After loosing 2 condensers, I went to a Pertronix II in my Y-block. It’s now been in 6 years and it’s worked flawless. I bought their coil and chose to continue with the stock ballast resister. I recently installed a SunTour retro style tachometer which works great and has the look I wanted but I’ve been reading on different threads here that units that fail and have tachs should remove them. I have no idea if any of the products that are newer have different ***embly or internals and there are readers here who have had Pertronix in there cars for 20+ years. Anyone want to venture a guess on what’s happening? Thanks
I have the Pertronix II and their matching coil in my 327 for over 10 years. (no ballast resistor) I also have the retro style tach (first gen) for almost as long. No problems whatsoever. Also, in a former life, I have installed literally hundreds of units in forklifts and industrial equipment with very few failures at all. I don't know if things have changed or not.
Maybe putting a diode in the tach feed line, so nothing from the tach could reach the Pertronix, would help the situation?
It has been a few years since I use a Pertronix but always byp***ed the resistor and never had a problem.
I recently converted my Merc to electronic ignition, best thing ever man, ****can those points boys, pertronix gets a [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106] from me Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I had one in my 1932 Pickup for 7 years and never experienced a problem, it worked flawless. But, I installed the very same thing in the 1954 Ford Ranch Wagon with a 302, I worked great until one hot day in July 2 years ago when it died and left me sitting in the only turn lane on a busy 5 O'Clock Wednesday traffic. Helpless feeling to be sitting there and the car will not crank, A Cable guy pulled up behind me and turned on his flashers and helped me push the car across 3 lanes of pissed off people blowing their horns and flipping me of for making them run a few minutes later getting home or to happy hour at the local bar. Long story short I got the ramp truck to pick me up and found the the coil wire had shorted out and burnt up the module. With us planning to go out of town that weekend I didn't have time to order the new module so I found a old original distributor I had in my swap meet parts and dropped it in place with a new set of points I already had in the tool box and I was ready to go bright and early Friday morning, I still am using the points distributor, I know if I have a problem with the points I can still get home. HRP
Willys CJ enthusiasts who actually take their machines out on the trail, always keep a set of points and tools in the toolbox if they have a Petronix ignition..
I have considered going to the Pertronix based on all the positives I have read about them. The biggest issue that keeps me from going that way is the fact that my Y-block runs so well with the points. And points have never left me on the side of the road in 43 years. Maybe I will cave in one day.
So did mine until the Chinese condensers failed.. if I hadn’t owned the Pertronix and known about the better micro-farad units I probably would still have the points.
I ´ve used Pertronix kits in all my cars that had to have their points replaced and some have been running for years , I never had one to fail on me yet. I keep a " good" set of points in the glove box, just n case...
I have 2 Pertronix units, each with a vintage SUN tach. (1 with a box, the other w/o a box)........combined 45 years operation.....no issues.
If you are using the original Pertronix unit what coil are you using? I have the Pertronix brand 1.5 ohm unit installed but would like to replace it with a unit that hopefully will not be prone to failure like the Pertronix coils. I have a spare module that I carry with me, I would keep the used coil as a back up. I thought at one time I saw a Bosch coil with 1.5 ohm resistance but I am unable to locate it now. Thanks!
I am not sure, I bought the one recommended by them on the phone. I live about 30 miles from them. After I received the parts and read the instructions AND the coil problems on the net I specially asked the tech I talked to, since you can choose or not to use the ballast resistor or resistor wire, what’s the draw back to using the resistor and would keeping it the circuit would there be less chance of a coil failure. He would not commit on anything except the voltage to the spark plugs would be lower using the resistor. I got the feeling he knew what’s written on the net and what people having failures say. At that time I choose to leave in the resistor. I’m running the unit on a 65 year old engine with 8 to 1 compression that got stranded twice by Chinese condensers. I wanted reliability which is what I’ve had for over 6 years. What I’m reading here now is failures that may or may not be related to the addition of an electronic tachometer and that’s the reason for the thread. My engine runs perfect, hasn’t missed a beat since the Pertonix unit was installed and the dual quads also. I’ve checked the plugs a few time and they look clean and good. The timing doesn’t jump around and stays where I first set it. Hope this helps.
Jimmy, I have had ignition failure due to a tachometer twice. The first was my 1966 F-100 with an FE when I was a senior in high school, 1991. The catch is, the truck had points. The second was Sturgis South Dakota 2004. The bike was a two year old Sportster with OEM Harley-Davidson electronic ignition. I have literally a dozen Pertronix units running around on our farm and none of them has ever given trouble. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Right now I am sorting out the new engine, (‘70 Boss 302)today I was driving the car after installing bigger jets in the front carburetor and the car quit. I pulled over and cranked it and it lit up but ran rough. I made it to a friends house and checked the Pertronix distributor and all looked good. The car fired again and I drove it about seven miles back to my shop. ( it ran great on the drive home) After looking at everything I first thought the module or coil took a dump, then I thought maybe vapor lock. It was 90 and humid today. The car runs at 160-170 Tonight I installed some heat insulator under the carb’s and rejeted the back carb, tomorrow I will drive it again. Hopefully it is not a ignition related issue, but with all the issues guys are having the possibility is always in the back of my mind.
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