How do I know if my distributor pickup coil is bad?
Engine stalling One of the first symptoms of a bad ignition pickup is an engine that stalls. An old or failing ignition pickup may cut out signal intermittently, which may cause the engine to stall. The engine may suddenly just shut off, almost as if the key had been turned off.
How do you check a distributor pickup coil?
On distributors with the pickup separate from the module assembly, you can check the pickup using your Ohm meter. Connect the leads from your Ohm meter to the 2 leads of the pickup. If you show a resistance of 50 to 200 Ohms, the pickup is functioning correctly.
How do you test a trigger coil?
Connect the red (positive) lead of the multimeter to the outer, positive terminal of the ignition coil. Turn the reading dial on the multimeter to ohms to measure resistance of the primary pickup coil. (The Greek letter omega denotes ohms.)
How do I know if my HEI distributor is bad?
Bad HEI ignition distributors give off some warning signs that can be diagnosed by the vehicle owner.
- Engine Fails to Start.
- Plug Wire Engine Miss.
- Reduced Fuel Economy.
- Weak Spark.
- Electrical Arc and Shorts.
- Hard Starting.
- Smog Check Failure.
How do you check a Chevy distributor pickup coil?
Testing the GM HEI Distributor Check the rotor and the cap for excessive wear. Check the coil tower for excessive wear. Remove the top plastic cap on the distributor cap. Use an ohmmeter and check the coil positive terminal to the metal case of the coil.
How do you test a HEI distributor coil?
Connect an ohmmeter between the TACH and BAT terminals in the distributor cap. The primary coil resistance should be less than one ohm (zero or nearly zero). To check the coil secondary resistance, connect an ohmmeter between the rotor button and the BAT terminal.
How do I test my HEI distributor pickup?
To test the pickup coil, unhook the two terminals carefully, test each one to see that they’re not grounded by hooking one tester lead to the wire, the other to ground. There should be infinite resistance. Now check between both wires. There should be somewhere between .
Does an HEI distributor need a coil?
A predecessor system called “Unitized Ignition” was optional on 1972 and 1973 Pontiacs. Most—but not all—HEI systems have the ignition coil mounted in the distributor cap. A control module and magnetic pickup are mounted in the distributor, in place of a conventional ignition system’s breaker points and condenser.
How many volts does a GM HEI put out?
The HEI just uses 12 volts. If it’s wired like points it will work on 9 volts but has problems being consistent especially at higher RPMs. If this has the GM HEI module, a high speed miss is not uncommon, it’s just on it’s upper limit.
Do HEI distributors go bad?
99 percent of the time, in the large, coil in cap HEI’s, it ISN’T the module “just going bad”, or even “getting weak”. The real problem is the coil degrading gradually, failure process called “layer shorting”, which rarely causes the module to go way gradually.
Why is my distributor not getting spark?
A Bad Rotor Or Distributor Cap (cracks or carbon tracks that are allowing the spark to short to ground). Often the distributor cap is suspect. Consequently, It could short out the coil voltage and cause a faulty connection inside the terminal of the distributor cap. The result is a misfire in the spark plugs.
How do you check voltage on a distributor?
Unplug high tension wire from coil that goes to distributor and insert a short spark plug wire. 3. Turn the ignition on and check with test light or volt meter at the battery side of the coil to make sure you have proper voltage there.
How do you test a distributor rotor?
Switch on ignition, but do not crank the engine over. Hold the coil HT lead near the tip of the rotor, and flick the points open. You will get spark as the points open. If the spark jumps from the HT lead to the rotor, then the rotor is bad and is grounding the spark to the rotor drive shaft.