1. Home
  2. Jeep and Willys (new and old)
  3. Ignition Problem: Please Help

Ignition Problem: Please Help

I've got a 1973 CJ5 that has a Mallory Unilite distributor. It has been running pretty good but lately it has been really hard starting. I have to really crank and crank to get it to finally start. Well, today it decided not to start at all. I've started troubleshooting and think I have narrowed it down. This is what I know so far:

  1. I get electricity to the coil.
  2. Don't think it is the coil as I replaced it and no change.
  3. pulled the spark plug to look for a spark jumping the electrode and get nothing.

I get gas but don't get fire. Any suggestions of what I should look at. It seems like it started down this road gradually and now it decided to give it up all together.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Casey Teague

Reply to
Casey Teague
Loading thread data ...

a highly subjective and (non jeep related !) order of probability:

rotor dirty or worn (clean carefully and don't scratch it) bad HT lead from coil to distributor (use ohmmeter or borrow a mates) knackered capacitor/condenser (you can't test that without expensive equipment so replace it). bad Distributor cap (rusted terminals / cracked / carbon pickup broken off) (look for track marks inside) bad terminal connections at coil / burnt out secondary coil.

Dave Milne, Scotland '99 TJ 4.0 Sahara

Reply to
Dave Milne

Dead cap or rotor?

I would be looking for a spark out of the coil wire just to see. If the coil wire shoots sparks at the block, then cap and rotor, if not, then the trigger for the spark would be the next thing I would go for.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Casey Teague wrote:

Reply to
Mike Romain

I new I could count on this group to help me out. Thanks to all the people that responded to my 911 call. I have been troubleshooting all day and referencing the internet while on beer breaks. I had a few breaks too.

I think I have narrowed it down to the ignition module that houses the light that triggers the ignition. Jerry, you are kind of correct. The trigger is a light only it is infrared so you can't see it with the naked eye. I thought about trying to get some night vision from work to see if it was working but found a test on the internet instead. I think it has been dying a slow death lately and with me jacking with it yesterday I put the final nail in the coffin. Anyway, the test I performed was to take my multimeter and get a voltage reading off the negative post of the coil with the ignition in the run position. The voltage should be 12 volts. Then, take the distributor cap and rotor off and insert a credit card in between the infrared light beam. If working properly the voltage should drop to around

1 to 2 volts. If it is "open" then the voltage stays at 12. Well, mine stayed at 12. The web site I found said this is caused by a power spike. This makes sense because I was playing around with the power yesterday. Oooops, live and learn. I'll be ordering the module tonight. I'm just searching around for the best price now. So far I've found it for $90. I hope this is it.......I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again for responding. This ng has gotten me out of several jams.

Reply to
Casey Teague

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.