14 replies to this topic

[jamieburke17]

Because I'm an idiot, I connected the wire that goes to the starter solenoid to the + side of the coil to the negative side, cranked it over and then realised what id done, put it back on the + side, and now I have no spark, my car is a 1380 with an aldon yellow dizzy and a Lucas classic non ballast coil, I'm praying my dizzy is okay, can anybody reasure me? Cheers

[Ethel]

I don't see why that would have done any harm to either the coil or dizzy. All you'd have done is take the resistance of the coil out of the circuit.

 

Depending on how you have the dizzy wired up you could have also removed the  +ve supply the dizzy will need to work the electronics that switch the -ve side of the coil from open to earthed.

[EAVB]

Do you have conventional points or an Aldon ignitor?

 

If it's points they should be ok but the ignitors/pertronix setup often fry if they are wired up the wrong way round.

[jamieburke17]

Ignitor :/

[jamieburke17]

I suppose, is what your saying that I put the coil power wire to the negative side, shorting it so no power would get to the dizzy?

[EAVB]

Maybe check with Aldon (or whoever you bought the ignitor from), I have a copy of Aldon's fitting instructions here and they state that, if you reverse the connections, the ignitor will be destroyed.

 

You could always either refit a set of points/condenser or buy a cheapy ignitor copy off Ebay.

[jamieburke17]

Thanks for the replies, I'll brake out the multimeter tonight an post what i find

[jamieburke17]

Thanks for the replies, I'll brake out the multimeter tonight an post what i find, and its a 276 cam engine, won't run too well on a normal dizzy

[dklawson]

I connected the wire that goes to the starter solenoid to the + side of the coil to the negative side,

put it back on the + side, and now I have no spark, 

Lucas classic non ballast coil

 

 

Ignitor :/

 

 

You could always either refit a set of points/condenser or buy a cheapy ignitor copy off Ebay.

 

With the Ignitor module in the Aldon dizzy you did not need that wire from the solenoid to coil (+).  More on that later.

 

By hooking that wire to coil (-) and cranking the engine, you have provided full 12V power without resistance to the Ignitor's black wire.  Escentially you created a dead short through the module.   Sorry, you will not have damaged the coil but you are likely to have damaged the ignition module.  

 

As EVAB said, you can re-fit a set of points and condenser to the Aldon dizzy in place of the Ignitor module to confirm you can get a spark and that the engine will run.  This won't change your ignition timing or the advance curve so you can run this indefinitely if you want.  The only place you are likely to observe a difference is at high-RPM conditions.  Save up your money and replace the Ignitor module when you can.

 

You said you have a non-ballast coil and the Ignitor module.  With the Ignitor module you do NOT need the wire from the solenoid to the coil (+) terminal.  That wire is only helpful when a ballast ignition coil is fitted.  Since you have a standard coil, remove this wire so you don't make the connection mistake in the future.  

[jamieburke17]

Just checked the coil there is no current at the coil terminals when turned off

[jamieburke17]

Right I do have a lucas sport ballast coil sorry, there is a 12v feed going to it from a pink and white wire, across the coil terminals there is 1.8v

[jamieburke17]

And the wire I connected up to the negative side gives about 9 and a half volts when cranking

[Ethel]

That sounds about right. It's ballasted (the pink white wire), so it should be about 9 volts cranking or running.

 

If you put your meter across the + & - terminals on the coil you'll have measured the voltage drop due the resistance of the coil windings.

 

12v in less 1.8 drop across the coil, leaves about 10v going to the dizzy.

[dklawson]

OK... ballast coil.  You still may have damaged the Ignitor module by hooking up the white/yellow wire from the solenoid to coil (-). 

 

Since this is now confirmed to be a ballasted coil, where did you connect the Ignitor module's red wire?  (This is a side question, not related to the apparent failure... it is information for later).

[KernowCooper]

Exactly what Dougs said above about where your feeding the Red Igniter wire from ? and the test for the Aldon Igniter is in the faq electrical section on how to test it