Warrant of fitness for NZ Martyn my handsome, OR German TUF, OR English M.O.T., France control technique. What is it in Australia?
Misc: Ignition Coil Ignition
- Thread starter Peter Holmes
- Start date
Conclusion, Not to sure what the problem was, I ended up chasing red herrings purely on the basis that the ammeter had stopped showing a negative discharge when I turned the ignition switch on, so in the end I changed the coil and the condenser for new ones that I had tucked away, anyway all seems well now, but as it is a damp afternoon I can't get motivated to do a road test.
I was wondering about this setup. Does your D distributor have just one lobe on the point cam? If it has two, you might have a problem when the points open on the unused lobe. That would cause a magnetic field collapse with no place for the spark to discharge. And that would cause the coil to try to discharge internally, thereby damaging the internal insulation. Or maybe you have the normal D distributor with two plug outlets. It that case, the problem could be avoided by connecting the unused outlet to ground.
Gary
Now you have set me thinking, the bike has been like it is for about 11 years, it has not covered a huge mileage as I normally use my Rapide, but it has done a few thousand miles, how long would you expect the coil to last if it is running the twin lobe set up, the bike has been put to bed for the day as we have rain here, also as it is only firing one plug I do not use a rotor arm or distributor cap, just a points cover, I will take a look at the cam tomorrow.
Leaving the ignition on when the points are closed most definitely burns craters into the points.
As a kid, I committed this sin many times with our old John Deere tractor. On the first occasion I was shown how to file out the craters and reset the points. After that I was on my own to sort it or stop leaving the ignition switch on.
Fortunately the thing would start on the hand crank with just a flicker of life remaining in battery.
Glen
As a kid, I committed this sin many times with our old John Deere tractor. On the first occasion I was shown how to file out the craters and reset the points. After that I was on my own to sort it or stop leaving the ignition switch on.
Fortunately the thing would start on the hand crank with just a flicker of life remaining in battery.
Glen
I would have thought if it has two lobes, You would have what we call a wasted spark ?,
So no harm done ?, I have that set up on my Special Twin, Runs fine.
Only I use a twin spark coil and no rotor arm and no Dist' cap, Well a BSA C11 Cap with no pickup points !.
I am sure Peters has only one .
I have done another Comet "D" Dist' , Where I bought a Triumph Dist' with 2 lobes and ground one OFF ,
But I have not run that yet, Also I have had to change the Rotation with different Bob weights etc.
Cheers Bill.
Another good thing on my Twin, You can't put the leads on the wrong way !!.
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But if it does have two lobes, but I am only firing one plug per rotation, would that give me a coil problem?
Don't think so, But you don't !!.
So Sleep well !.
So Sleep well !.
It's my understanding that there's no specific time that internal damage will cause symptoms. But the problem will be out there, waiting for an inconvenient moment.
Well not in this case. In the "wasted spark" situation, the spark still occurs across the non-firing plug. In this case, there's no plug to spark, so the high voltage has to dissipate inside the coil.
Well not in this case. In the "wasted spark" situation, the spark still occurs across the non-firing plug. In this case, there's no plug to spark, so the high voltage has to dissipate inside the coil.
Why would it not spark twice ?.