Volkswagen: Petronix Ignition Type 4 engine., high tension wires, voltage coils

Question
QUESTION: G'day,
I have a 1975 VW Kombi with a 1700 cc engine. I have just removed the distributor to replave the exisiting points system with a Petronix Igitor system. The system appeared to fit easially and I also changed out the exisiting Bosch coil with a Flame Thrower - sounds good! Unfortunatly the engine will not now start. I thought I might have got the dizzy 180 out, but also thought the engine should still fire. I guess the solution is to go through every thing and make sure connections etc are all good. What i thought was an easy retro fit has turned in to a disarster. Do you have any ideas, or at least some pointers on testing various cirutis etc.

Thanks for any help,

Regards,

Grhaam.


VW-Firing-Order   ANSWER: Graham,
  Here are some things I would check:
  The condenser is not used with the Ignitor, so if is still installed, remove it.
 Make sure the Ignitor magnetic sleeve is positioned correctly and fully inserted on the distributor shaft.  It is keyed just like the rotor it replaces and therefore has a very specific angular orientation.
 As you probably know, the Ignitor wires go RED to coil positive and BLACK to coil negative, simple as that.
 If all this checks out, it may be the coil.  I would try just putting the original coil back on.  Although the Ignitor is highly recommended for any application, high voltage coils are considered a waste of money aside from racing situations.
 Make sure you are getting +12VDC at the coil positive.  If not, you may have a bad connection back to the ignition switch.
 I don't know if you disconnected the high tension wires, but make sure you have the wires connected correctly, see the attached picture.
 If it still does not start, I would simply put a timing light on it to see if you are actually throwing spark.  If not, you may simply have gotten bad "new" parts.  I would put the old parts on to verify this.

Rick  


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks Rick,

I have just refitted the old system of points and old coil. First turn she started. I'm baffeled, must be a bad module, is there any way of testing it. If not I'll send it back to the States. Might try the new coil with the points, or will that burn the points.

Thanks and regards,

Graham.

Answer
Graham,
 Assuming everything was installed correctly, the only thing I can think of besides a bad product is maybe this particular Ignitor module throws the timing slightly off.  Once again, if it were mine I would simply check it with my timing light.  This would tell me everything I needed to know, i.e. if there was spark and if it was on time.

Rick