I have had this electronic ignition since 2012.

I have posted my problems with this vehicle. I sudden loss in power, very sporadic. Good one day, then 500ft. and again a loss of power.
Everything has been replaced: plugs, leads, coil, fuel pump.

The car never actually stops, but speed drops from 35MPH to 5MPH, & the manual choke helps up to 8MPH. One can push the throttle right to the floor,
and the engine makes noise but does not climb any faster.

It's been suggested the electronic ignition could be the culprit, I'm going to reinstall points etc, sort of a backwards step.

Are there any tests for the electronic module?

Regards, David

 

Hello _ me again...


You can bench test these thing and it will work OK until you put a load on it.
There is no way that I know of to test the actual electronics inside.
Depending on your model you can get a new circuit board, but the ones that are sealed can't be replaced.
If you put the points back in and the problems go away, you can of course assume that the unit is faulty.


Have you simply tried by-passing the ignition switch and directly connecting 12 volts ?

 

1. ITS 12 VOLT , NEGATIVE GROUND.
2. MAKE SURE BATTERY IS CHARGING , CHECK VOLTAGE.
3. Make sure the coil was upgraded with no ballast resistor.
4. If all the other things were replaced and you go go back to points and its THE SAME.
When was the last time you filled up with gas, it sounds like a restriction of gas quite frankly .
If your choking it means you need more gas to hold the rpm or a vacuum leak.
The modern gas is killing the old cars.
Good luck.

 

How is the modern gas killing the old cars ?
The old gas had lead in it which accumulated as sludge.
When I did my engine the oil pan was chocked with it.

I find modern gas to be more refined and filtered then the old stuff ever was.
I have less varnish build up, if any.

I've never had any burnt valve problems either, at least on my Jag or 51 Bentley.

 

Intresting, how do you by pass the ignition switch? I will give that a try.

 

Modern gas around the globe for the most part is running 10 to 15 % ethanol. It turns to sugar in less than 30 days in the tank.
It eats away the old gaskets,float bowls , fuel lines and eats up junk in the tank, passing through the carbs......Unless he has an ignition switch issue which could be......
It sounds more gas restriction, starvation or just scaling from the tank.
Once you put the points back you will know.
P.S. did you clean the base of the breaker plate for a good ground?
The gas is a HUGE problem in the states.
Remember on the old jag and Bentley they are open air systems, not sealed like a fuel injected car, moisture gets drawn in the system and the break down begins.
Again a faulty coil when hot collapses doing the same effect.
The very CHEAP REPRO proper looking coils do not last , they are junk. A Standard brand coil and key switch solves ALOT of old british car issues....
Good luck
GTJOEY1314

 

The optronic unit will have a 12 volt source, weather that be positive or negative ground, coming from the ignition switch (key, not the push button).
You simply disconnect that and use the cars battery direct if you wish.


You will need a large alligator clip to attach onto the battery post off course and a smaller one for the unit.
Once connected, start the car right away, don't leave it connected in this fashion with out the car running.
When I get home tonight I will look at the wiring diagram when I get home if you need help


Personally I don't think that's the problem, but it should be eliminated from the equation.

 

Eh, Its running , I agree, electric would either run or die.
Ive seen the worst with bad fuel/petrol.
Good luck
GTJOEY

 

Interesting thing about the gas.
The Bentley is stored in a heated garage over the winter with fuel in the tank and I've never had any problems.
Maybe the gas here in Canada is different _ I don't know.
I know at some of the pumps, some say that it contains X amount ethanol.
Then Chevron has "Techron" that's supposed to clean the engine ???


Getting back to the OP's problem, of all the years experience that I've had when elusive things like this happen and all assume that it has to be a fuel problem, it always turns out to be ignition.
Very rarely is it a fuel problem.


Another poster with weird problems.
Back firing, lack of power, poor starting etc.
And some times it wouldn't start at all.


Checked valve timing (he just rebuilt the engine) ignition timing, firing order.
Substitute with a known working coil... etc...


I kept insisting that it was ignition.


Turns out that the drive gear on the distributor was missing the roll pin, but who checks for something like that _ it was a basket case.
And who removes the roll pin from the drive gear unless they intend to rebuild the distributor ?


The big Lucas coils that are used on the Bentley/Rolls Royce can work perfectly and then then they suddenly stop working.
They are 50+ years old though.


I still say it's his Optronics unit.
Had one in the Bentley and one day it just stopped working.
I had used Pertronix units before too, and they all eventually stopped working.
I will never trust these crumby after market ignitions again.


