<VV> Engine miss with rapid tach movement

Larry Forman Larry@Forman.net
Mon, 10 May 2004 23:16:19 -0700


Dan,
My advise regarding ignition coils is:

When in doubt, swap it out!

Ignition coils can certainly appear good but can either be weak or 
intermittent.  They are sneaky devils!
Fortunately, they can take less time to swap out than it takes to post 
here.  I like to carry a spare and swap out the coil whenever I suspect 
something is not right.  I did that very thing last weekend when my 110 did 
not want to start AFTER I swapped out a stock original coil for one 
performance coil that I had removed from service.  Now I understand why I 
removed it -- it was quite weak.  I swapped it out with a new Flamethrower 
and everything runs great.  I tossed that removed coil where I should have 
placed it when I removed it.

Larry

At 08:57 PM 5/10/2004 -0700, Dan & Synde wrote:
>Well, the engine is back together and running in the Greenbrier!  Yea!!
>After a five year hiatus we are back in business.  I tried the static valve
>adjustment and it works great.  Now I get to troubleshoot an ignition
>problem.  The engine has an intermittant miss that appears to be an ignition
>problem.  The tach needle follows the miss and occurs intermittantly at all
>speeds with slight but rapid deflections.  It does it regardless of engine
>temperature.  I first suspected the condenser but replaced that and the
>problem still exists.  The cap and points are new "Blue Streak" parts, the
>plug wires are new silicone 8mm.  The alignment on the points is good and is
>gapped to around .016 inch.  The points plate is a Dale unit and I double
>checked the ground wire connecting the advance plate with the distributer
>body.  I checked the wiring leading from the points to the (-) coil lug and
>it is good.  Shaft runout is minimal.  Voltage to (+) lead of coil is around
>9V.  The coil measures good, low resistance between (-) and (+) (2-3 Ohm)
>but high resistance between (+) and the coil output (9 kohm).  I'm beginning
>to suspect either the coil or the points even though they test good,
>sometime it's a dynamic thing.   Any ideas?
>
>Dan Kling