Well, I replaced the ignitor on my 91 Loyale and it's still doing the same thing. With a test light hooked to neg. side of coil and to ground, while cranking the light stays dim and sometimes flashes bright and will start and run briefly. What do you think I should replace next? Is the L.E.D. and photo diode in the distributor known to go bad? Can you replace them or do you have to buy a new disty?

 

Thanks,

Bill

possibly all those in the know are on vacation?...

 

wish I could help but no idea.... and hoping this post would take it back too the top and someone may see it.... anyone... anyone....

Well, I replaced the ignitor on my 91 Loyale and it's still doing the same thing. Bill

 

 

Did you really torque that puppy down? Has to be grounded through the body to function. Just a wag.

Two Suggestions if you haven't been down these roads yet:

1. Check the condition of your fusible links. Pull each, particularly the black one and clean the contacts; and

2. If your primary wire, from coil to distributor, is original, consider replacing it.

Hang in there. Electrical problems almost always have one solution, and only one. You just have to find it. Have a Merry......

 

Edit: Bad grounds can cause these intermittant problems. From Skip, one of our gurus in the archives: Clean these grounds to shiny, and replace using a dab of dielectric grease: the dash ground under the intake manifold bolt just behind the upper rad hose connection, another important ground point is the screw by the battery in the rad. core support.

The CAS distributors rarely fail unless the bearings go bad. Check for shaft play.

 

Have you tested the coil, and tried another one? They can test good but still not function sometimes.

 

Basically you just have to trace it down - you have three parts that could be bad - coil, ignitor, and distributor. Check each one with spare's (junk yard is fine). And verify that the coil is getting voltage, and the bracket is grounded well. If the bracket is not grounding, you will get NO spark, or intermittant like you are experienceing.

 

GD

Thanks for the tips. I cleaned the ignitor bracket with a scotchbrite pad and ran a ground from the battery to the bracket and no luck. I was thinking it could be the cas, or the ecu. I already replaced the coil and ignitor. FYI, I was able to replace the ignitor with one from a GM Hei Ignition. I know some people on here said it wouldn't work but it does and will run sometimes just like the original. The stealership wanted almost $300 for a coil, bracket and ignitor as a kit, but I was able to buy a coil and GM ignition module, for roughly $40. The igniton module requires slight modification to the wiring (adding one wire to the coil) and bracket (Bending bracket flat and drilling one hole to mount ignitor). but should work great once I fix the rest of the gremlins. If anyone is interested I can make a write up but im sure there will be some doubters until I get it running correctly. I figured the GM ignitor is $20 and is new. So I wont have to worry about buying a half dead one from the boneyard. If anybody is good with a soldering iron and has alot of patience, You can find the original transistor online for $15 + shipping. It's a bipolar transistor Pt# 1205. More trouble than what it's worth if you ask me. Anyhow, Merry Christmas and thanks for the help.

 

Bill

you have three parts that could be bad - coil, ignitor, and distributor.

GD

 

not true there is the forth thing that caused my no spark. that pesky resistor that is attached to the coil bracket. I had one that was bad and the damn thing wouldn't get a good constant spark, after i replaced it vroom started right up.

I allready replaced the transistor under the coil, and the coil. It's either the ecu or photo diode/led. Which is more likely? Does anyone know how to check either? I'm losing patience with this car. I bought shifter bushings, I replaced the tires, coil, ignitor, it needs drivers door weatherstrip, wheel bearings, battery hold down, (The original was replaced with one that was too big and broke the plastic undertray and allowed acid to leak on the metal tray underneath and rust it out). It needs new v belts and probably new brakes and or rotors. I thought I was getting a deal for $300 but I think I got screwed. After sinking so much money in it, I hate to give up. But it's looking like a posibility.

 

 

 

not true there is the forth thing that caused my no spark. that pesky resistor that is attached to the coil bracket. I had one that was bad and the damn thing wouldn't get a good constant spark, after i replaced it vroom started right up.

T. I already replaced the coil and ignitor. FYI, I was able to replace the ignitor with one from a GM Hei Ignition.

 

There's your problem. The GM HEI conversion only works if the distributor is the magnetic pickup type. I'm fairly certain your 91 Subaru doesn't use this style distributor. A used stock Subaru coil bracket is a no more than a $10 part.

not true there is the forth thing that caused my no spark. that pesky resistor that is attached to the coil bracket. I had one that was bad and the damn thing wouldn't get a good constant spark, after i replaced it vroom started right up.

 

And what resistor is that? On the SPFI there's the coil bracket (ignitor transistor), and there's a capacitor in the wireing harness (black rectangular unit) for the coil ground..... but there's no resistor on an SPFI coil. Are you talking about the carbed coil, or maybe you are refering to the ignitor on the bracket (it's not a resistor though)?

 

GD

well i guess i dont know what it's truly called then. i called it a resistor because the bad ones that i had had infinite resistance and the good ones had some sort of reading. not sure what that reading was but there was a obvious difference between the good and bad ones.

 

what ever you call that thing that is attached to the spfi coil bracket, infinite resistance didn't run, some sort of reading ran fine.

 

 

 

 

And what resistor is that? On the SPFI there's the coil bracket (ignitor transistor), and there's a capacitor in the wireing harness (black rectangular unit) for the coil ground..... but there's no resistor on an SPFI coil. Are you talking about the carbed coil, or maybe you are refering to the ignitor on the bracket (it's not a resistor though)?

 

GD

Oops I am going to correct myself on one thing. It was actualy a turbo car that i was working on and so it was a mpfi set up. but according to subaru the ignition stuff was the same from the turbo to the not turbo as long as you had the years the same.

 

 

 

well i guess i dont know what it's truly called then. i called it a resistor because the bad ones that i had had infinite resistance and the good ones had some sort of reading. not sure what that reading was but there was a obvious difference between the good and bad ones.

 

what ever you call that thing that is attached to the spfi coil bracket, infinite resistance didn't run, some sort of reading ran fine.

well i guess i dont know what it's truly called then

 

It's callen an Ignition Impulse Amplifier. It is just a tranisitor.

I would suggest replacing the optical pickup in the distributor next.