Pertronix Ignitor

69911e · 10-16-2002, 07:23 AM

Anyone ever put a distrbutor with a pertonix ignitor on a distributor tester? I am begining to question if they are any good. Just found that rotating the magnetic disk to different position changed the ingition timing by 10 degrees!!! I guess this means one cylinder has different timing than others. I have already given up on the Ignitor on anything without a CD ingition, never run ssmooth, runs great with points.
ED

69 911E
71 1800E
71 ITB Volvo from hell

thrown_hammer · 10-16-2002, 08:42 AM

I have their flamethrower coil. I wanted to get the ignitor. I will watch this thread to see if they are crap.

CamB · CamB's Garage

What do you mean by "rotate the magnetic disc"?

Do you mean take it off and move it around 60 deg to the next cam lobe?

Or do you mean it has play against the cam lobe (cam lobe worn or Pertronix badly made)?

I am going to have problems with the latter on my 2002tii, I suspect. I remain unconvinced about the Pertronix. It seems pretty crappy quality...

... and it is hard to have faith in a product which suggests in the instructions that you carry the original points around "in case of a problem".

TimT · 10-16-2002, 02:42 PM

never tried the pertronix, I did install a Alison (bought by Crane) optical trigger in my car in the early '80's it worked flawlessly, and it still works flawlessly. I sold my old ignition system, the '67S distributor, the optical trigger, the Crane coil and CD box, and I still see it driving around the 'hood. (i have crank fire electromotive now)

... and it is hard to have faith in a product which suggests in the instructions that you carry the original points around "in case of a problem".

Cam, I do some serious offshore fishing, redundancy and spares might be the ticket to get home from a hundred miles or so off shore. In my car I carry carry an extra pickup for my crank fired system.... call it insurance.

Im thinking Pertronix has some quality control issues. carry the points

marc weintraub · marc weintraub's Garage

I have Pertronix in my 73"S" but I was going to throw in the towel at one point. I went through 2 (both DOA) without any good tech support from them. Finally, I got one from them that worked and it took me about 15 minutes (at best) to install.

I also have a Crane setup in another distributor that works extremely well, but it took a little more time to setup. I carry a set of points with me just in case, but it has been 2 years wtihout any problems. Just as a note: my timing was thrown off by the Pertronix unit also and I checked the alignment of the distributor with the case and so forth. It has me very confused, but it runs well, so I am not going to screw with it.

If you do a search under my name, you will find all of the Pertronix issues and helpful hints that were given to me. Thansk again to all of the guys.

Hope this helps,

Marc

CamB · CamB's Garage

Yeah, but I draw a distinction between being prudent/cautious and having that as item #13 on the instructions (sort of implies "when" not "if").

Cam

Jim T · 10-16-2002, 04:09 PM

Pertronix was popular with 914 guys (maybe still is) I recall from when I had my 914. But A LOT of people had a lot of problems with the Pertronix being DOA, dying out, something about some glued part in it coming apart, etc.

Which is really frustrating because it causes a running problem which then needs to be diagnosed.

There was enough floating around that I went for the Crane/Allison "optical eye" unit (XR700??) - which proved to be absolutely bulletproof for many years and many miles.

epbrown · 10-16-2002, 04:30 PM

I'm the 914 mailing list and the RROC mailing list. The Pertronix is a common upgrade on both, but the difference in opinions is dramatic - the 914 folks like them and the Rolls-Royce people seem to hate them with a passion. I've been considering one, but because of the conflicting viewpoints I've stayed on the fence. There are better systems, but like most RR owners, I'm, not big on mods that would change the appearance of the engine bay too much. Right now, changing/checking points every 6000 miles isn't that big a hassle anyway.

Emanuel

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

I had one on my 2.7L and ran it for quite a while with no problems until one day a valve hit a piston. OTOH, that had nothing to do with the ignitor...

I still have the 2.7L distributor w/ignitor, if anyone's interested. I can sell it to you for less than the cost of the ignitor itself!

