Ok. My car hasn’t been running for about 3 weeks now, and I am getting very sick of not being able to drive it. I need to fix it.



So what I thought was a problem with the fuel system (I bought new injectors and FPR, but neither got the car running) is turning out to be an ignition problem. I have a very weak spark, even though I have new plugs and wires. This problem started shortly after I installed the direct fire, and kept getting worse until now the car doesn’t run.



I think that the coils are bad, but I think it could also maybe be a problem with the wiring. If I hook up the (+) terminals of the coils directly to the battery (+) the engine will start very quickly, but die very shortly after.



I have some pictures of the wiring; please tell me if I messed something up.





One of my leading igniters was toast so I used the trailing igniter in its place.





I used small spade connectors to plug the signal wires into the distributor. I used the heaviest shielded cable Radio Shack had to offer. I grounded the shielding to the igniter plate.





This is where I hooked up the positive wire for the coils. This is the black/ yellow wire that went to the (+) on the coils when it was stock.





My tach wasn’t working, even when the trailing ignition was working fine. This black wire with the gray shielding is the tach signal wire, isn’t it? I hooked it up to the (-) on the trailing coil.



If I screwed something up please tell me, I am no electrician. I think I might have gotten in over my head with this, but I’m sure I will get it running again someday (soon?)



Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Pm me on how you wired it. I also noticed that you relocated the trailing igniter.

 

Hopefully this will give everyone a better idea of how I wired it up.




I did relocate the trailing ignitor, is that bad? Should I have left it on the distributor?

 

Anybody know whats going on?

I ordered some Blaster 2 coils today, just for *****. They will be here thursday-friday so I will find out then if the wiring is bad or not.

With new coils, wires and plugs if I dont get a good spark it has to be the wiring... right?

 

If someone verifies that wiring diagram, and you've done it properly but still aren't getting spark, I'd suggest changing your battery cables.

When we changed the batt cables on Eric's car it made an AMAZING difference in spark and cranking.

Jon

 

The wiring looks okay.

Make sure that the plate that the ignitors are mounted to is grounded well. The ignitors usually get their ground through the base of the dizzy. Is the spark weak to all plugs? If so, I wouldn't think it is a coil issue. I mean you have three coils. What are the odds that all would be bad? You can measure the resistance across the + and - terminals to check them.

As far as the tach goes, there should be a YG wire in addition to the black shielded wire. Usually both tha YG wire and the black wire go in a blue spade connector that plugs on the trailing - terminal. The black and the YG eventually connect to the same spot at the ECU. There is another YG wire that goes to the trailing -. It goes to the C terminal of the trailing ignitor and the tach, I believe.

 

Ok, Ill hook up the yellow/green wire to the - on the trailing coil, but I still need a new trailing ignitor before the tach will work.

I am (well... was before the trailing ignitor died) getting spark at all 4 plugs, but it is a very weak spark.

I used 12gauge wire for the + on all the coils. Is that big enough? The first time I wired it I used 14 gauge and the car didnt start, but after upgrading to 12 it ran. Should I try a larger wire (10 gauge)?

I picked up a relay so that I could hook the (+) directly up to the battery. When I wired it that way before (but without the relay) the car started very quickly, but then died shortly after that. I figure that if I can get it to start, even if it still dosent run, its a step in the right direction.

 

The car seems to be cranking over just fine. Is there a way to test the battery cables to see if they are bad?

 

The 12ga. wire should be fine. If the spark is weak on all plugs, it must be a ground or power issue. Make sure that the plate that the ignitors are mounted on is grounded well. They need a good ground to fire the coils. If you conect the coils directly to the battery and it is still weak, it can't be the battery cable unless it is a bad connection between the battery cable and the battery post. Maybe take off the cables and clean them up if you haven't already.

 

The clamps on the battery are very new, but I will take them off and clean them anyways. Wackyracer told me that I wired the coils wrong, I am going out right now to rewire those bastards (hopefully for the last time)

Ill post as soon as I have some results.

Oh, and Ill throw a ground strap on the ignitor plate while im in there.

 

OK, well wiring it differently didnt do anything. Still getting a weak spark. Also, adding a ground strap from the ignitor plate didnt do anything.

oh, this is how I wired it this time.


I also tried using the (+) on the battery instead of the black/yellow wire as a power source.

 

Your soldering of the wire near the battery looks like it is a high resistance joint. The solder has not flowed. It would cause weak spark on all coils. Also you need to have the ability to flow 15 amps. The wire you are using looks too small for 3 coils.

Michael Smith

 

Yea, I thought that solder joint looked pretty bad too, but it dosent start even when that wire is connected directly to the battery.

 

Ok, speaking from experiance, CONNECTIONS ARE CRITICAL in this project. ESPECIALLY the one going from the pickups in the dizzy to the ignitors. I was getting good continuity through mine when I did my setup, by my car was running like ****. I finally tried different wire, same problem. Switched back to the original wire, and whaddya know, the damn thing smoothed out and ran better. I assume that it was just the bad connections along the way and I finally fixed it by soldering and resoldering everything when I switched the wires.

Heres the link to my install: https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showthread.php?t=188907
Heres Jeff20Bs website that I used to get all my information from: http://www.geocities.com/cd23c/dlidfis.html

~T.J.

 

Well, I guess Im going to rewire the ignitors from the distributor (again) and this time not use shielded cable. Also, I am going make sure all the connections are good this time.

Stupid shielded cable was a PITA anyway...

 

this is getting scary......I want to run a 3 coil setup on my car but I keep seeing so many problems pop up with other peoples cars......I don't know what I want now Dammit........
What about using 2nd gen RX7 coils????
I see that a lot to.....is there a better or worse????
what are some pros and cons of this setup vs. a 2nd gen coil setup???

 

2nd gen coil setup is "easier" than DLIDFIS because you only have one coil for leading (two outputs) and one coil for trailing (through dizzy). Simply take the 2nd gen ignitor off the coil, and hook up the first gen ignitor to the 2nd gen coil, voila. Possibly better spark than DLIDFIS also. If they perfect the "transistor trick" theyre talking about, you can get an even BETTER spark by using both the 2nd gen ignitor AND the 2nd gen coil, which would be the best way to go IMO.

If you go three coils, just be sure to make good connections, take your time and do it right, and it works fine

~T.J.

 

well, I still cant get the car running. **** direct fire right in the ***. I am switching back to the stock system asap.

Maybe ill get an MSD later on down the road.

I really wish I didnt cut out and throw away the stock harness...