Ignition 101

[emorth]

Recently, some club members have had issues with their ignition systems. After looking at some of the threads regarding ignition problems, there seems to be a lot of confusion, frustration and both good and bad information out there about how to make a spark. So, in an attempt to help this situation, I put together a brief tutorial on how an automotive ignition system works. It can be found here: http://www.capitallandcruiserclub.org/ignition.pdf

Please let me know if this is helpful or a waste of your time. Edits, comments, criticisms, condolences, rude gestures and obscene remarks are always welcome.

Ed

 

[Von Hayek]

Holy Christmas Ed, this is the most fantastic thing ever posted on our forum. If you get the itch, I would love to see more.

 

[Von Hayek]

Not only that, but it makes our website a real resource.

 

[Jakes40]

I like it Ed!
GREAT JOB!

 

[Devilmans Hand]

Looks good Ed

Request an examination of Toyota Ignitors and how they fail and how t repair or bypass them with more modern components, comparisons and benefits of the varieties of stock and aftermarket distributors, and maybe some field examples of diognosing problems. Throw in the little toyota FSM guy in there somewhere just for fun.

Any copyright problems putting in a few pages of the FSM for reference or would Toyota have issues with that?

 

[emorth]

Thanks for the Kudos!

Good idea DH. I will do some homework and put together some diag/repair/replacement info.

Does anyone have any dead ignitors that I can have for postmortem analysis to see if there is a common failure and/or failures that are fixable? If there is a lot of interest in this I could consider building an ignitor test box for the club.

I will avoid any potential FSM copyright issues. I suspect Toyota has a bigger legal staff than I do.

Any other requests?
Ed

 

[Devilmans Hand]

I had a broken one, then somehow repaired it. I want to say that the solder joints failed in the unit. I cleaned them with alcohol and reheated them. From what I remember there were a few cold joints. Same goes for the emissions "computer" under the dash.
I think user "coolerman" has or had a decent write up on the toyota Ignitors in the 40 series section but it was incomplete.

From what I remember the later model 40 and all 60 series coil/ignitor pairs have a burnout failsafe on the voltage supply side, like when the key is left in the on position.
I have a few different types of ignitors, but they should be working spares. Never could get the gm hei ignitor module to work in the 40 neither, but this would be a convenient fix if it worked.