mallory unilite not firing 2 cylinders... WTF??

this thing is frogging driving me nuts.

this cap has 2 clips that hold it on. one of the clips w*** messed up and had tape on it. this truck has a lot of things with "tape on it". I have broken it further and will replace it.. now I'm thinking that could have been the problem all along. we'll see.

all the compression was low. mostly 125 - 130 with a 120 or 2 thrown in. no plugs on a cold motor

 

Used to use a Mallory 4 lobe dual point on my race rats for years, never any trouble, then I got the 'unilite' deal, troublesome pos, always burn up the little lite thing at the worst times.

 

Count the little things in place of the lobes.Now throw it the f out and get a points one or hei.

 

Are you kidding me ? All this ****ing around and headscratching, baffled by a misfire - but the clip on the cap is broken and held on with tape.

Un****ingbelievable - gee I wonder what could be wrong

 

So when did this tape on the clip appear ? On the cap you put on ?
If wisdom of the HAMB is needed to figure out you have a problem because the cap is held on with tape and bubble gum , well......... You should have said there's " tape on the clip, should I get a new one ?

 

i tought we had a new cap? im so confused.

 

Maybe it was transparent scotch tape, and didnt see it at first

 

I have seen posts on here and other sites that getting a new part sometimes means going to the salvage yard.

 

if cap is damage peice missing it is the same as truble,i have peice missing on my engine (mallory cap) did not run on 1 cyl where the peice of cap missing would not fire on idle ,2000rpm was good,changed cap this was 10years ago still have not tuch ignition it will go8000rpm without missfire
ken sweden
ps ,i did have truble with grunding engine i could see spark hop from cap i daylight

 

The best i an do , is for you to send me the complete distributor and coil. I will test the parts the day i recieve them at no-charge.

Be glad to help on any mysterys out there.

Bubbas Hot Rod Shop
1330 Main street
Speedway Indiana 46224


Jim

 

The simple solution is ------fix it with a stock distributor like the owner wanted it in the first place.

 

Did you read the OP?

 

well Mr. ****ing know it all, the clip was holding the cap down tight, to tell you the truth I don't know what the tape was on there for. I replaced the clip and it made no difference.

thanks for your helpful opinions though.

my buddy used to work at Vic Hubbards Speed and Marine which is one of the few "speed shops" still in existance around here. He was saying they had troubles with the Unilites even when they were new. he suggested using a Pertronix or go back to the original dual points that were in the dizzy to begin with.

 

I don't doubt that you are correct about different control mods but in theory it really shouldn't care. It just loads and fires when the window flashes by.

49,
Did you OHM out the cap? I don't doubt that you have but it wouldn't hurt if you didn't to check each lug in the cap then check then with one lead against the cap and the other on the lug as well.

If your rotor is good it could be that there is either a short or a long in the cap itself.

OK I just noticed that you checked the cap.

This is sort of wimping out on ya but if you go over here and look around a bit you can get all sorts of info to trouble shoot the dizzy. There is even a tech on trouble shooting the module itself.

This may be helpful.

http://www.centuryperformance.com/

Just a thought.
Benno

Your other option is to send it here. I am no more intellegent than you are but I would be glad to give it the once over if you are tired of screwing with it.

 

From your fist post.
I put a cap on it, I don't know what the tape was on there for.
Post # 4
new cap, but I'll have a look anyways. I don't know what the tape was on there for.
Post #5
there are no obvious problems I could see I don't know what the tape was on there for.
Post # 19
this one has a regular style cap, Mallory part # 209M. just liketheoneI removed I don't know what the tape was on there for.
Post # 28
tested the unit as per the instructions I found on the net. removed cap and rotor, turned on the ignition and measured voltage at the ..... I don't know what the tape was on there for.
Post # 31
this cap has 2 clips that hold it on. one of the clips w*** messed up and had tape on it. this truck has a lot of things with "tape on it". I have broken it further and will replace it.. now I'm thinking that could have been the problem all along. we'll see. I don't know what the tape was on there for.
And your latest post

well Mr. ****ing know it all, the clip was holding the cap down tight, to tell you the truth I don't knowwhat the tape was on there for.


Hey if you want to call me names such as mister ****ing know it all, for actually reading what you are posting that's your prerogative, its a free country.
If you want to post that you don't know how the tape got in the new cap you put on that leaves many questions about your status on knowing doesnt it. Also leaves your definition of obvious to be revalued would it not. Perhaps also "to tell you the truth".
If you post over and over how you pulled the distributor, cap , moved plug wires but didn't see the tape on the old cap that leaves your eyesight in question doesn't it.
Im quite certain all this off and on of the cap held on with tape needed new tape after so many re sticks.
I don't need an explanation as to why you posted what you did, I know remember I'm mister know it all.

 

Don't get shook at least he is paying attention. Used to be you weren't a HAMBer until someone called you a name. *** hat used to be the name of choice most of the time.

Damn, I like good old name calling, it doesn't count as personal until someone says something bad about your mom. Personally I think you're all a bunch if whistle heads.

But that's just because I like ya.

 

Anyone running unilites, you need to run the Mallory inline voltage regulator/ filter p/n 29351, or you will eventually fry the distributor. Ive run unilites on multiple cars and never had an issue, performed well and were a good price. The price has raised on them since I bought one last.

As for a dual point with electronic conversion, Ive never run one. I can understand wanting to figure this out but the owner of the vehicle brought you a cobbled mess, Who installed the conversion, did it run correctly prior?
I'd swap in a known good distributor to save some headaches. Owners move from there, buy your known distributor or buy a new one.

 

does it have a ballast resistor?

 

When I ran a Unilite years ago I also bought the HyFire box that Mallory recomened to use with it. The HiFire box stepped the voltage down so the Unilite would live. I ran that Unilite for 8 years, only had problems with the rotors (it would eventually arc thru the rotor to the distributor shaft), but when it did that it would just quit running, I carried a couple of extra rotors just in case.

 

If you remove rotor see if you have a 6 cylinder one,count the pickup things.This will cut out 2 cylinder and will still run.LOOK
Then look" in side cap" see if any damage.

 

I'd bet you got a bad magnetic shutter where 2 cylinders that fire consecutively are involved. Word of warning unilites do not like voltage spikes so one wire alternators are not a good choise.

 

So, after all this b.s. , did you ever solve the problem???

dave

 

same here ...what was it ?

 

I had the same problem...look real hard for a crack, squeeze cap in your hand so as to flex it, look for crack. I saw mine at night when car was running you could see inside the cap thru the crack the spark is so bright . In the end I switched to MSD, better support by far, much easier to find any part at shops while on the road. MSD has kick *** complementary components also, timing computers, launch controls, programmable retard etc.

 

ended up dropping in a points distributor I had on the shelf from who knows where. runs fine, even with the old "tune up" in the distributor.