So, I have a bit of strange issue. Now I'm well aware that the J109 ignitors aren't all that good so luckily I have a handful to work with. I have an issue that I think is the ignitors but I could be wrong. This is why.

Background Info;

Symptom 1. The car has backfired a ton as long as I've had it. Symptom 2. When I pull out the plug off the trailing ignitor the car dies. Symptom 3. The tach just stopped working.

Now, this is why I'm skeptical of my diagnosis. When the trailing ignitor kicks it the fuel pump is supposed to not receive power, but it's humming away like nothing is wrong. However the car runs and idles fine but then the tach just decided to stop working. So, I did some investigating and knowing that the leading ignitor works fine I swapped the leading into the trailing spot and put one of my spares into the leading spot. Fired the car back up and have the same issue still. I know the original leading ignitor works, so could it be that the female connector on the crank angle sensor is messed up? I'm just stumped. Any help is appreciated.

, Simon

 

I think your problem is using a crank angle sensor where a distributor would be more helpful.

 

Haha I was hoping you'd pipe up actually. I need to convert it over to a distributor I know. Could the CAS be my issue?

 

Yep. The J-109 stops working when you feed it as many pulses per rotation as the CAS puts out. The CAS puts out one pulse every 30 degrees engine rotation. The distributor does one pulse every 180 degrees. Big difference. Either get a better ignitor or get a distributor.

 

Cool, thanks man. I have a spare CAS so I'll throw that in for the meantime and go the distributor route fairly soon.

 

Something doesn't add up. Why are you using a CAS instead of a distributor in the first place? Custom setup or something?

 

Ohhhhhhhhh wow I'm such an idiot. I totally got it all mixed up. Yes, my FB just has a stock ignition system with a distributor, no it doesn't have a crank angle sensor. I'm just so used to my FC, and was fairly drunk last night. Sorry for the mixup.

 

So it is a possibility that the distributor is messed up?

 

might not be timed properly. any chance you pulled it out at some point?

 

It ended up being a super simple fix although very embarrassing, it ended up being the connector that powers one of the coil packs, I can't remember which off the top of my head. Anyways, problem solved.