshooting involves answering a few questions.

Do you have the correct kit for your application?

Yes to right kit.

Did the ignitor install without any modification?

Yes, no modifications

Was the ignitor installed according to the instructions?

Yes, per the instructions

Did the engine run prior to the installation of the ignitor?

yes the engine ran prior to installation of ignitor.

If you answered "no" to any of the previous questions, go back and correct the condition before proceeding. If the answer to these questions is “yes”, then review some additional common solutions to a no start condition.

The position in which the ignitor red wire is attached to is not supplying sufficient voltage.

verified I have 12v from the iginition wire to the positive side of coil.

The air gap between the module and magnet sleeve is too great.
The ground wire inside the distributor is not connected.

my understanding is the presto dizzy ground itself if install correctly, no wire. Is this correct?

The wire connections are not tight.
The polarity is not correct.

Interesting that you mention polarity. When I got Scout, the previous po had wired the ac delco coil with the brown wire from dizzy going to the negative on the coil and the black wire going from dizzy to the positive on the coil. I did not wire the new coil up this way.
Click to expand...

See comments in red above.

Thanks for the feedback!
 
scoutboy74 said:
obviously, with a burned out presto module, your engine was unable to start and run prior to your purchase of the p-tron. With the well known cost and difficulty associated in finding a necessary replacement part to service the presto, its pretty clear why you chose to go with the p-tron...to restore lost engine function. That answers that burning question. Yes, 1483a is the correct part for your distributor.
What is the primary resistance of the presently installed coil in ohms when the pos and neg terminals are probed with your dvom?
The newness and advertised cranking output of the battery means less to me than a timely reading of the stored surface charge, which should be 12.x volts when fully charged. A new battery can be run down or discharged same as an older one. In other words, I care more about timely observed numbers on a meter than I do about what's printed on some fancy marketing label stuck to the outside of the battree.
Regarding the condenser, which is actuality a noise suppressor, it can be omitted if you desire with no ill effect to the ignition system. An actual condenser as used with a breaker points ignition, would be housed inside the distributor and would be a critical part of that style ignition system.
Click to expand...

See attached pics.

I have 12.45v at battery.

Coil has 8.4k ohms high resistance and 1.9 low resistance.
 

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happless said:
see comments in red above.

Thanks for the feedback!
Click to expand...

That was just a cut and paste from the pertronix troubleshooting FAQ to try and help answer your burning questions. ;)

you May have received a bad module or fried it if you left the power on too long. For the old units they say don't leave the switch on longer than 30 seconds. One other thing you can try is jumping a hot wire from the battery. Directions are on the pertronix website. If you don't need your Scout on the road right away I would highly recommend getting your money back and doing a mopar (or other factory pickup) conversion.
 
Thanks for the readings. Ensuring the battery is up is a must whenever addressing any potential electrical or ignition issue as a low battery can often be a root cause. The coil primary resistance is fine and would only need additional ballast resistance from an external source if you were to revert to a points distributor.
Like rmscout said, if a temporary jumper from the battery to the coil + doesn't change anything, then your ignitor module is suspect, which would be salt in an open wound. The ignitor I modules unfortunately have no circuit protection. The ignitor II for your distributor p/n #91483a does have the circuit protection and a 30 month warranty, but these improvements come with a hefty price tag. Have you verified that there is no voltage present at your coil when the ignition is switched off?
 
Something is bugging me about your mention of using the circuit labeled '16bk' as your ignition feed to the coil + terminal. I don't have a factory diagram for the presto distributor, but in looking at a diagram for the Holley gb electronic system, wire 16 bk appears three times. Once as a ground strap for the remote module and then as both short feeds exiting the gb distributor. The ignition feed to the coil + terminal in the diagram is simply labelled '16' with no color abbreviation suffix.
 
scoutboy74 said:
something is bugging me about your mention of using the circuit labeled '16bk' as your ignition feed to the coil + terminal. I don't have a factory diagram for the presto distributor, but in looking at a diagram for the Holley gb electronic system, wire 16 bk appears three times. Once as a ground strap for the remote module and then as both short feeds exiting the gb distributor. The ignition feed to the coil + terminal in the diagram is simply labelled '16' with no color abbreviation suffix.
Click to expand...

Wire is labled by16. Typo on my part.

I have verified no voltage to coil when ignition is off.

I am going to return the coil from orieleys. Orderd an ignitor coil and ignitor II today.

If new coil and ignitor II do not work, should I assume the dizzy is bad?

I looked at the diy conversion, but not sure I am up for that.
 
Tap the brakes! Did you rig a temporary jumper from the battery pos to coil pos and try to start as suggested? Don't leave the wire hooked up with engine stopped for any longer than is necessary to do the test.
 
happless said:
wire is labled by16. Typo on my part.

I have verified no voltage to coil when ignition is off.

I am going to return the coil from orieleys. Orderd an ignitor coil and ignitor II today.

If new coil and ignitor II do not work, should I assume the dizzy is bad?

I looked at the diy conversion, but not sure I am up for that.
Click to expand...

The diy conversion is not hard, also hamilton FI makes the entire dizzy ready to drop in. The ignitor will work fairly good (a little more power than the prestolite module) but what if it blows in the middle of nowhere? Are you going to buy a 2nd one for the glove box. :yikes:
 
rmscout said:
the diy conversion is not hard, also hamilton FI makes the entire dizzy ready to drop in. The ignitor will work fairly good (a little more power than the prestolite module) but what if it blows in the middle of nowhere? Are you going to buy a 2nd one for the glove box. :yikes:
Click to expand...

That is a valid point.

Maybe down the road as I decide the purpose of the Scout I will consider the diy.

Hamilton's website must be having some problems, there were not dizzys listed.
 
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