69911e · 10-16-2002, 05:15 PM

When I said 'rotating the magnetic disk to different position changed the ingition timing by 10 degrees';I removed the black magnetic housing and rotated it 60 deg; It fit perfectly on the distributor. It seems that the 'mangetichousing/magnets/magnetic stength' are not symetrical with respect to 60 deg segments.
It has been in my car for about 8 years (never had a problem), nor have I had a problem with the Ignitor in any or my other cars(other than the poor running they seems to cause). My only concern about the Ignitor is that each plug is not firing 60 deg out of phase from each other. This would cause a significant power loss compared to a good distributor with good points. Just trying to detemine if this is a disign flaw or if I have a bad one.

ED

TimT · 10-16-2002, 05:42 PM

LOL!!!

after 8yrs your trying to find out if you might have a problem? you sound like the guy who after 17 months since purchasing decided to tear down the engine sold as is with flaws, then complain about it.

Ill just weigh in with a simile nowabout what you're experiencing. Just imagine pulling your whole distributor then turning ther engine over a number of times..... and expecting it to be timed perfectly when you reinstalled the distributor.

you could degree your crank pully and watch the timing on other cylinders as you rev the engine.....

And I would highly recommend the crane xr-700 if you lose faith with the pertronix.....

I have almost 20 yrs experience with the optical trigger... whether it was made by Alison, or crane..... (same unit since 1984)

69911e · 10-16-2002, 05:57 PM

I am not planning on COMPLAINING to pertronix...
I put the unit in and never had time to do testing because of SCCA racing another car. Now I am building a 2.7RS MFI motor and want to start off with a good ignition.
ED

wit61 · 10-16-2002, 06:00 PM

I used one on a VW restoration many moons ago. It was flawless for 8000 miles and improved the performance. I've run one on my BMW 2002 for about 18 months, but that only represents about 3000 miles. It was a significant improvement over points and has been reliable so far.

On issues like this I'm never sure if we are just not hearing from the silent majority, or the product is just a poor fit for this application. Given the CD and the comments I've stuck with points. The Pertronix is an inexpensive product, but then again it is a simple optical switch. Based on the comments in this forum, they are worse than the points they are supposed to improve upon !

However, I do follow the advice and carry the points and condenserin the 02.......... just in case...

TimT · 10-16-2002, 06:02 PM

pertronix isnt optical.... its hall efect

wit61 · 10-17-2002, 09:55 AM

Yes it is Hall effect. Let this be a lesson to all of you, don't drink and type...

724doorE · 10-17-2002, 11:43 AM

You got to give these guys credit, they pick up on the drinking and typing thing right away, I know

.

Tyson Schmidt · 10-18-2002, 05:32 PM

If you really want to find out accurately if the ignition timing is the same on all cylinders, just put the timing light pickup lead on each plug wire one at a time and check.
The crank pulley has marks every 120 degrees for TDC on each cylinder. With an Advance Timing light, you can find out exactly what the ignition timing is for each individual cylinder.

I did exactly this with my Allison optical unit, and found it to be off by as much as 4 degrees from cylinder to cylinder. That's why I went back to points.

69911e · 10-22-2002, 09:05 AM

Just did testing on a Volvo with an almost new Ignitor. It had 8 deg. variance between cylinders, I guess these things are not good in a car where performace counts. Maybe I have 2 bad units but will assume it's the design unless someone has test results showing good performance. Will find good use for it anyways, it's new home will be in an 1955 tractor. My next step is to measure the performance of the eary 80's bosch hall effect distributor, if it is good ... try to graft it into my old distributor with the mechanical advance. Or I can just go with a crank fire with computer adjustable timing.

ED

69 911E
71 Volvo 1800E
71 Volvo from Hell

JeffW · 10-22-2002, 10:07 AM

I've had no problems with my ignitor. I put it in in about 10 minutes, timed the motor, and it has been flawless since.