Pertronix should I throw it on a bonfire ??

Man I am really having issues with the Pertronix in my Edsel , I bought 2 of them a couple years ago for what I thought was a good deal at the time, but I must have got 2 different ones , I put 1 in my 1970 Torino wagon and the instructions said to remove the Ballast wire (which I still haven't found) and have a full 12V at the coil , I assumed (I know ass of you and me) the other one was the same ? so I did not wire a ballast into the car when I rewired the Edsel.
Well I only drove the Edsel about 10 miles and the coil cracked across the top spilling oil everywhere (it was the flame thrower coil) and stalled in the middle of a very busy intersection (edsels are very heavy cars to push), I hitched home a put the stock coil back in and was able to get her home.
I next installed a MSD blaster II coil that lasted about 5 minutes , now I think maybe the pick up is also burned ?? I found my box and it says it just a Pertronix (no II) and the instructions on that one say if I had a ballast to leave ? So my main question is WTF ?? do they actually sell one that you keep the ballast and one that doesn't ?? Everything I read online "ALL" said to use a straight 12 Volts to the coil But I think I messed it up.
I was thinking of switching to a Duraspark set up but I'm not sure how to wire one in, Do any of you know how to wire it in ? or have you done any vehicles with this set up ??
I know I got very long winded here but I want to drive this Damn Car and its really starting to Piss Me Off.

 

New pertronix units have a ballasted coil, so you can hook 12 volts directly to it. That's the setup I have on my Challenger, I removed the stock ballast and have run it a couple thousand miles with no issues at this point. I can't speak for the old Pertronix units, but if one says its a II and the other one doesn't say I would guess that its an older unit and that the older units had a non-ballasted coil (ie, leave the ballast on the car).

 

Sorry for your problems
I have 2 units on SBFs both run Petronix coils with no Ballest resistor. 15000 miles on one set up and about 12000 on the other. My guess and it is only a guess is that something is wrong with the wiring. Just run another 12 v wire from ign to the coil and see if that helps

 

Do a search, Pertronix and coils issues share a common thread (shit, a joke!).

 

I've got a bunch of miles on the pertronix in my coupe. I used an accel super coil for a while w/o ballest and now use one of the factory looking pertronix ones. I got it while fighting a grounding issue. I should note that the pertronix triggers a Mallory Hyfire box which fires the coil.

 

No issues with my Petronix, I run it through a Jacobs system with their coil.

 

Had one fail on a '69 Chevelle that was driven daily. It had < 10k miles on it. We yanked it and went back to points. The Pertronix (original design) really didn't make any noticeable improvement anyway.

Points seem to go for many miles without needing adjustment, or wearing out, and millions of cars got around just fine with points 40 years ago. I think the whole "need" for electronic ignition is WAY overstated in magazines, advertisements, etc. If you are gonna do it, go all the way and get some kind of HEI or CD ignition that will actually increase spark energy. Pertronix is just an electronic switch.

 

I run the pertronics in my T roadster withs a sbc. The first one lasted about 3000 miles. When I replaced it, the instructions with mine said you must use a ballast resistor. However the positive wire from the distributor must go to a full 12 volts, not to the positive side of the coil where the voltage is dropped because of the resistor. On the first one I had the + wire going to the coil. It never started quite right & before it went completely out, it caused a hesitation problem that I kept thing was in the carburetor. On the 2nd one where I ran the + wire to a full 12 volts, that problem went away. It starts instantly & runs better than ever now. I read in theur trouble shooting guide about this, They say it is the #1 cause of failure (low voltage). The wiring should be:
Keyed ign, to ballast resistor to + side of coil. Negative side of coil to the dist. & the positive wire from dist to a full 12 volts(on the front side of the resistor).

 

Don't fix what isn't broken. I agree that points work just fine.

 

I put one in my 55 with their coil, and it blew up also. I called Summit, they sent me a new coil and carb stack for free. I rewired it, no ballast and an old Accel coil, worked great, car never had so much spark. Still on the fence about durability with them. Put one in my buddies 69 Chevelle, another has one in a boat.

