Xweb archives ROCK for timing! But... ignition woes in present day

JBStories

JBStories

Daily Driver
First, I want to thank the guys that posted 15 years ago about timing marks, where to find them on the 1500, and the secrets about accessing it via the RR wheel well. The N54 archive posts have been invaluable to me as I wanted to tune up ignition timing on my '81. Eric, Steve H, Ripley - thanks for what you wrote in 2001!

I thought I had things in pretty good shape tonight. My son and I put the timing light on the marks and tweaked the distributor to get as close as a jumpy needle at idle can get to 10 degrees BTDC. I tightened the bolt on the distributor and went to disconnect the induction light. As soon as I took the negative lead off the engine block my poor X just died, not to be restarted. I was powering the light off the positive lead of the coil.

It was getting dark so not a lot of time to troubleshoot. Full disclosure - I know just enough about ignitions to be dangerous. I'm wondering if I somehow shorted the coil. I was a little too indiscriminate where I put the negative connector on the engine.

Any suggestions for how to diagnose this? A problem solved with help from 2001 but now a new one in 2016! Life's a crazy circle.

Jason Ferguson
1981 X1/9, FI (Atlanta, GA)
 
Just a guess...

There is a double plug on the coil one of which is power to coil. I am guessing that you knocked that lug off when you pulled the clamp for timing light power off. I usually grab power off the Alt when timing... just FYI. Good luck!
Regards
 
Check this wire

Check this wire to the coil. It is easy to dislodge. It has a piggyback connector in the middle, so even when hanging loose it will not look like a disconnected wire. Without this connected, the engine will crank but never fire. I know this from experience.

86_coil_wire.jpg

86_coil_1.jpg
86_coil_2.jpg
 
That was it!

Yes.... one of the coil's connectors was loose. Put it back on and it started right up! Now I know - these things are prone to come loose when you play in that area. Now to figure out why the engine still isn't idling well. About once a minute it dips really low in RPMs, near a stall, hangs there for a few seconds and get back up to good speed. Hmmmm...
 
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