RA23 ignition issues

[RA23GT]

Hi all,

My 23 just decided to fail to proceed. When it conked out the tacho dropped to zero so I suspect a low tension fault. When I check the coil source voltage I get about 3V to to +ve and a few 10ths to the neg. I am guessing it's not getting enough voltage to fire. I am sort of guessing here and would appreciate pointers to zero in on the fault.

If it is a LT fault what's next? Trace the wire route back and see when I get 12V??

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Kev

[RA23GT]

Hi could an admin delete the other duplicate thread please

[Javal]

From what you're saying it's clearly on the power side low tension circuit.

Just start checking for power, tracing it back.

Check at +ve terminal on coil
Check on BOTH sides of the ballast resistor, this can easily be at fault
Start tracing it back.
Can be an ignition switch problem as well.

[RA23GT]

Low volts at the coil, good at the ignition switch. Turns over fine. Coil and ballast are in spec. Might be switch.

How would it go if I ran a wire from the +ve off the battery straight to the +ve on the coil? Just to make sure that's the problem.

[Javal]

Low volts at the coil, good at the ignition switch. Turns over fine. Coil and ballast are in spec. Might be switch.

How would it go if I ran a wire from the +ve off the battery straight to the +ve on the coil? Just to make sure that's the problem.

Then you have a high resistance problem somewhere between the ign switch and coil.

Yes you could run B+ straight to the +ve terminal on the coil to confirm, i wouldn't do it for long. Old can style coils do not like running constantly at 12v.

[sheepers]

check the white wire that connects directly to the +Ive battery terminal.
it powers basically the whole car (except for the starter) and are almost always frayed/buggered in some way due to plain old being old.
could be your cause of lack of power?

sheepers

[ian]

i have the same intermittent problem with my 28
in my case, its the plug in loom behind the fuse panel
some times it will work for weeks on end, and then it will only run if the ignition key does not fully return
i give the harness a twist , and all is good again
i can fix it , but at the same time its a good anti theft system

[RA23GT]

Back from a work trip and taking the day off to check it all out. Will try all of these including cleaning the connectors from the ignition switch back. I have the whole dash out and the poor old girl looks tragic.

[GT1978]

My RA28 used to have ignition issues. Used to have to switch ignition on and off to get power through to the coil. Thought it was the switch on the back of the ignition but when I traced the voltage down the cable I found a previous owner had installed a low ampage kill switch in the line and its contacts had burned out. Replacement of the switch with something that could handle a decent ampage and it's worked fine since.

Glen

[RA23GT]

I thought I had it, replaced the ignition switch with a new one and she died again. Can someone point me in the right direction of what I need to check to trace this sucker down. Same symptoms, drives fine , the tacho goes to zero as the engine dies. I thought it was ignition switch as when it did it I cycles the key a few times and it would catch again, did this a couple of times and it caught for a bit but then died properly.

[RA23GT]

Well swapped out the coil with anew one, still no joy. Bridged the battery +ve to the coil and no joy either. Any tips on where to measure?

[GT1978]

One other thing that just popped into my head is the negative side of the coil. Is there a short holding it to ground somewhere? This could prevent the coil firing also. Especially since you basically ruled out a problem on the positive side by applying 12v directly to the terminal. Maybe disconnect the tacho line and check the line to the distributor is not staying grounded when rotating the engine by hand.

Glen

[ian]

does all the ignition lights go on when engine stops unexpectedly
if so get a short piece of electrical wire , and bridge it across the tops of the fuses with the ignition turned off
if the gauges and lights work then try and start it, if it starts and then stops when you remove the bridging wire it could mean something as simple as the engine fuse separating just under the metal cap , in all appearances the fuse looks fine , i have encountered this on a few occasions ,

[RAAAH23]

engine should crank with the fuse removed/broken but not fire. i think what ian is saying might be the answer to your problems. replace the fuse with the one from the lighter, smoking in these classics is simply not allowed

[RA23GT]

When it dies no warning lights come up. I thought the same so replaced the fuses. Will go through and check all the fuses as there are some down low in the engine bay as well (buggered if I know what they do but will check anyway). I will check if the ignition module is dodgy as well as I hadn't considered that, although when the engine dies like that not sure if that's the culprit or not. Still stumped