Chasing Down Spark / Coil Issue

[slantsix]

Hello,

I have Returned to the forum here to find my account was deleted probaly because I did not login for such a long time.. Anyway,

I have Been Successfully Running MS-II on My 79 Plymouth Volare Slant 6 For 4 1/2 Years With Not Too many problems after the Initial Fire up and Rough Tune In back in 2008.

Here's a Little Background on the Components / Issues. I got Stranded at the Bank last wed with my MS equipped car - I use it as a daily driver for everything. Walked home and Got another coil for it - Not The coil - so I got it towed.


As I am beginning to troubleshoot I am finding that the Car has no spark.. Power to the Coil is good.

I can see no Tach Signal in megatune..when cranking .. so I am Tending to think that either the Pertronix ignitor is bad or that The coil Driver in my Megasquirt has gone bad.

Here is the List of equipment:
MSD B'laster 2 Coil
Megasquirt V3.57M Motherboard (Built By DIY Autotune with 12Vpullup on IGN Input and Bosch BIP373 Ign output on Pin 36)
DIY autotune Built Relay Board
Locked out Centrifugal / vacuum Advance Chrysler Slant 6 Points Distributor With Pertronix Ignitor I Replacing the Points.

So a few questions:

1. How to I test the Coil(s) to make sure they are not the problem? - I have a volt meter/ multimeter that can read Ohms.
2. How do I test the Hall Effect / Pertronix Unit to see if it's defective?
3. Do i need to Check any of the Circuitry in the V3.57 Motherboard of Megasquirt? If so Please advise.

Any thoughts / Input would be greatly Appreciated!


Greg

[Matt Cramer]

1. How to I test the Coil(s) to make sure they are not the problem? - I have a volt meter/ multimeter that can read Ohms.

While you could ohm out the coil, a quicker test might be to energize the 12 volt connection and briefly tap the negative terminal to ground to see if it sparks.

2. How do I test the Hall Effect / Pertronix Unit to see if it's defective?

See if you get an RPM signal in TunerStudio while cranking.

3. Do i need to Check any of the Circuitry in the V3.57 Motherboard of Megasquirt? If so Please advise.

It wouldn't hurt, if you have a Stimulator board. See if it can trigger the Stim's IGN LED.

[slantsix]

Hello Thank you Matt.. When I get Home I will Try those suggestions.

I will dig up My stim and attempt to Verify the Circuitry...

After a little More Testing I am tending to think My Relay Board got zapped by salt and water.. I was able to verify The Pertronix was working and sending a signal.. But I was not able to get the signal to be received by megatune,... I have a very old laptop and it's too slow to run Tunerstudio

I will check the coil tonite.


Thanks so Much ! Greg

[slantsix]

Hello,

I got My problem resolved. After doing a bit of research on the hall pertronix / hall effect sensors I was able to verify that it was good and sending a consistent on/ off signal when a magnet passed in front of the sensor. So I then reinstalled it back in the distributor.
I never even verified the coil operation except for swapping out to another known good coil and still no spark with the 2nd coil.

So after I verified the pertronix as good and it was sending signal to megasquirt the only other "weak link" was the relay board.

It was fried.. So I got a new one and i will be building a full weatherproof case top for it.. The Half case that DIYAutoTune sent me was not enough protection from the water and salt in a daily driver situation- but it did last unprotected for 4+ years before succumbing to the harsh North east rainy and salty seasons. If this had been an install on a car in texas or Vegas or SoCal I dont think it would have been a problem.


After the Wires and connections were switched over to the new relay board I had RPM signal in Megatune and My timing light was flashing on the first crank!

Thanks for your help and Happy Squirting!


Greg

[trakkies]

On my factory EFI equipped car, the main and pump relays are situated inside the car alongside the ECU. So when I converted to MS, I kept this arrangement. IMHO, it's easier to site relays and electronics where they can't get wet etc than try and protect them afterwards. Even although it seems natural to position a relay board where it's easy to get at in the engine compartment.