Pertronix Electronic ignition

Got my new Pertronix ignition since I've been having so much trouble with points, dwell and timing. Installed it as per instructions(pretty easy really). Turned over the engine and .....

























Nothing!

Looked under the hood and.... Smoke coming from inside the distributor cap. Took it off and found my brand new Hundred dollar Pertronix ignitor burned up!

What could be the problem?:?

Using the Pertronix flamethrower coil they recommend and hooked red wire to positive on coil and black to negative on coil.


I called called NAPA and they will warrant the part it'll be a couple of days before a new one gets here, but I don't want to burn another one up. I don't think I did anything wrong. Don't know why it did that! (Only good thing is I bought it from NAPA and they pay the shipping.)

Appreciate any help.

I've had so much trouble with this new engine getting it going with timing, carb, points dwell ect. I decided to get the electronic thing and not have to adjust points. Now this. I'm very very close to something I told myself I'd never do. That's selling it or rolling it off a cliff. And I'm serious.

 

This may be absolutly nothing at all I'm no mechanic, but a quick search told me they have positive and negative ground. As an electrician I thought maybe you bought the wrong style of ground. But Like I said I'm no mechanic and it may have absolutly nothing to do with it at all. Hope I could have helped though!!

 

did you bypass the ballast resistor (or resistor wire). I'm pretty sure those need one to run....otherwise they get too much current (voltage(??) and burn up.

I burned mine up by leaving the key on, after bypassing the broken stock resistor wire.


To Buuh: almost all vehicles from the 40's (I think) are negative ground. very few are positive ground. Really rare, and not in a Jeep at all (that I've seen anyways)

 

I don't think I have a ballast resistor. The instructions said.... those applications without a ballast resistor.... so I hooked it up that way. Maybe I need to install one. If so, how do you do it?

 

Thanks for the info, I didn't want to steer anyone the wrong direction, I should have thought of the resistor, I had a problem with mine, it wouldn't start the wire running to my coil had a short in it when i got it.....don't know why I didn't think of that

 

Ok then, if no ballast resistor for F head, then why did it burn up? Defective part?

Again, I'm using the Pertronix Flamethrower coil on a 12 V system.

 

There has to be some way of limiting current. If not with a ballast resistor, with a resister wire coming from switched 12VDC to the “+” post of the coil.
Without it the distributor would be trying to switch battery current and no electronic ignition or mechanical points will handle that.
The only exception is if you’re using some brand of CDI box (CDI= Capacitive Discharge Ignition like an MSD or Mallory Hyfire Ignition box).

 

When I got it, during the initial rebuild I put on a Painless wiring harness and hooked it up as instructed. Unless there is a resistor built in to the Painless wiring harness, there must not be one at all. I've never added one.
The thing is that I've never burned up points before in the seven years I've had it. So if it was a too much current from the battery, it should have also burned up points quickly too right?


I have a multimeter at home and can check it tonight, but being honest I've not used a multimeter very much. I assume I set it to 12 V or something and touch both sides of the coil to measure Ohms right? How about measuring how much power is getting to the Pertronix ignitor?

I checked and rechecked my instructions this morning and I hooked it all up the way they say in the instructions, so I'm satisfied that I didn't screw that up somehow. Question seems to be is there too much power getting through or is it a faulty Ignitor system.

 

EVIL JEEP!

 

I edited out that part after thinking about it more because there are several mechanical reasons why that much current wouldn’t flow through the points, gauge of the wire being at least one.
I’ll take your guys word for it since I know next to nothing about f-heads, but I don’t know why it would be any different from the majority of other 4 stroke motors out there. What is it that’s special about the f-head?

 

If you wired it exactly as the instructions say, I’d try to work an exchange with Petronix.
To check for a resistance wire, put your multimeter into resistance measuring mode and with the Jeeps power turned off, remove the wire from the “+” post of your coil and put one lead on that wire. The other lead from your multimeter should go back to that wires source, I assume the ignition switch. Typically ballast resistors are just a few ohms of resistance, 1.5-2.1 ohms for most GM distributors.

 

It makes me real nervous to put in another pertronix. This ones warranted NAPA says anyway, but I can't afford to put 100 dollar ignitors in that burn up in about 1 second. Like blowing 100 dollar fuses!
So it's got to be either too much voltage or a defective part.

Would my recent 1 wire 100 amp alternator installation play any role here? I doubt it because the engine just turned over with the starter. Never fired or ran at all. Alternator is connected only to positive battery terminal.

 

the instructions with the Pertronix are quite clear...no ballast used or resistor wire wanted (F4, V6, V8 etc)
you need 12+ for it to operate properly
I would check and make sure you didn't pinch a wire.
Voltage to the unit can be checked with a voltmeter; doubtful too much voltage was the problem; check it though before connecting to the Pertronix.
I'm using a Painless harness to a Delco V6dizzy; no issues.
take your time and double check it all on this next unit.