I think my car is eating Dizzys?

[unlimitedpower]

Well heres what the problem is.

My car (L20B) was running pretty good a week ago.
I started it up every couple of days and took it for a bit of a drive from time to time.
The last couple of times ive started it its been getting harder to start. Then today I couldn't get it to start at all. So after pissing round a bit I tried swapping my dizzy with a spare one.
It started but ran really rough. So I shut it down and swapped the original dizzy back in and tried again but no go. So I thought to my self that dizzy is stuffed. I then went and got another dizzy (ran mint as a couple years ago when it was last in a car) put that in it started straight away but same thing ran really rough. So I kept some gas on (had to keep it round 3000rpm or it would die) After about 30secs it died and wouldn't start again.

Anyone have any ideas what this issue could be?
I don't want to fit new points condenser etc to my dizzy just to have it die as soon as I run it,

[torqued]

how much movement does your dizzys have?
What are points and condenser like?
Whats your coil like?
how much resistance does your ballast resistor have?
Are you changing caps with dizzy?are there any cracks in the cap? whats your rotor like? what is the resistance on the leads?

how long is a piece of string before you cut it?

[unlimitedpower]

Swapping dizzys takes it from not firing to firing and running very badly.
I need to test the ballast resistor and will try by passing it for the time being to see if it runs better with out it.

After it died (i couldn't keep it running) it wouldn't fire again after that.
I tried swapping complete dizzys and interchanging caps/rotors etc. I know that both the dizzys i put in were in very very good working order when i removed them form the cars they were removed from.

Ive tried swapping coil leads etc.
I'll dig out a set of plug leads i know are good and buy a new set of plugs for it to try narrow it down,

Its just odd to me cos it ran really well a week ago,

[torqued]

and points you say?
have you had the points gap rechecked?
what do the points visually look like? are they still square or are they pitted?

mindlessly swapping things over wont get you any where, try understand what you are doing when you swapp something out.
it could easily be something as simple as gaped wrong

[classicdat]

Agreed. I wonder if it is as simple as a fractured wire from the coil to the dizzy, Low Tension, that it making contact because you have moved it on swapping the dizzy and then breaks down again so returns to open circuit. Is there a suppressor on the coil, Ie a condensor, this may have broken down. You can simply by pass this with a jump wire from the -ve coil terminal to the external terminal on the dizzy.
Condition of points, pre and post running is probably the most telling information. Any idea? Do you have a dwell meter?

[unlimitedpower]

Don't have a dwell meter.
But i could get hold of one.


The dizzy i swapped in has mint points and condenser not long reconditioned. The other dizzy i had came off a mint running engine so i can only imagine that its also in pretty tip top shape,

I'll have another play round on the weekend and see what i can come up with,

I'll replace my plugs as im unsure of them anyway
Coil has done less than 1400ks.

[torqued]

You cant recon a condenser. they are a replace only part.
The condenser is the thing that absorbs the charge while the the points are opening preventing the arc at the pre-open
If i don't have a multimeter I usually use a feeler gauge to check gap, failing that a hacksaw blade is another option.

You still haven't stated if your dizzy has movement? side to side. also check its spin.

Use a multimeter to check resistance from leads to cap and then again on the rotor.
The rotor should have next to no resistance and leads I usually work to 8K Ohms of resistance per 30cms of lead.

are the pins on the cap good?
are you replacing the cap when you swap dizzys?

[unlimitedpower]

sorry i ment the dizzy wasn't long reconded (well it hadn't had a lot of ks on it but it does have a bit of time) new condenser points rotor cap etc.

Im not 100% sure what you mean by movement? Do you mean does the rotor have a bit of movement in it of the complete unit. The rotor has a little free play back and forth but it always kinda seats itself back to center. (kinda almost like its spring loaded).

I just put a timing lite across each lead while it was cranking and i got a flash on cylinders 1 and 2 (so im assuming there must be spark there providing plugs are good)
3&4 didn't have a flash so i took cap of dizzy and 3 and 4 had crud on the terminals im pretty sure i checked it before i fitted it but i could have been wrong.
battery was dieing so didn't re test will test them in an hour or so.

Battery was getting a bit tired from all its cranking so its on charge now.

I tested voltages

Battery had 12.6vots
Ballast had 9.6 same with coil.

Ive by passed the ballast for now to eliminate 1 point in the system.

Im not 100% sure if this is dues to a bit of extra resistance in the circuit or if my battery getting flat so i'll put it on charge for 24hours and see what happens then,


How do i test the gap with a multimeter? I thought points gap was always set with a feeler gauge. Im just looking up the gap now.

[unlimitedpower]

Gave the battery and hours charging and retested 3 and 4 and i get a series of flashes off each the same as 1 and 2 so im beginning to think maybe my plugs are sad or i have bad earths etc. And the spark is 2 weak to get it to fire.

With ballast bypassed i had about 1volt different at the coil in voltage from the battery maybe another indication to poor earths? Or corroded terminals in wiring.

Should the points gap be about .2mm??? I haven't had a chance to check that as it got to dark. Will try do that tomorrow.

[torqued]

A timing light is not a realible way to check if it is firing.

In regards to dizzy movement i am talking about side to side movement.
Grab the shaft (lol shaft) and give it a wiggle. this should not have any movement.
movement here gives a incorrent gap and can cause missfire and incorrent running.