overheating JZGTE igniter

[brett_celicacoupe]

hi all,

ive had an intermittant issue with the engine missing. ive regapped the platinum plugs to 0.8mm and painted the coilpacks with epoxy resin to insulate the cracks they all have.

a while ago the engine got a miss which slowly progressed far enough to make the car undriveable. i had a spare 1JZ igniter which i loosely sat beside the air filter. i didnt mount it as i wanted to make sure that was the problem.

about 2 weeks later i start getting the same symptoms it would only happen after 10mins of driving. same deal for the original igniter.

the 1st igniter was mounted on top of the mastercylinder which was relatively close to the turbos and probably in a low air flow region. tonight im driving the car for about 10mins after stone cold and it starts missing big time, to the point where its undrivable. i pulled up, felt the igniter and it was basically untouchable! very hot. so i pulled the igniter as far foward as i could and closed the bonnet with it sitting in front of the radiator support.

2 hours later i leave my mates and nothing, no missing at all. i kept driving it around for about 1.5hours and it was fine.

the car really does heatsoak but bear in mind its 30+deg, high humidity and i have the AC going.

im basically wondering if anyone else has experienced this or its just a hardware problem? 2 igniter failures is a bit suspect though.

im guessing ill just have to mount the igniter out front somewhere

[thechuckster]

don't these need a good earth (e.g. well attached to chassis) to work well? or is that earlier bits of hardware?

[CrUZida]

I think the JZ ones earth through the wiring, not the body of the ignitor.

That said, I'd still bolt it to something to aid in heat dissipation, and perhaps stick some CPU heat sinks on it too?

Its also possible that you have a wiring issue, because I've never seen or touched an ignitor that was burning hot.

[CrUZida]

Oh, I also know all about how hot the engine bay of a Z10 can get. And my extractors are HPC coated.
I don't know if the MA61 suffers with the heat as much, or if its just a bad design with the grille?

[JustCallMeOrlando]

Is the undertray on underneath the engine? You'd be surprised how much of a difference to bay temps that's supposed to make.

[jak]

check the wires going to each coilpack, and make sure there not arcing on any bits of metal, which will cause it to fry the ignitor. we had the same problem basically.

on the ignitor board, it has 6 chips (1 per cylinder) we had 4 burnt out.

but it sounds like its just overheating.

Jak

[brett_celicacoupe]

I think the JZ ones earth through the wiring, not the body of the ignitor.

That said, I'd still bolt it to something to aid in heat dissipation, and perhaps stick some CPU heat sinks on it too?

Its also possible that you have a wiring issue, because I've never seen or touched an ignitor that was burning hot.

i wouldnt think a heatsink would work as the air floating around in the engine bay is roasting hot. all it would do is warm up the igniter faster there is nothing cool to sink the heat into.

wiring could be an issue but it doesnt explain why it worked for 1.5hours while sitting in front of the radiator support, in cool air.

another point ill make is that when i was checking something down beside the turbos, the intake pipe between the air filter and T piece was hot enough to burn me. the igniter was pretty much sitting beside this so its not suprising it was the same temperature.

Is the undertray on underneath the engine? You'd be surprised how much of a difference to bay temps that's supposed to make.

i had the under-engine cover on for a while but it didnt improve things. what it really does need is the cover between the front bumper and the chassis. after a couple mins at 100k, the temperature goes up one bar.

im pretty sure the air is going through the windows in the bumper and then down, out the hole instead of through the radiator(s).

[EldarO]

my ignitor is sitting inside my passenger side guard, has been for nearly 2 months, never had an issue.

[Sciflyer]

Overheating ignitors was a known issue on early Z30 Soarers which had a cover over them, the cover was removed on later ones for better cooling.

I used a bit of heatsink compound around the bolts/contact points on mine as a precaution

[wilbo666]

As a note the 2JZ has the igniter on the hotter turbo side, as opposed to 1jz which has it on the passenger side...

Cheers
Wilbo

[brett_celicacoupe]

i just took the car for another drive in the 30+deg heat... no problems whatsoever. the igniter is still sitting out the front of the radiator support and isnt very hot, maybe 40deg.

so ill just have to extend a couple wires and mount the igniter beside the horn.

[Draven]

As a note the 2JZ has the igniter on the hotter turbo side, as opposed to 1jz which has it on the passenger side...

Cheers
Wilbo

and the 2jz-gte vvti has it on the cool side again

[cambelt]

Yeah but toyota really cheaped out on the VVti 3 channel ignition verse the non VVTi 6 channel.
At least if you lose a channel on a non VVti you still run on 5 cyl.
Dave