background:

I was doing a canyon run this past weekend and was driving the car in the 3-5K RPM for a 5 minute period. The car ran great the whole time until after the run was done.

As I was coasting on the freeway going home doing 60mph, the dash lights started to dim. and the radio shut off, and then turned back on. The engine itself stayed on.

I was thinking maybe the alternator was bad. But the car cruised as normal for another good 10 miles.

When I exited and pressed on the brakes, the cars engine shut off.

I started the engine immediately and it started to run with the assistance of the gas pedal being tapped everytime it was about to die.

I made it home this way by keeping the cars gas pedal tapped.

When I got home i inspected the engine for anything unusual and found what I thought could be the issue


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So the FC ignition coil bursted and all the guts came out.

I hooked back up the stock coil and thought the problem was fixed. The car still shut off after a few seconds of staying on.



THEN , I found a small hose had gotten loose and connected it back. SO I thought it was just a vacuum leak. Connected that back together and now the car stays on, but IDLES super LOW. and sounds like its gonna die any second.

The car starts like it should...but dies without gas assistance.

Also when I drive theres a lot of BACKFIRE during acceleration and deceleration.
Its like BRAP BRAP BRAP BRAPPPPPP.

 

could be the timing?

 

I will check it out, any other ideas.

I read about a decel solenoid, will check other things

 

Leading ignitor is my best guess. It probably fried when the coil did. Are you using the stock
ignitor? Where you using a ballast resistor wired up on that coil at all? You could try swapping
trailing for leading ignitor and using the stock coil to see if that fixes it. Then you know its the
ignitor. You can run without trailing, it won't hurt anything.

 

If the lights and radio went dead when you were coasting in gear, it's electrical. I'd suspect a bad connection on the battery leads or the "fusible link block."

If the coils aren't getting alternator voltage, the car will run crappy because the spark is considerably weaker.

 

That might be the issue. I didn't have a ballast resistor lined in. Wasn't even heatsinked.
And yes these are the stock J109.

But here's my question . Will the car start without leading plugs.

The car has no power which I believe to be running on 1 rotor.

Backfires a lot due to unburnt fuel?

 

Yes it will probably start on trailing only. What your describing sounds just like it may be running
on the trailing only.

Swap the ignitors to know for sure.

 

Thanks a bunch t g !
Swapped them. Car fired up. Still back firing slightly. Using the stock coils. The rpm didn't work though.

Just ordered a Chinese made J109.

I'm not sure if I'm up for a GM Hei set up yet.

Will probably grab another 2nd Gen coil. But not run the car so hard any more.

 

Its electrical alright, did you see the exploded coil picture? The lights and stuff
probably went out because the rpms got so low the alternator couldn't do its job.
Theres probably some shorts in the blown coil and/or ignitor in the circuit.

 

Sounds good. You'll burn it up again. I had the 2GDFIS setup previously and it
burned up my SA ignition box and ignitor. Thats why I ended up doing my ignition setup.
Wanted parts I could source anywhere in the US of A if I have a breakdown.

The J10X ignitors aren't made to have the amount of power sucked through them that the 2G
requires, so everything gets stressed.

 

Yeah I read the J10x ignitors cannot handle the coil power. But I had the set up for a few months and it ran fine. Just gotta stop driving like a douche.

I did read you have a GM/ford set up. How much do ford coils go for ?

 

Follow the link in my sig for TFIDFIS, all the details are there. New they go for $20.00
to $50.00. Off of F150 Ford trucks at the junkyard ~$6.00, just take a DVM with you
to make sure they are good. Same for the HEIs, almost free from the junkyard.

 

Proper heatsinking would probably have helped a lot, too.

Even if a semiconductor part (which is what ignitors are) can handle xx watts on spec, it has to be able to dump the heat somewhere - - all semiconductors heat up, because they they have residual resistance even when 'on.'

Running at higher RPMS doesn't increase the actual peak power handled, it increases the duty cycle of the part, which leaves less opportunity to dump heat between cycles.

If it ran fine at 3k RPM but slagged out at 5k under an extended run, all that changed is that it spent a higher % of time carrying current, which made it heat up faster because it couldn't dump the heat buildup fast enough.

Once the ignitor got hot enough, it slagged short, which in turn shorted your coil. This caused the coil to overheat, and also caused your voltage drop (due to the short) until the coil melted open.

Even the higher-rated HEI ignitors would need some kind of heat-sinking, I'd think, to really last well at the higher RPMs of a rotary.

 

Some great detailed info. I played that through my mind and it seemed like a "how it works " show.

 

Maybe I can ditch the J10X for a pair of HEI connected to a 2G coil

 

The heat sinking is key for any ignitor. Good description DD.

You can use the HEI to drive the second gen coil but you only need one for the leading.