 

FWIW, I had one shit out on me in my '55 Fairlane. It was only about 3 months old. Went back to points and it ran great. I called them on it and they said they'd only honor the warranty with a sales receipt...my dumb ass didn't save it so I was out the $$$.

Learn from my mistake: Save your receipts with ALL electronics, from GPS units to Ignition components.

 

I put one on my 71 super bettle on problems yet.

 

There's one on my banger with resistor. Works fine. had to set idle back and lots more power.

 

Had a Pertronix (first series) in my girlfriend's '62 Star Chief's stock 389 with no complaints for about 7 months. She started noticing some issues (stalling, hesitation) about 2 weeks before the car was totalled. She was running the stock points coil and resistor wire, and the instructions explicitly told us to remove and replace the wire. Getting ready to take the engine out of the car this week, might do an autopsy on the ignition to see if it was the resistor wire. We ran the same conversion on a '64 Cadillac, keeping the points coil, and thought we had a noticeable difference once we changed the wire.

I'm running an ancient dual-point Accel in the '55 now, and my only complaint is the amount of advance it takes to keep that little 265 from sneezing under load. Blew out the air horn gasket yesterday, so now I have a carb to rebuild, too. Thinking the new engine will have a Unilite instead.

 

Do you have a alternator or generator? I intalled one on a truck with a generator and the damn thing wouldn't run right. Looked closer at the instructions and found that its not recommended for generators. I am not sure if they have fixed that yet.

 

From the Pertronix website - Support - Troubleshooting Tips (Ignitor) :

What type of coil can I use with the Ignitor&#8482;? How do I check my coils resistance? (12V negative ground only)

To determine if your systems coil is compatible with the Ignitor, some measurements should be taken prior to installation of the Ignitor. Caution&#8230; While performing this test, never leave the ignition switch on for more than 30 seconds at a time.
Set your voltmeter to a 15 or 20-volt scale. Attach an 18 or 20 AWG jumper wire from the negative coil terminal to an engine ground. Attach positive (red) lead of your voltmeter to the positive side of the coil, and the negative (black) lead to an engine ground. Turn the ignition switch to the run position. Now read the voltage at the positive coil terminal. Turn the ignition switch off. If the voltage measured is approximately 12 volts, no resistance wire is present. A typical resistance wire will provide 9 - 6 volts.
The next step is to determine the resistance in the primary ignition. Label the wires attached to the coil terminals and note their appropriate location. Make sure that the ignition switch is off and disconnect all wires from the coil. Adjust your meter to the lowest ohm scale. If you are using an analog style meter make sure to zero the needle.
Measure from the negative terminal to the positive terminal. Write your measurement down.
Now the maximum system amperage can be determined, divide your voltage measurement by your coil resistance measurement. This will give you the system current or amperage.
Four and six cylinder engines should not exceed 4 amps. Eight cylinder engines should not exceed 8 amps. If the total amperage in your system is higher than the amount recommended for your application, you should install a ballast resistor.


Example

Voltage 12
Resistance 1.5
12 / 1.5 = 8
Total amperage 8



That said, I run my Inline 6 with flamethrower 1.5 ohm coil and no ballast resistor for many thousands of miles and years now. The coil gets very wam, but not too hot.
If the coil is way too hot to the touch after running for a few minutes, you need a ballast resistor with the correct value.

 

Too much screwing around to be changing out a Pertronix on the rear mounted distributor on my 401 Nailhead when I'm on the road when it fails. I'd rather adjust points in my shop and know I'll be able to depend on 'em. Change 'em at 8-10k miles and fehgeddabotit.

 

Might try getting with GMCBubba here on the Hamb could build you a nice unit with readily available replacement parts.

 

I have them (Petronix) in four vehicles of mine and never had a problem, one even runs a generator, full 12 volts to all of them and two use Flamthrower coils while the other two have stock ones. I have heard of a few people having trouble with them and I always carry the old points in a baggy with me. The first one I installed was 15 years ago and it is still in the car, revs to 7000 without a hicup.

