This is the weirdest problem I ever encountered...
I had the engine running rather well, except the CAS was turned far beyond it's adjustment range to get the ignition timing perfect. So my solution was simple: pull it, turn it a few teeth, get it back in. Seems logical, doesn't it?
Well, except nothing's logic on my car! I put the timing lamp on, but it doesn't work! First idea, it's not connected right. Checked, re-did the whole stuff, and so on. No result: no spark on any of the plugs. Of course you could think the ignition simply doesn't work. But with the engine at a steady 1300 rpm it seems highly unlikely that no plugs would fire... I had this problem before: engine runs steady, but only one plug (L1) fires, at least according to the timing light. Obviously, this is impossible. I'm rather sure all plugs fire, but the lamp doesn't seem to work. Strange thing is: when I put the light on the 626, it all works perfect. In other words: the lamp is perfectly allright :/
Did anyone had a problem like this? I use stock TII plug leads, which seem to work too: as the engine was running fine when I tested. It doesn't anymore, as now the ignition is probable way off by now. Not a major problem, but hard to fix if the lamp can't detect the sparks.

 

I suggest you to redo the electrical wiring in your car.

That might be the problem for your high idle and the test light(problem).

 

I do not see a problem with it running when only one leading plug works. My white fc with the blown waterseal starts up running on only one rotor, and the trailing are afaik not really needed for starting. When the second rotor starts to fire too the sound changes noticably, but the first few times it did this I didn't notice that the sound was not normal, only that the car had no power at all. So if your car runs but feels like it has only 3hp or so, it could be true that only one plug is firing.

 

No,no, it even "reads" no spark with the engine running! Or with the sparks out you can see them firing but not getting a flash on the lamp!?
The high idle is simple to explain: it's just a bit high with the idle screw screwed in too much. That's simple to solve, but I want the ignition perfect first, as the idle is really the last of the problems (right now). The Wolf 3D fires all coils, and I have no reason to believe it doesn't do so. As for 3hp: I can't (yet) drive the car, so there's no way to verify. It does rev freely when it runs. Since I'm using coilpacks, it seems uncommon to have only one leading spark.
It really seems as if the lamp can't "read" my engine!?

 

You could always try another lamp. Perhaps borrow one from a mechanic nearby.
Perhaps this has something to do with your problem?
http://www.miata.net/garage/tsb/s001_90.html

 

hmm, never heared about that one before. It's not my timing light, it's borrowed from Multirotor, so I'll have to ask him if he ever used it on FC's.

 

Never. Sounds like a good explanation.

 

oh man, why did I ever start something like this? I wish I had build a PP 12A. It'd be running for long now...

 

Bart,
I tried to remember when I last used my timing lamp.
That was on the red mushroom FD (before I was able to start it) and I got a similar problem.
Since the engine was running fine after replacing the fuel tank, I did not look into it further.
I believe you can't trust my (expensive) timing lamp.
Sorry for that but I was not aware of the info provided by Ariel.

 

Well, at least that is positive in such that I won't have to rip my car apart again. We're concentrating on building the garage right now, after that I'll re-start the Mariah project.
The problem of course remains that I can't "zero" out the CAS and get the timing setup properly. I assume with some fiddling I can get it running good enough to get to the dealer (about 4 km or something down the road). They are very helpfull, so I'm sure they'll let me do the correct timing there (they even borrowed us their car transporter to get the FC moved!)

 

Bart,
If the engine is running and the timing light is not functioning, the timing light must be defect, or not proberly connected.
Nothing weird about it, test it on any other car to see if its working there

@Ariel : i'm using the most cheapest timing lights i can get, it has a sensor clamped on the sparkplugwire so it does not matter what kind of ignition the motor has, it will always work But thanks for the info, i was not aware of those types of iginitions

 

Mireck, thanks for telling me, but I'm not that stupid : I do know that with the engine running, it must be something with the light. But the strange thing is: it's totally easy to "read" the 626, yet it refuses to see something on the RX-7. But since Wim had a simular problem with his "mushroom" FD, it might indeed be a timinglight problem. I just don't undestand why.

 

You got a disel!

Sorry.. just had to...

Seems strange. I had a coil fail in my car and it runs fine on just the leading one.

You seem to have a srange problem there, but try the light on another car and see if it works. Borrow like said before.

/ Magnus

 

Yeah, I thought I had a diesel too!
But like stated before the light works perfect on my 626... And on my fathers RX-7 (SA) for that matter.