just like it says, how can i check my ignitor...im not really an electrician...my trailing coil needs to run tho...lol. advice?

 

Why does your trailing coil need to run? The trailing spark plugs barely do anything to begin with. Anyway, if your trailing igniter is out, your tach won't work. If the leading ignitor is out, your car will barely, if at all, move/run.

 

My leading ignitor was faulty, the car did run but spark broke down at anything over about 2500 rpm, this as you can imagine caused the car to run very rough. When trailing and leading were swaped the car revved through the entire range flawlessly but would not idle at all. Dont know if this helps but it might help diagnose, but you're right you do need your trailing coil.
Cheers Sue

 

There's a test methof involving lightbulbs and **** or a volt meter in the Haynes manual, but I think it sucks... The best way to test em is to have KNOWN GOOD mag pickups and coils handy.

You can substitute an old speaker for a mag pickup. A coil you can pick up at the local scrapper for VERY cheap.

Getting off topic here for a bit, does anyone know if the tach can be hooked to the leading ignitor easily? Once my car didn't start and I traced it to a dead magnetic pickup. Swapped em and it worked... So, either.

A.) My car was running on leading only and the tach is on leading for some odd reason.

B.) My car was running on trailing only fairly well, something that shouldn't be possible.

 

Is this what you're looking for:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/dom.martin/FSMpage05-32.bmp

It's in section 5 (Engine Electrical) page 32 of the factory service manual (FSM) which may be found here:

http://www.wankel.net/~krwright/cars/rx7/85_manual.html

 

Or you could try the fun way to test ignitors and coils. http://www.geocities.com/cd23c/test.html

 

my tachs running off the lead coil now...

 

Take them to a auto parts store they'll test them for free..

 

Agreed mezano

 

For real? Where? I thought they only test things like starters, batteries, and alternators.

ANd Jeff20B... That's where I got the speaker idea... I think things should be tested in as close to their original application as feasable.

 

which part's store can test them?

 

Build your own tester:

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...light=ignitors

Rich

 

I doubt there is a big box store (Autozone, Pepboys, etc) that will test the Mazda ignitors. Of course I could be wrong. Do as 64mgb suggests and build your own tester. It's simple, quick and you'll have a tester for the next time one goes bad, if ever. For the 3-4 years I had running 7's, not once did one ever go bad. I did get a parts car that had a bad trailing ignitor though.

 

faster way to check them, remove your spark plug clabe and see if spark coming out, if dont you have a bad ignitor, sometime they get rusted at the connection, remove it and cleaned with electrical spray, use electrical grease,

 

FYI: All carb'd and FI models 84-85 use the trailing ignitor to complete the fuel pump circuit. Without the trailing ignitor the fuel pump will not work, therfore the car will not start.

 

Pele, for limp home purposes if your car is a 84-85 and the trailing ignitor fails.
Take the blue connector off of the negative side of the trailing coil and connect it to the negative side(Spade connectors) of the leading coil. This will give you back your tach and complete the fuel pump circuit so you can get home.

 

Wow doc, talk about dragging up an old post! Since I only dealt with 7's up to '83 I wasn't aware that the 84-85' years used it to complete a circuit. What a horrible design issue. At least it is easily resolved with a few readily available electrical components.

 

LOL. Mazdaver dug it up asking the question about where to have ignitors tested. I didn't even look at the date before that and just started to post. That's funny. I'm sure that pele is very aware of the system by now.

 

Too funny. I figured since you were quoting my post which was a bit further back than the last post before Mazdaver applied CPR, you had looked at the date.

OT, it's funny that I haven't had a 7 for a bit over a year now (went to the dark side and bought an MkIII Supra) and I still get updates from rx7club. Don't get me wrong, I still love the 7's and occasionally review the site to keep up on what's happening in the rotary world. I even still go to local RX-7 meets....except in a car that has double the torque of the last 7 I owned.

 

i was searching this morning about rough idling and reading posts and this thread looked pretty informative. so, i did the ohio mandated 30 chest compressions and two breaths until this thread came back it just seemed too good to be true that a parts store could test a 25 year old mazda ignitor. it seems the best method of testing is to make my own tester.

 

Alot of the places like Napa have a machine that can test the Gm control units and that machine is able to test some of the import control units also. I could check with the local Napa and see what types are on their test sheet.

 

good thinking! i'm always up at napa getting parts. i really never thought to ask.

 

It was probably mentioned way up above, but you can always swap them around too and see if the car starts (assuming that is why you want to check the ignitors, the car isn't starting right now or has a very rough idle and no power).

 

Some igniter links:

http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/ignit...r-testing.html

http://www.teamfc3s.org/info/articles/demystifying.html

I was looking for a procedure that uses an ammeter that worked for me before but couldn't find it. It was quick and easy, not like the light bulb stuff.

 

Just unplug the ignitors and switch the plugs arounds. If the leading ignitor is bad the car won't run worth sh*#.