I used to drive an old Mazda B2200, it was almost 30 years old. It still had the original electronic ignition it _ Japanese electronics I guess.
They can make them reliable if they want, but the aftermarket Chinese stuff is dreadful, just like the coils you mentioned.

 

Could be my friend, try this....
1. Go back to the points, if its cleared up, the problem is solved.
2. This might sound strange , do you have a locking steering column with a key in the column.
I say it for a reason, The very cheap piece of junk called a series 2 and 3 etype ignition switch is plastic and the current runs hot through the back of the switch a REAL bad idea.
Many of the drivers have switched to a STANDARD switch, no more shorts at the ignition.
Its a 50 year old car, it could be billions of things, try the above its simple and wont cost the mint.
Good luck.
Curto redid mt triple su's 2 years ago with the NEW, NEW , NEW gaskets,jets and diaphrams to combat the new gas.
Mine collapsed internally from the new gas.
Just look up on line ethanol killing old cars.
There are 1 million articles.
Worse for my Model A and older cars with brass and copper parts as well.
Good luck.
GTJOEY1314

 

There may be a million articles on how bad ethanol damages cars, but I have never seen it as a problem in the 60-70s era cars I have run on it over the years. Gas tanks accumulate sludge/rust, fuel lines deteriorate over the years, and gaskets go bad regardless of the type of fuel. Perhaps Ethanol has a marginally worse effect, but I think age and fuel contaminants have a far greater impact.
You can blame it on ethanol- I blame it on age.
So yes- if you have an old car, and it has low or no usage, if you don't clean out the whole fuel system, you are likely to have problems. I had an issue with fuel starvation on a 1970 car with mechanical fuel injection. The issue came down to crud in the tank.

 

Older cars etc. that were not designed to use gas with ethanol can have many problems, read Jay Leno's comments:
Jay Leno hates ethanol | Autoweek

Besides eating fuel lines, seals, and castings etc., I have seen several motors have problems with the valves sticking in the guides causing them to not fully close at times and/or bending push rods! It is rather hard to diagnose , but should not be over looked.

If possible use ethanol free gas : Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada
or at least add a fuel stabilizer and a top-end lubricant (Marvel Mystery Oil or similar)

 

We have heard from everyone but dstjohn, If any of you go to GTJOEY.COM , you will see Jay did the forward to my first book FORD GT THE COMPLETE OWNERS EXPERIENCE.
So we know the problems of ethanol well.......
Hopefully his car is getting resolved.
GTJOEY1314

 

I get the impression that the OP had someone install the electronic unit for him and he doesn't know how to put the points back in and set the timing/gap, etc.
Or at least he's not comfortable doing it.


If this were my car and all this was going on, putting the old ignition back in would be one of the first things to do.

 

Yes, With Thanks for all the info. I'm planing to put back the old points etc, but the chap who installed the electronic unit has just told me that more items are removed from the distributor, condenser & points, rotor, I have but he didn't elaborate. So the car is sitting waiting.
It's starts easily, runs, I warmed it up for 20 min. rev. it up hard, no probs.
Water in fuel has been mentioned to me, so I've added the additive to 1/4 tank of petrol. Hope runs eternal.

 

When I put one of these Optronic kits in my Bentley the original breaker plate wasn't used, it came with its own custom one.

On a Daimler I am assuming that there is a vacuum advance diaphragm attached to the breaker plate, so the Optronic system would use that and not a custom plate.

So basically the "chopper" would be removed to expose the lobes again while the rotor would be retained.

You may have to retime the ignition.
Do you know how to do that ?
Which direction does the distributor turn on the Daimler V8 ?
I will need to know this if you want my help.

 

Thanks Jeff, I lot of that is "Greek" to me. breaker plate? coil direction?
All I know is the electronic silver box has three wires going to the distributor!
With these old cars one should be able to do somethings, but I'm rather limited.
I did change all the leads, new plugs, and new coil, but it's fairly simple, copy in & out.
I would have to talk to the mechanic who put in the system to answer those questions. Regards, David

 

You should read up on it, sounds like you have a mental block.
An old fashioned ignition system on a car is extremely simple.

The breaker plate is what you see when you remove the distributor that the old style points are mounted on.
The points are referred to as "breakers", so "breaker plate".

https://www.google.ca/search?q=distr...HZeFCiQQsAQIGg

And not coil direction, distributor direction or specifically, the rotor direction.
On the Jaguar, it turns counter clock wise.