Apparently my family's Rover had some distributor issues while I was at school, so I've spent the last couple weeks trying to get the new distributor hooked up. The previous one was the traditional mechanical variety, I had taken it in and out plenty of times in the past without a problem, the new one is a Pertronix D175510 Flame-Thrower which my Dad says uses more electrical signals/is different than the original (the mechanical vs. electrical thing could be irrelevant for all I know). We have had a lot of trouble getting it working and I was wondering if anyone else encountered anything out of the ordinary with this kind of distributor, everything that I have done in the past as far as setting the timing and compression doesn't seem to be working for this thing.
Distributor Frustration
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Hmmm,
You don't say what year but I wonder if the RRC's onboard computer is fighting with the Pertronix. Different eloectronics trying to find TDC or somesuch.
I had a load of trouble with the factory dissy and ignition after I rebuilt the engine. Almost 100% grounding I'll wager as I didn't put all the original earth wires back in. (Just dumb, I don't know...)
That issue was resolved by using the GM four wire ignitor and I've not had an issue since. Knock on wood, what's that smoke I smell;-))
You don't say what year but I wonder if the RRC's onboard computer is fighting with the Pertronix. Different eloectronics trying to find TDC or somesuch.
I had a load of trouble with the factory dissy and ignition after I rebuilt the engine. Almost 100% grounding I'll wager as I didn't put all the original earth wires back in. (Just dumb, I don't know...)
That issue was resolved by using the GM four wire ignitor and I've not had an issue since. Knock on wood, what's that smoke I smell;-))
The grounding is what I've been thinking the issue is. The original had a plug with a fat white wire that ran over to the left side of the car and split into a white grounding wire and white wire with a black stripe that connected to the 12 Volt coil. The new distributor just has a positive and negative wire from the coil and no place to plug in the original bundle.
To clarify more from my original post this is a 1993 model.
So far we have:
1. Taken out original distributor
2. Turned the engine until the #1 cylinder is in the firing position
3. Turned the new distributor so the arm is in position to fire the first cylinder
4. Turned the male connector at the bottom of the drive shaft for the distributor into position (I think this thing is for the oil pump?)
5. Put the distributor in, everything seemed to still line up, put the spark plugs and everything else together and then fired it up but had no success.
We've repeated these steps a few times now thinking we missed something in the process but we still can't figure out what it is.
To clarify more from my original post this is a 1993 model.
So far we have:
1. Taken out original distributor
2. Turned the engine until the #1 cylinder is in the firing position
3. Turned the new distributor so the arm is in position to fire the first cylinder
4. Turned the male connector at the bottom of the drive shaft for the distributor into position (I think this thing is for the oil pump?)
5. Put the distributor in, everything seemed to still line up, put the spark plugs and everything else together and then fired it up but had no success.
We've repeated these steps a few times now thinking we missed something in the process but we still can't figure out what it is.
I used to have one of these installed in my Rangie. The Pertronix works fine with the stock 3.9 14CUX system. However, you must use the Pertronix coil in place of the stock Bosch one, or at least one with the same specs as the Pertronix. Look on their website. Another caveat is that if you leave the ignition key powered on too long without starting (more than ten to twenty seconds) you will fry the coil and the Pertronix module in the distributor. That's how I ruined mine. You will then have to buy a new coil and pickup module for the distributor. I just switched to the stock and relocated the amplifier to the fender with the coil. Both setups work fine if they are installed correctly.
Is this GM ignitor you speak of an over-the-counter item in place of the Rover-specific item?
Yeah, it's a standard GM bit. There's a detailed explanation on another Rover site but I won't link lessers from here. Do a Google or Email me direct. It was a really simple and seemingly bulletproof conversion.
Hmm, at the risk of upsetting the mods here's ONE of the Google reponses....
http://www.roav.org/ForumsPro/viewtopic/t=493.html
Much appreciated. Thank you.
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:roll: Why would a link to information on another site upset a moderator? That comment makes no sense at all.
My 87 crapped out a couple weeks ago and since it just died and didn't sputter, spark was my suspect. Since my rig has an unknown past I decided to replace every ignition part I could (cheaply, as in under $100) get my hands on. I pulled a dizzy, the coil, and remote ICM bits and pieces from a junkyard 96 D1 and popped that in (after putting the piece on below the gear which drives the oil pump on the replacement dizzy). I pulled #1 plug and found tdc, then I just started the plug wires in firing order from the position of the rotor at tdc. I also did the GM 4 pin linked above, rig is now running great. Now I can use a $20 part from ANY parts store in the country should it fail.
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