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2.0l Pinto not starting (Ballast Resistor??)
Mark&Alice - 16/12/03 at 11:34 AM

Dear all,

Hoping you can help.
We have built a MK Indy, using a 2.0l Pinto engine.

The has passed its MOT, and will be put in for its SVA as soon as I can sort this problem out....

To start the car, it need to be jump started. Even with a fully charged battery, the car is not starting.

I am guessing that this may have something to do with the ballast resistor (or lack of it)

The ignition is dizzy/points. The coil (new from Car Spares) said it had a ballast resistor.

The starter motor has a "spare" terminal marked "IGN".

I am guessing that I need to run a cable from the IGN terminal to somewhere on the coil? - Can someone please point me in the right direction on this?

Many Thanks
Mark

JoelP - 16/12/03 at 01:31 PM

are you sure it is a 9v coil you got? cos that would fit the symptoms, that the starter takes too much current to get a spark,and jumping it just helps keep the voltage up enough. under cranking it it uses the full 12 to cover what the startrer is using, during running it resists it to 9v.

theconrodkid - 16/12/03 at 04:53 PM

if you have a resisted coil it will missfire and burn out in a very short time,you dont need resisted ignition really so wire it straight and put a std 12v coil on

JoelP - 16/12/03 at 05:10 PM

conrod, do you mean ballast resistors arent needed at all? and is mine likely to include a resistor in the ignition module (its a 1.6 OHC), or does it not need one?

which ones have to have the correct length wire up to the coil? thanks

edit: or is it just with the 12v coils you dont need them?

[Edited on 16/12/03 by JoelP]

chrisg - 16/12/03 at 06:32 PM

The ballast resistor is a length of grey wire on Fords, It's a device to help with cold weather starting, Like Conrod says get a 12v coil and run a 12vfeed to it.

Cheers

Chris

theconrodkid - 16/12/03 at 07:19 PM

joel,if you got electronic ignition it wont have ballast,if you got points,dont worry about ballast just use a 12volt coil,they are another thing to go wrong and were invented when the earth was cold before global warming,you will need the right coil to go with your system tho

JoelP - 16/12/03 at 07:34 PM

sounds good to me. So i need to check if it is 9 or 12v at the mo, and swap it if not. Thanks!

theconrodkid - 16/12/03 at 07:43 PM

should say if its resisted,if not get part no and check that out.

Stu16v - 16/12/03 at 07:45 PM

So back to the problem....

quote:

To start the car, it need to be jump started. Even with a fully charged battery, the car is not starting.


Is the engine turning over OK, just not firing? Or is it sluggish/refuses to turn?

As Conrod says, sort the coil thing out, but I doubt this is the cause of your problem. But check the voltage to the coil, incase it has the ballast resistor included into the wiring.

Mark_and_Alice - 6/1/04 at 10:29 AM

Thanks for all your replies. Over Christmas we had a good look at the car and sorted the problem out....

The coil is a 6-9v coil. We had a clean and constant supply going to it from the main loom.

After much head scratching we traced the problem to a duff starter motor. It was taking far too much current, hence it would not turn the engine over using just one battery, but when you attach it to a running battery via jump leads it would start. We put in a new starter on sunday, and she fired up first time!

Pictures in the photo archive.

Thanks for all your help!
Mark


[Edited on 6/1/04 by Mark_and_Alice]