acuspark electronic ignition advise

[zhcj]

can anyone shed any light on this problem please

i have a 65 vitesse although it is a 6 its possitive earth i have had 2 failed electronic ignition kits now from acuspark perhaps i have been unlucky they seem to last for around 700 miles or about 8 months then just break down with no spark to fire the engine. both have had the same fault

ive checked all i can think of on the car the voltage regulator is new and is putting out 13.5 volts at 2000 revs which i assume is fine. the coil is the correct one and was replaced when the first unit broke down just as a precaution.

ive used the supplied heat sink paste and its correctly wired up.

can anyone offer any advise in fairness to acuspark they replaced the first one free of charge ive yet to contact them re this second one failing. i may just have to buy another.

the car isn't used that much its lives outside under a carport and cover but its driven once a week at least even in the winter months  could it be that with an electronic module?

or could it be the car is + earth and id be better switching it to negative then getting the neg earth module

 

any advise appreciated

 

[glang]

Hi, when and how exactly did they fail, while running, after a high speed run or on start up etc?

These units had problems with unexplained failures when they first came out but recently seem to have been more reliable. I have had one for a few years now (-ve earth) with use very similar to yours and its been fine...  

[Rosbif]

My 13/60 has had it fitted for 4 years now, I have nothing bad to say about it. OK so I don't drive like a bat out of hell, just "normal" this is fun to drive use 😆

The only problem I have had was a wire in the distributor must have rubbed through the insulation and caused the system to eath, hence no spark! A b*gg*r to diagnose but a few seconds to cure!

[zhcj]

Hi

Thanks very much for the reply's

the unit failed after about 5/6 miles run round although yesterday she did not start first time as she always did seemed very lumpy.

when the engine was hot started with a gentle miss fire at first pulling away under load then just cut out and woule not start at all same as the first one i had did. i put a spark plug tester on one lead and there was no spark at the plugs?

to see waht happened i put the old one back in again and it fired up first time although ive not got the engine hot just started her up

any idea's would be welcome maybe ive had 2 bad units that seem to break down?

[glang]

Its unusual for electronic ignition to partially work as normally when it fails its completely dead. The connections are all 100% and youve not left any capacitors/condensers connected to the system. Also when changing to electronic ignition it can increase the spark voltage which can then cause existing components such as coil, leads, distributor cap/rotor or sparkplugs which were ok previously to break down electrically. Can you substitute these to discount them?

[zhcj]

Hi

the plugs were changed recently and ive 2 good rotors from the distributor doctor they look ok, cap looks fine but ive got another one i can put on there are no capacitors or condensors still attached,

the coil is pretty new but i have another i can change it to ?

the leads were from acuspark couple of years back but these were on before i changed to Electronic ignition could it be all of those they have not done many miles

im wondering if something odd is going on with the dizzy.

the reason i changed to electronic ignition was i was having similar problems as im experiencing now whne it was on pionts but assumed it was faulty condensers as when i put a new one on it seemed okay again

i ran the car this morning not to far on the original electronic module that broke down and it was okay to make it more complicated !!

what about getting a complete new dizzy with the electronic kit built in and trying that they have them i think at accuspark?

[glang]

I would persevere a little longer with your current set up.

You could run the engine, with care, in the dark to see if theres any sign of high voltage sparking around the coil, leads or dizzy.

Also check the engine earth strap is in good condition, ditto the dizzy backplate earth wire plus the coil is well connected to the engine so that both high and low voltage sides of the ignition have a good flow paths....

[zhcj]

Thank you

 

i have a suspicion it may be the dizzy as i say i did experience problems beofre that i put down to either the condenser or a dodgy rotor and there are plenty of those !!

 

the replacement dizzy is not that much more thasn the kit so im thinking of going down that route i do not think its the coil i will though check this earth strap you mention

 

daft question i know but where is the engine earth strap !!

[glang]

well my 2L MK1 Vitesse has it under the front of the engine on the righthand side going from the corner of the front plate to the chassis steering rack mounting. Then inside the dizzy I have a small wire screwed to the points backplate that. connects to the inside of its casing.

Theres quite a choice of electronic ignition these days, all at about the same price and if mine wasnt running so well Id be tempted to change. I fancy either the Sparkrite one that includes a rev limiter or their other spark booster unit that continues to use the points but only as a trigger so can be switched out at any time....

[zhcj]

thanks ill have a look there and at the other ignitions you mention