924Board.org

jad73 · Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Posts: 71 Location: Maine

I believe my coil is giving off a very weak spark, so weak that most of the time, there is no spark at the plugs, but spark going into the cap. I replaced cap, rotor, and wires. I tried hooking up a new coil and that spark seemed very weak too. It was giving off an orange spark, and I believe normally its blue. Could a fault in the ignition module cause this? I really dont think its the coil, I've tried 3 of them. If it is the module, where can i get a cheap one quick, or is there any other module that is compatible, and if so, how would i hook it up?

Any ideas,

Thanks,
Jamie

dpw928 · Joined: 02 Nov 2002 Posts: 1860 Location: owasso, ok 74055

Jamie,

The ignition control module determines when the coil fires. If the spark is not erratic the module is probably alright. Look for low voltage to the coil. Is the resistor or resistor wire bad? Bad connection at the starter or ignition switch? What model year is your 924? That always helps since there were many changes through the years.

Dennis
_________________
81 931 5 sp
78 928 5 sp Silver
78 928 AT Euro Black

jad73 · Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Posts: 71 Location: Maine

what voltage should be going into the coil? What should be the resistance of that wire?

The car is a

1980 924
Dual Weber 40 DCOE
4 wheel Disc Brakes

dpw928 · Joined: 02 Nov 2002 Posts: 1860 Location: owasso, ok 74055

There should be two wires going to the 15 post on the coil. A 1 ohm wire from the ignition control unit and a 1.5 ohm wire from the starter. Not sure of the voltage but you should get around 6 to 9 volts from the 1.5 ohm wire from the starter during cranking and around 3 to 6 volts on the 1 ohm wire from the control unit with the key in the on position. If either are burned out you will get no voltage on that wire.

Dennis
_________________
81 931 5 sp
78 928 5 sp Silver
78 928 AT Euro Black

924ttrouble · Joined: 27 Feb 2003 Posts: 59 Location: Lacey, Washington

My question is, when you turn on the ignition key to on does all of your gauges cut off and then when you start to start it do all of them come back on??? I'm thinking I have a bad switch also.

jad73 · Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Posts: 71 Location: Maine

Nope mine doesnt do that. I am just not getting a very strong spark. I bought a MSD6a on ebay a few days ago.. Hopefully it will be here this afternoon, I'll let you know what happens tomorrow, if i get it today.

Jamie

Sleykin · Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2003 8:46 am Post subject:

FWIW My friend has a Jag XJ6 that was giving ignition troubles so rather then spend $300 on Jag parts we replaced everything but the pickup coil with Ford parts and it runs sweet. Much hotter spark and no more hot idle cutout problems.
The early ford Duraspark system is reportedly better than the MSD system and many after market units till you start getting beyond 7K on a V-8 which translates to 14K on a 4 banger. About $50 for new coil and module although we had extras lyinbg about we hooked up and used.

YMMV
_________________
Glenn Neff
Medford, OR
87' 924S

jad73 · Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Posts: 71 Location: Maine

The MSD I got from Ebay was bad... Figures, but I'm getting my money back for it. Plus I get to keep it, so I'm heaving it sent back to MSD to be repaired.. They said it would cost 15-55 to have it fixed, so I guess I will get out pretty cheap

Anyways, its going to take 8-10 days once they receive it, before I get it back.

I think I'm gonna pick up an old duraspark ignition from the local autozone. Its only lik 15 bucks, wont hurt to try I guess.

J

Sleykin · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2003 5:11 am Post subject:

You probably want the green or blue gromet unit. 2 Plugs and 6 wires. If you get the yellow gromet with 3 plugs you can vary the timing from inside with a pot attached to the extra 2 wires. I am doing that for my Bronco so I can adjust for altitude on the fly. It should work just fine for ya but you may need to get the coil and resistor too as they work with external resister and the coil needs to be the "for electronic ignition".
This is just from stuff I have read and we used an accell coil that was supposed to be the right replacement for a Ford coil. The Ford coil has pins on top instead of studs and nuts so it made it tough to hook up all the wires we wanted to.
Personally I think the OEM Porsche coil should work just fine but I do know there are electrical differences in the coils available.

Good Luck with it

Glenn
_________________
Glenn Neff
Medford, OR
87' 924S

jad73 · Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Posts: 71 Location: Maine

i picked up the blue grommet one, seems to be the most common. I have both the stock coil with the porsche and also an Accel Superstock coil. Well... wish me luck, im gonna try it tonight.

Sleykin · Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2003 3:57 pm Post subject:

Good luck.

Just keep an eye on the coil for temperature. if the coil is wrong for the app it will heat up fast.
Let us know how it works.
Glenn
_________________
Glenn Neff
Medford, OR
87' 924S

jad73 · Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Posts: 71 Location: Maine

Well, I got a spark, which was very weak, i removed my new wires and coil as they had a higher resistance values. I put on the old bosch coil and wires and the spark was better. I actually got a spark out of the plug wires, which i wasnt getting before. It was still pretty weak though. I couldnt get the car to fire at all, unless i sprayed ether in the carbs and even then it wasnt enough to keep it running. The coil did start to heat up, so i gave up for now. I'll probably just have to wait for my MSD to come back.