Very little/no spark out of distributor. 4age running carbs

[crispy'86]

So I'm running a modified 3a distributor with 3t internals (pickup etc) , have hooked up a 2tg igniter and so far the spark from the coil is alright, relatively strong checking it with my spark tester (adjustable gap type) . Sometimes I occasionally lose spark and once I increase the gap it loses it. Could be the coil itself?? . Have fitted extra earth leads to the block/body as that was to fix another issue. Have tried another coil with ballast resistor (this is the setup that's currently being tried in situ) and same result with spark. So i'm thinking possibly an igniter or coil fault or even pickup in the distributor saying I'm occasionally losing spark??

I'll try other pickups just to be sure, just wonder why I lose the spark once the distributor is in the head

[matt dunn]

Is the rotor actually pointing at one of the HT terminals when the spark occours?

I take it that you have just two wires from the dist sensor,
are they the correct polarity?
It will still trigger the wrong way around but will not be correct.

[crispy'86]

Is the rotor actually pointing at one of the HT terminals when the spark occours?

I take it that you have just two wires from the dist sensor,
are they the correct polarity?
It will still trigger the wrong way around but will not be correct.

Yip 2 wire from the distributor sensor, so matching up the wire colours pink-pink (or faded red) white-white. I have looked in the garage and found some other pickups from similar era 4k, 2t, 3au distributors so maybe a fault in the pickup???
Also forgot to say there is spark at the coil lead when spinning the distributor shaft by hand, once I put the dizzy into the head and crank over the motor it loses spark at the coil lead, occasionally lose it and has weak spark

I'm also using the external capacitor?? off a 2e electronic distributor. It's the only way to get a spark happening

[Crucible]

Have you checked reluctor wheel to pickup coil airgap? When it looses spark put a test light on coil neg see if it pulses when cranking to see if the ignitor is switching. You can check pickup coil pulse output with a decent multimeter...if you have one?

If its still switching primary with no spark, it pretty much points to coil, that is if you have good power to coil pos etc also. Also make sure ignitor has good earth..

[crispy'86]

Have you checked reluctor wheel to pickup coil airgap? When it looses spark put a test light on coil neg see if it pulses when cranking to see if the ignitor is switching. You can check pickup coil pulse output with a decent multimeter...if you have one?

If its still switching primary with no spark, it pretty much points to coil, that is if you have good power to coil pos etc also. Also make sure ignitor has good earth..

I've adjusted the air gap to 0.2mm as in specs for the distributor. The test light dulls out but doesn't go out fully, but that's only the quick check I've done. What's expected output of the pickup coil checking with the meter? Another suggestion is maybe huge voltage drop, i' thought I had decent earth on ignite but i'll run another one to be on the safe side

[Mr. Mainstream]

sure you just dont need new spark plugs chris

[crispy'86]

sure you just dont need new spark plugs chris

Ha yep, least the esky was running with it's fault

[Crucible]

The test light dulls out but doesn't go out fully, but that's only the quick check I've done. What's expected output of the pickup coil checking with the meter? Another suggestion is maybe huge voltage drop, i' thought I had decent earth on ignite but i'll run another one to be on the safe side

The test light should pulse on and off. It pulses quite fast but should be noticeable. If it stays lit there is no control, ignitor/transistor isnt switching coil neg to ground or you havea bad ignitor earth or open circuit.

I cant tell you what the vr sensor output should be, it isnt much but using a multimeter with a bar it should pulse on and off. The ignitor needs this on off pulse to switch the transistor. As far as voltage drop goes yoi should have batt voltage at coil +.

[crispy'86]

So after having another look in the weekend it looks like the igniter unit is faulty, have tested a different unit with external coil and the spark is flipping huge. So will do further testing to test this theory. I'll post my results