Electrical coil change

[Steve Warman]

Hi All,

I've had a search through the archives but can't find anything to match.

I'm after some advice on getting my 90 back up and running.

We went down our allotment this morning and I, stupidly, thought I could change my coil over for a newish one I had just received.

My old one seemed to be leaking oil and I read somewhere on here that it shouldn't and thought it should be changed.

Having taken out the old one and connected up the new one the starter motor kicked in but no spark and no firing up.

I thought maybe the new coil was duff one so put my old one back, had the same problem.

Now the car won't start with either coil in having got me to the allotment and made me walk home to get the other car to pick up the Wife and son.

Now I'm definately in the dog house as I shouldn't have started to change things over when a) they were working before and b) we were not at home where it didn't matter if it failed to work afterwards.

My next course of action is to buy a new coil and leads this afternoon. Is that a wise set of actions?

Can someone also confirm that the fuel shutoff solenoid lead, red lead to my electronic dizzy should be going to the negative side of the coil?

Thanks

Steve

[Steve Warman]

Ok, after some advice from a neighbour who used to have a series and just sticks with disco's now.

I've checked the power to the coil and it's there and i have power coming out of the coil, just not getting to the dizzy.

My assumption is that the coil is fine but the lead to the dizzy has failed after disturbing it when initially changing the coils over.

I'l;l change this and see what happens.

[Steve Warman]

Well I couldn't get a new set of leads this afternoon so it's not moved yet.

Is there any way to check whether the lead from coil to dizzy is any good without putting a new lead in?

Any help is appreciated after having a pretty depressing day with the 90

[Retroanaconda]

Put a plug on the dizzy end of it, lay it on the block to earth it, and turn the engine over?

Should get a spark?

[errol209]

Can someone also confirm that the fuel shutoff solenoid lead, red lead to my electronic dizzy should be going to the negative side of the coil?

Er - an electronic distributor in a 1988 2.5P? Sounds like you have aftermarket thingy

You may (also) have a fault with the 12V side. The circuit should go: some kind of ignition feed (this is normally a white wire on a LR) goes to one spade terminal on the coil, and another wire goes from the other spade terminal on the coil to the spade terminal on the distributor (the stock wire colour is white with a black stripe). With the ignition on, see where you get 12V, but disconnect the distrubutor end first.

[Steve Warman]

Thanks errol,

The electronic dizzy is aftermarket but is just a change inside the dizzy to replace the points.

As mentioned I have power to the coil and coming out but it just doesn't get to the dizzy.

[errol209]

Thanks errol,

The electronic dizzy is aftermarket but is just a change inside the dizzy to replace the points.

As mentioned I have power to the coil and coming out but it just doesn't get to the dizzy.

In that case I would also try changing the 12V wire from coil to distributor, as you may have disturbed a bad connection.

[Paul Woodward]

Or your electronic dizzy has packed up.

Pull the ht lead from the coil out of the dist cap. Remove the lt wire that goes to the distributor from the coil (-ve terminal). Connect a length of wire to the coil -ve terminal. Turn on the ignition, touch the end of your length of wire on and off a earth point, you should get a spark from the ht lead coming from the coil. If you do it must be a distributor problem of some sort.

Sorry if i'm stating the obvious here!

[Steve Warman]

Thanks Paul.

I've managed to get the 90 home so I can run whatever tests I need to now.