I know a lot of Ford guys like to run Duraspark dizzys so if that is the way you would like to go click on this link.

http://www.y-blocksforever.com/forums/Topic21100-3-1.aspx?Highlight=duraspark

 

If you have a GM car why not go with a HEI distributor and coil and stop f'in around. For Furd and Chryslers, why not use their version of HEI ignition?

I myself just use my CD system, works just great, both 6 and 12V. Makes them 6V cars start right up, even with a slow cranking speed. Good stuff.

 

I use them on everything. I have had 1 issue with a new unit, 1 with 30K on it. They replaced the 30K unit no charge. Can Not complane about that. Instead of guessing I contacted the Tech line on there web site. I answered a series of questions and resolved the issue right away. I recomend you do the same instead of getting second hand possibilitys and continuing to be un-happy. They are a grate Co. to deal with and stand behind there product 100 percent.
The Wizzard

 

I just read up on this from the Pertronix site. And because I am old and have forgotten how mine was wired.
Please note I am asking this, Not pointing fingers, But is it wired up correctly? by that I mean is the red wire going to the + side of the coil and the black wire going to the - side of the coil???

 

The earlier version uses a Ballast resistor, I have one in my GTO , have had it for 10 years now, no problems. I have heard though that some earlier versions require a 3 second wait before your initial start up. I'm happy with mine.........

 

Send it back directly to Pertronix in San Dimas CA they will repair or replace it no matter how long you may have it.

 

Thank's for all the great input guys , just double checked my wiring and all is correct, I think I might just take all the Pertronix II parts from my 1970 Squire and put them in my Edsel, and put points back in the wagon, My think here is that the Pertronix II has been in my wagon for about 10,000 miles but I still havent found and removed the resistor wire they say to remove and the car has a miss or rough Idle that goes away when I run a jumper wire straight to the battery.
I f it quite raining I well go try this swap and see what happens, Damn Edsel stalled outside with no hood on it and at over 4,000lbs I couldn't push it back in by myself, Of coarse yesterday it was sunny and nice so I wasn't very concerned about, I hate working in the rain.
Thanks agian guy's , I well post agian when it's running.

edsel

 

I don't like them cuz I can't test them on my old dist machine for doing recurves. Other than that they seem ok, but personally I'm a MSD fan

 

F.Y.I. Your Edsel does NOT have a resister wire in it. Edsel used a ceramic ballest resister just like Ford. My 59 Edsel has it's resister mounted just under the Wiper motor on the Firewall. If yours is a 57 or 58 it's mounted on the motor itself.
The Wizzard

 

First, if you have a problem in the future, please call our Tech Dept. at 909 599-5955, that's what we pay those guys for.
Now to help with your situation;
If your PerTronix is the Ignitor (not the Ignitor II) then it is important that you have the correct resistance coil / ballast resistor. The Ignitor needs at least 1.5 ohm resistance coil or you can burn it out. If you are using the proper Flame Thrower coil (1.5 Ohm) then you indeed want to remove the ballast resistor or resistor wire. In older Ford's the red wire to the coil + is a resistor wire internally, usually in the section under the dash. They are known to break down with age and cause voltage problems. That is why we recommend removing them and using our 1.5 ohm coil.

Now as for your Edsel, it sounds like the first problem was just plain and simple a bad coil, it happens, rare, but it does happen. When you installed the Blaster II coil you probably fried the Ignitor because that coil is only .7 Ohm.
As for the Blaster coil NOTHING in the Ignitor can cause a coil to fail, repeat NOTHING, it is merely a Hal effect trigger. If you blew up the Blaster II coil after 5 minutes and had blown the Flame Thrower after 10 miles, I think you have another problem, probably high voltage or a very poor engine ground that is causing spikes.

I am sending you a PM to return the Edsel Ignitor, I will replace it and the coil, even though the MSD coil would be the cause of the Ignitor to fry.
Don

 

The red wire needs to be a full 12 volts. If you have a ballast resistor, then you cannot connect the red wire to the + side of the coil. It will need to connect in front of the ballast resistor to get the full 12 volts.

 

I had a 289 and a 390 with Pertronix, I put about 60,000 miles on that 390 with the Pertronix. I swear by them.