I'm sure somebody is busily tapping right now with a long explanation of
"carry a whole dizzy ready to plug in".
I will have to remember the plate idea. I've been running with no backup for
years. Now that you've mentioned it, for sure the car will drop dead
somewhere dark and damp as soon as Spring comes and it stops being dark and
cold.
Mark
-----Original Message-----
From: BigOldWumper@aol.com [mailto:BigOldWumper@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2004 5:14 PM
To: 6pack@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Pertronix Ignitor ignition (on dark road in middle of
nowhere)
"Since the ignition will likely fail in the middle of a dark road, possibly
in the rain"
This is EXACTLY what happened to me. The Pertronix was one of the first
"upgrades" I put on my car when I first got it. After installing the Ignitor
and my
brand new carpeting and interior set, I set out for a drive on a nice, sunny
day, but not before removing the hard top to take in some rays. Well, to
make
a long story short, the car sputtered out and died on the side of the road
about 2 miles from my house on the way back from my little trip. I'd be out
for a
couple hours, and hadn't had any problems up to that point, but my first
inclination was to check the Pertronix. I remove the distributor cap, and
guess
what? The rotor had eaten up the wires! It had completely spun the wires
from
the Ignitor around itself and snapped the wires out from the module. I had
been
sure to give the wires on the module just enough slack inside the
distributor
cap so as to not cause undue tension on the module, just as the installation
instructions from Pertronix had said. Evidently, when writing the
instructions,
Pertronix had not considered the possibly that the extra "slack" might get
twisted up by the rotor! Anyway, I call a pick up truck, and within 5
minutes it
starts raining. Within 10 it's pouring, and after 30 minutes I'm still
waiting for the pickup truck; just sitting there, on the side of the road,
my new
carpting pooling up with rainwater. This was all about a year and a half
ago...I
wonder if I can still get a refund from Pertronix?? Anyway, needless to say,
I can't really endorse this product. BUT, NO MATTER WHAT, always carry a
spare
set of points!!! I learned that the hard way.
-Sean
In a message dated 2/12/2004 11:27:12 PM Pacific Standard Time, plz@shaw.ca
writes:
I thought I'd point out something that could be useful if one does need to
resort to the spare points due to Pertronix (or other electronic ignition
system) failure. In addition to the items listed above, it's a good idea to
have all the spare items attached to a spare distributor plate. That way,
your points are ready to just plug 'n' play so to speak, with the adjustment
already pre-done. Since the ignition will likely fail in the middle of a
dark road, possibly in the rain, it will be easier to replace the faulty
parts with the good ole points if all you have to do is swap plates.
Peter Zaborski -- CF58310 UO
(with Pertronix installed and a spare dist. plate with points pre-mounted in
the glove box)
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