How much voltage should be showing on the ground wire coming out of the coil?

If I have this right, you have 12v going in the coil, then going through the igniter, then back out the coil through the ground wire. Is that right?

I guess I just need some ways to check the igniters and see if theyre good.
The FSM has a proceudre but you have to use the Mazda "Igniter checker"...
Someone said I should just run 12v in, and ground it for a second and see if I get a spark through the plug wire...

 

bump?

 

sorry mistake

 

Ok...does anyone know how to test an igniter?

 

no idea on the igniter.

just don't test the coil itself. that is about 50 000volts

 

Couldn't you just use a timing light to make sure everything is working?

I know you can wiggle off the coil end of the plug wire and see the sparks JUMP 2-3" and still have a smooth running engine.

They ARE around 50k volts, but the amperage is VERY low, so a shock won't kill you. BUT 12V from the BATTERY is quite dangerous cuz I think it's in excess of 1.5 amps!

 

One stupid mistake I made one time was to try to reattatch a sparkplug wire to the sparkplug while holding the hood open with my other arm. Sounded kinda like "Zzzt Zzzt Zzzt *AUGH $*@%!! *slam* AHHHHH

Damn ford probes anyway. Then again that car ran damn good for 256k miles and running on 3 cylinders for 2 weeks.

 

to answer your question, why can't you take out the spark plug and wire and hook up the sparkplug to the wire outside of the engine. You'll know if you're sparking or not.

 

I know its not sparking. Ive taken the plug and laid it across the frame and it doesnt spark.

Ive tested the coil, but not the igniter. Im 99.99999% sure my igniter is fried ( it was wired up wrong during the haltech install ), but I just wanted a way to test it to be 100% sure.

 

Since the coils have 12v going in to them ( I checked it with a multi meter ) can I just ground the other little nut next to the tan 12v+ nut and see if it sparks? Or do I need to do something else...

 

I'm not sure-- but if the output of the ignitor is only 12v, grounding the posetive will spark, but break the fuse too. Where as the coil output is unmonitored and well... makes sparks obviously

 

Adam I have a couple sets of coils laying around if ya wanna run up here and grab one to borrow to test. If that's the problem you can have it for $10. Just gotta make sure I have a spare to keep before I go selling it though.

 

I would defnintely come up there and grab it...but just so you know, ir order for me to "test" it, I have to splice Haltech wiring into the harness...

If its only $10, Ill just buy it from you either way.

 

I've got one leading I used to wire in a Crane box that's already had the wires cut. Give me a call before 9pm whenever you want to come up. 502-592-8065

Chris

 

Do you have a trailing coil pack? Thats where my problem is. Sorry I didnt specify earlier.

 

Yeah. Bunches. Bring your shopping cart. I got lots of crap. Most of it is just that though.

 

Adam
The ignitors have a diode in them so with the multi-meter you can test the resistance: one way=6.2M ohms, other way=OFL. (this is for 1st gen ignitors but im sure 2nd gen ones are similar. Im not sure what wires they are on the trailing (I run 1st gen distributor) but ill look and get back to you.

As for the coils, you can test primary to secondary and get OFL (they're not like a conventional oil filled coil wich would have 4 to 9k ohms), primary to primary youll get around 7 ohms.

I hope this helps you.

Matt