Step-a-toe Posted June 24, 2020 Share Posted June 24, 2020 Can you dumb down the first sentence please? Standard points dwell meter? What does ignition control point look like? I am of experience of just two of these modules going, sometimes won't start immediately, then dead, let you down somewhere, need ride to spares board and back, replace, all good. Only test was no spark, grumble grumble module, mutter mutter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Cornelius Posted June 25, 2020 Author Share Posted June 25, 2020 Sure thing, today I confirmed a bad ignition control unit with my multi meter. Checking for dwell at the neg - contact of the coil. Multi meter is set for 4 cyl dwell. While the engine would start due to no ignition spark the dwell reading was 0.0 meaning there was no signal to the coil to fire. Meter is connected from yellow wire(red positive) and engine ground (black meter led) with ignition off it'll read about 60°. Not that important. When ignition on it'll drop to zero(power on, no signal) during good start it'll jump up(doesn't matter how far, just means you have signal) with failure the it'll remain at 0.0.(no signal). Found an ignition control unit on Amazon for 27 beans. Woooo! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Cornelius Posted June 25, 2020 Author Share Posted June 25, 2020 Usually you would use a dwell meter to set points. But you can use it to check the electronic ignition. You're not setting anything. Just looking for a signal to the coil. In customer pay situations I couldn't just sell them both coil and igniter. We had to determine the cause. Quick test proves the failure. It's easier and faster to test for dwell than ohm out a coil. As the coils were internal to the distributor. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Step-a-toe Posted June 28, 2020 Share Posted June 28, 2020 OK, that is well explained. I don't have a DMM that has a dwell function that I know of, but I do have an old dwell meter So attach red to coil + and black to body earth and watch what dwell needle does from IGN off, IGN on, and running ? Gosh, if this is the simplest , fastest and reliable module test explained on the internet it needs broadcasting or made into a sticker for under the hood ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yukon Cornelius Posted June 29, 2020 Author Share Posted June 29, 2020 Sorry, signal wire is - neg on the coil. Its yellow on these. Because it's not points there is no adjusting. Just looking for a change. Oh, and my $27 Amazon ignition module didn't work right out of the box. Imagine that. Just do a quick test on yours. It's real easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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