[gto65conv]

Replaced 15 yr old Ignitor III due to periodic non start or cutting out at speed with new one, reused their brand coil. Now, intermittent start & die issue, otherwise runs well. Nothing else changed outside of the module. I haven't had much luck testing coil resistance, in the day a coil was either good/bad, didn't have intermittent problems. Ideas? 65 WS

[tom s]

I only use the original Pertronix made in the USA,have had no issues with them.FWIW,Tom

[locomotivebreath]

I went back to points and my original 68 coil . Runs excellent.

[b-man]

Points are your friend.

They’re not at all that maintenance intensive, so why not use them?

[VCho455]

Originally Posted by tom s

I only use the original Pertronix made in the USA,have had no issues with them.FWIW,Tom

I agree with this. Avoid the other versions they sell.

[VCho455]

Originally Posted by b-man

Points are your friend.

They’re not at all that maintenance intensive, so why not use them?

For me with a daily driver, the poor quality of points available today, make points not as reliable as they were back in the day. I do however keep a set with all the bits and screws in the glove box just in case the Pertronix fails.

[gto65conv]

I was replacing points annually due to pitting and hard starting using the correct resistor voltage. I've had this Pertronix in for years, quick starts, no complaints. In the day a start and die was a coil problem that never improved. I don't know anything about new coil architecture and whether it can intermittently fail. I'm going to look at the coil but I guarantee tomorrow it will run great until it doesn't. I'd rather not send china another $66 for a coil to rule it out but it might happen. I know I have 12V going to it, carefully replaced the module which seemed to cause the start/die issue?

[Formulas]

I have not run points since 1983, ... Can't say i miss them, .... Only time since 1983 i have been left not running is due to my own ignorance on my own property.. .. Hays stinger left it on when i went in the house and left power on for over an hour box was to hot to touch = no worky probably was in the right spot trying to produce a spark .... Mallory Unilite died after a compression test, I still had the wire going to the starter solenoid providing full battery voltage at cranking = my fault ... HEI? no failures to report..

[locomotivebreath]

When I went back to points , it was the 1st set I’ve ever owned or installed . I had to wire in a small delco resistor because I ordered the harness without it for the ignitor 3 that we also USA made . I’m impressed with them . I grew up with everything hei . So I got on eBay and ordered several NOS sets & condensers . Some are GM , some accel or blue streak . I’ve put about 3k miles on the first set and it’s flawless . The petronix just wouldn’t hold timing - like the dwell kept changing so I never had steady idle rpm . One day at a light , she just cut off . Fired right back up , but that was it for me .

[b-man]

I ran a stock points distributor with nothing more than a recurve kit sold by H-O Racing. Stock OEM used coil along with it.

I put 30k miles on it within a 5 year period as my daily driver (1999-2004) and checked and adjusted the dwell one time only slightly. All on the same set of points and spark plugs never an issue.

It was so reliable and always started with a flick of the key. Had a Ford solenoid and huge battery cables made from 2/0 welding cable, and a good used factory starter with a factory HO/Ram Air solenoid heat shield.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...22&postcount=4

[67drake]

After fighting timing issues on my LeMans, I ditched the Pertronix that the previous owner installed,and went back to points, no issues since.
I put Accel points in my original distributor when I rebuilt the GTO engine back in ‘08. They worked flawless till the car sat for a year back in’22-23 Put a new set in, and problem solved.

[steve25]

What I will post up I find a lot in electronic high end audio gear .
What I find is poor machine made crimp connections on the ends of premade cables.
I
In my photo of a good connector note how there’s the first crimp on the insulation that retains the wire to the connector.

Then there’s the crimp on the wire strand’s itself.

What find is that the first crimp is good , but the wire is not stripped long enough to make it into the second crimp with the result being an intermittent connection or no connection at all.

To get these type of terminals out of there holder you need a very sharp scribe to push in a tab that keeps the connector loaded onto its holder.

Note in my other photo the black mark on this fold out tab.

If you push it in too far when removing the terminal you can bend it back out with the tip of a Exacto knife or a single edge razor.

I hope this info might help with hard to pin down intermittent functions.

[Cliff R]

Points are your friend.

"They’re not at all that maintenance intensive, so why not use them?

Plus 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6!"

Pertronix bring NOTHING to the table here. Matter of fact I will NOT use them here and have ran into so many issues with them in recent years if any showed up here in a distributor I was asked to work on or vehicle brought here for custom tuning they were removed and I practiced my famous "hook shot" for the nearest trash can!.......

[grivera]

Originally Posted by steve25

What I will post up I find a lot in electronic high end audio gear .
What I find is poor machine made crimp connections on the ends of premade cables.
I
In my photo of a good connector note how there’s the first crimp on the insulation that retains the wire to the connector.

Then there’s the crimp on the wire strand’s itself.

What find is that the first crimp is good , but the wire is not stripped long enough to make it into the second crimp with the result being an intermittent connection or no connection at all.

+1 and not limited to audio and machine crimps. I recently installed a Walbro 340 lph pump in a Tanks Inc fuel tank and one of the terminals on the pump side was just loose enough that the wire pulled out. The crimp looked good too- would have sucked to chase down the issue after install if I hadn't noticed - Have to check everything!

[steve25]

Yes everything must be looked over.

[Formulajones]

I daily drive points and have been for decades. No reason to think they are unreliable and they certainly aren't maintenance intensive.
Gotta buy good points though, not the cheap chain store stuff.

Personally I've always used Accel. Nice solid contacts on them, and available in various tensions (I typically just run the 23 ouncers) and they last for years and years. In fact I have a couple cars here that still have the same set in them since the 80's. I even let a few people here talk me into changing a set in my daily driven Firebird that had a set in it since the late 90's. I race the car a lot and thought ok I'll do it before the next track day. Fresh set of Accel points a couple years ago along with a new cap and rotor and yeah, it ran THE SAME. ET and MPH didn't change. LOL

I toss a dwell meter on the points cars maybe once a year just to check, but they never change.

[gto65conv]

Resistance and voltage readings checked out so I broke down and called Pertronix who suggested I check the volts under load, ground coil and measure volts at coil. It was only 4 volts. I had combined the start and run terminals to get 12 volts. Replaced the ignition switch and got 12 volts. Put the top down for the first time in years (Florida) and went for ice cream. Thanks guys.

[steve25]

So your Ing switch was bad on both the start and run position is what you are saying?

[gto65conv]

Yes, I had jumped the run and start terminals on the switch years ago to eliminate the resistor and give it 12V. So, ignition on tested 12V @ coil. Per the troubleshooting below I only had about 3-4 V. Replaced the offshore ign switch with a used Delco and I get 12V per the test. I can tell you the jumper wire from the (-) terminal heats up quick. I've been chasing this intermittent problem for a while and replaced the module. End of story I hope.

"Perform a loaded voltage and ground test on a Pertronix Ignitor, ensure the ignition switch is off, connect a jumper wire from the coil's negative terminal to a good engine ground, and connect a voltmeter to the coil's positive terminal and a good engine ground. Turn the ignition switch on briefly to read the voltage, then turn it off. If the voltage is low, it could be due to poor connections, the ignition switch, or resistance in the wiring harness."

[kyle_blake]

I like points and if you'd like a little extra spark one could run a MSD 6AL box and use the points as a trigger. Easy to wire. If something happens to the capacitive discharge box you just run the coil wire back to coil. and remove the discharge box power wires from coil. on the road. better spark on the go. best of both worlds.