Yes, new doesn't mean good every time. Happened to often to me.Check that cylinder for compression. Maybe a piece of crap under a valve. Run a can of Wynns valve treatment in the motor and some cleaner in the tank once and got rid of that miss and ran perfect after that. Simple stuff first. Took a few tanks of gas to clear it thou.
I don't think so. The pertronix unit supplies the spark just like a set of points, from there it gets distributed to each plug. If you have replaced plug and wire, try distributor cap. I'm not real sure what the pertronix stuff looks like in your distributor, but is there a fin missing/damaged on the pertronix exciter ring. Tedley, after reading your post, yeah any engine can miss one one cylinder, but it probably isn't caused by the pertronix unit
Do you have a timing light? Clip the secondary lead on each spark plug wire while it's running and see if the light will flash on each cylinder. I would say rare for Petronix to lose one cylinder. If you disconnect and ground coil wire temporarily, does cranking sound even for each cylinder? Easiest to use diagnostic tool in the toolbox is a vacuum gauge. You're looking for high (17 and above inches of HG) and STEADY vacuum. Slowly wandering needle is not an indication of valve problems. Flicking needle is an indication of valve or headgasket problems. To be absolutely positive you'd have to disassemble. Thorough diag tells you whether disassembly is necessary so you don't waste time taking things apart. Don
Pertronix uses small magnets in the part that goes over lobes. Check to see if one is missing. Took me 2 weeks to discover that was the problem with my power wagon.
I had a similar issue on a 365" Caddy and switched to straight #45 AC Delco plugs and the problem went away. It seemed that for some reason the Pertronix/wires/plug combination didn't like a resistor style plug.
I had the same exact thing happen to me with the pertronix. What had happened was the pick up under the rotor has magnets in it with a green tape on it to hold the pieces together. That piece of green tape wore out and I lost one magnet, thus causing the engine to miss or not fire on that cylinder.
I scrolled through all the helpful hints. I noticed you said 'missing'. Not to state the obvious but did you check to see if the plug is getting 'fire'??? I know it sounds too obvious; but then and again, I have seen others miss the obvious and, sad to say, been more than a little guilty of not seeing the same myself. Just take off the plug wire and grab hold of it. (Just kidding.)
News to me. I've installed 4 since the first of the month, and 32 since the first of the year, and a few hundred overall. Aside from the Ignitor-I that I ruined by leaving the key on, for about a week, about a decade-and-a-half 'ish ago, I have yet to have an issue.
Thank you for your informative post. We sell more points replacement electronics than all the other companies combined. We also have more applications by the hundreds than all the other companies. With a return and warranty rate that is very low. We also have a 30 Month warranty, compared to 12 months from Mallory, Crane, Accel etc. For every time someone on here makes a complaint about a PerTronix Ignitor it seems that 10 more people rave about how good they have been, and respected ignition folks on here like Bubba's ignition use them regularly. And since "Gonzo" by definition means essentially "Outrageous" I guess that means that your problems with the brand M are outrageous which I wouldn't think would be a good thing .....
hotroddon, I am with ya on the pertronix, i see you here defending them all the time which is great, i think 99% of the problems people have are instalation problems. I have 50kmiles on an Original Ignitor in an OT vehicle. Only thing i have found is that they are very picky about input voltage, you had better make damn sure its getting a full 12 volts... I have had nothing but great things to say about the Ignitors and have used all 3 versions.
Thanks, yes they are sensitive to both power and ground. They will actually run fine down to 7-8 volts IF it is good clean voltage and the resistance of the coil is OK. Thanks!
Thanks, yes they are sensitive to both power and ground. They will actually run fine down to 7-8 volts IF it is good clean voltage and the resistance of the coil is OK. Thanks!
1. are you getting a spark to the plug though the wire? You can check by holding the wire close to the engine where the spark will jump or hook the lead from the timing light to the wire with the dead hole and if it see the light works when that cylinder should fire as Smog-Guy suggested which is a real easy way to check it when you don't have a helper. If you do get a good spark check the compression in that hole to make sure you have compression. If you don't get a spark start backtracking by checking the cap and checking the previously mentioned magnets to make sure that all are in place. I don't have a dog in this fight as I have never even seen one of this type of ignitions to my knowledge and have no experience with them but ignition and engine tune basics are the same for any setup. You have to have a fuel/air mixture in the cylinder and you have to have compression along with a good spark at just the right time for it to work. Miss any one and you are dead in the water.
one way to find out if it is the PerTronix or not would be to take the magnet ring off, rotate it to another position on the point cam and see if it causes a different cylinder to miss. the Ignitor itself is working or you wouldst be getting 7 cylinders. It you rotate the magnet ring and a different cylinder drops, then it is a bad magnet and we sill be glad to replace that for you.
This is true depending on how old yours is. The old style had a piece of tape around the outside and they could fall out. The new style has them sealed in the plastic. I have learned that many "vendors" still have the old style still in their stock. On a side note I bought a setup from a vendor who was still selling the old style long after they had been phased out. It came apart on me. I called the vendor who sold it to me and they told me I would have to buy a new one. I emailed Pertronix and within 20 minutes someone called me (can't remember the name, but he was higher up - or so he said) asked me about what had happened and said when he went to lunch he would personally drop a replacement off in the mail for FREE. I had the new one in 2 days. I know people bash them, but to me that was GREAT service.
Depends on the application. Many (most) of the magnet rings will fit in more than one position. What kind of distributor are you working on?????????
Check each plug wire with a DVOM. While it's connected, bend the wire around. Maybe you have a break in the wire. I find it wierd that the module would miss a cylinder. Oh and add me to the list of people who love the Pertronix.
Looks like lots of answers. Whta engine application are you using??? I agree that the pertronixs do in fact some times fail but very seldom. Most failures i have seen over the last few years was a bad or incorrect ignition coil causing a heat buildup by using too high of amps. I agree with Don , pull the magnet ring ( black round part) and reinstall in different position then if you have a different cylinder dead its the ring....
It's not just Pertronics modules that die from leaving the key on. Mopar orange ignition boxes die from leaving the key on as well.
pertronix makes a great product, but this week a customers 1951 f1 with a stock flathead and new pertonix unit was missing on one cylinder. no fire out of the cap, it to had a missing magnet. if available i will use the lobe sensing units from now on.
Now the engine dies after driven about 20 minutes and won't start until it's good and cooled off. Anyone have that problem?
The Jalopy Journal
