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short lived electronic Ignition

F

fastfarmall

Well-known Member
My brother has electronic ignition on his super M, they keep blowing out every 6 months, whats causing it, a bad condenser?
 
If you have electronic ignition you shouldn't have a condensor. I would suggest you contact Pertronix tell them what you have as far as coil, wires etc and ask them. they are very helpful
 
I have had a petronix ignition system on my tractor (806 LP) for about 14 years. never had any problem. I would start with the plug wires. As I understand they should be carbon core wires. Is the M 6 volt or 12 volt? Does he have the petronix coil on the tractor? I don't think it's required, but they do recommend it. I do not have a condensor on my tractor. Good luck in getting the problem figured out.
 
A quality set of breaker points can last a decade or more and are not nearly as fragile as a certain brand of "EI" conversions that are often the topic of discussion here.

Vehicles have left the factory with QUALITY electronic ignitions for so many years most guys aren't familiar with "points" anymore and think the "brand X" EI conversions are on par with the OEM systems for reliability and "hotness" of spark.

Sadly, neither one of those is true.
 
Check which type of plug wires it has. They require graphite/resistor core wires or they will burn out the module. Also verify that it is a 12 volt system and 12 volt module with proper polarity (or both 6 volt). The only failures I've seen were due to solid wires. First one was Dad's 3020, one of the first ones I converted. It ran good for about a year then just quit in the field like you shut the key off. Talked to manufacturer, they warrantied it and insisted on changing to resistor wires. That was 25 years ago and still running good.
 
The need for resistor plug wires makes sense. Solid-state devices are vulnerable to inductive voltage spikes, and resistance wires help to suppress them.
 
I'm very familiar with points, that's why I have had a trouble free Pertronic system on my tractor for about ten years. YMMV. TDF
 
You would think that if certain plugs, certain wires, and a certain coil were absolutely necessary to make these things work reliably, that they would come with it as part of a kit, rather than such information being buried in the fine print on the instruction sheet.
 
(quoted from post at 05:39:50 11/28/18) You would think that if certain plugs, certain wires, and a certain coil were absolutely necessary to make these things work reliably, that they would come with it as part of a kit, rather than such information being buried in the fine print on the instruction sheet.
Click to expand...

Barnyard, I have had Pertronix on a forklift and a tractor for around 25 years. I have bought three replacements in that time, and have never seen any "fine print" in the instructions. To the contrary, the instructions in the units that I have gotten are in bold print, with a lot of white space. The most recent replacement was necessitated by a fire dept. call while I was working on the tractor, and I left the key switch on.
 
Also make sure you never leave the ignition on with out the tractor running. That will burn one out also. I run the carb dry when I park a tractor for a long time. I did that on one that has a Petronix ignition in it and forgot to turn the ignition off after it quit. Didn't work the next time I tried to start it.

OTJ
 
Check the distributor shaft for excess wear.

It doesn't need to be perfect, but if it's excessive enough for the trigger to be hitting the pick up coil, it can damage it.

There should be no condenser in the system.

Check the resistance of the coil or coil/resistor combo. For 12v it needs to be in the 3 ohm range.

If this is a Pertronix unit, call them, they have excellent customer service and want to know about any field problems.
 
Heres the deal:

1) If the elec switch does NOT have the capacity to conduct and switch whatever current your coil draws THE SWITCH WILL FAIL. That's why its very important to match the switch and coil, ask Pertronix none of us for what coils (their current draw) you can use with your switch.

2) Some of Pertronix systems purposely use resistive plug wires (I think spiral wound inductive???) versus pure stock wire core so check with them for plug wire recommendations NOT us here.

3) An elec switch doesnt use condensors in the same sense and purpose of a stock coil ignition so NO I dont see any bad condensor as the problem

CHECK WITH PERTRONIX

John T
 
Did this on a Farmall H once. Pert. told me it was because of original plug wires. Installed new unit and auto plug wires , did the same thing. went back to original points-cond. Working great now. I don't push that EI much anymore.
 

I was at my local NAPA store a few years ago and the subject of electronic ignition came up. I mentioned that I might like to try it on a Farmall H but I didn't want to spend the money for a Pertronix unit. The guy behind the counter informed me that they had kits available for a whole lot less money. I decided against it. I get along just fine with the original points and condensor.
 

I have installed about 10 of'em all working as far as I know... I have them on two of my farmalls so far so good other than one would shut off intermittently I found the issue to be installer error :( Not that anyone would admit to it being their faught but it had to be my fraught and it was...

I have came to believe its best to use a 6V coil and the proper resistor for the application instead of a close wanna be 12V coil...
I started this IC14SB coil crap they have became the most problematic coil I have dealt with... I have replaced more of those wanna be 12V coils than all the other types of coils in 45 years of spinning wrenches...

I have went back to a 6V coil with the proper resistor for 12V systems EI are not...
 
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