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AQ125a Coil Voltage Question

J

jcampbell

Regular Contributor
I have an 85' Volvo AQ125a engine. I installed a pertronix kit cause the points were burnt. Before i started the wire running to the points was getting 12v. Now the wire running to the pertronix kit is at like 2.5volts.

There are 2 purple wires running in the engine harness one runs to the +12 on the coil and a second wire runs from the dash runs to the pertronx kit.

What i am going to do is run the wire to the coil and by pass that second wire running to the distributer and see.

I was wondering any ideas before i try it in the morning.

Should i just run it off the coil or use that second wire.

The coil does not have a ballast resistor on it, it reads 3.5ohms resistance on my meter.

Thanks
 
Have you read the instructions? The installation is pretty straightforward.

http://www.pertronix.com/support/manuals/pdf/ignitor12vneg.pdf

When you had the points installed, there were probably two purple wires going to the + of the coil: one comes from the ignition switch, and the other is for the alternator field coil excitation (if you have a brushless alternator). Those two wires must still remain attached to the + of the coil whe you install the Pertronix kit. And on the - side of the coil you had two wires: one grey going to the tachometer and one black going to the points. You just have to remove the black one, but leave the grey attached to the - of the coil. Then, connect the red wire from the Pertronix kit to the + of the coil and the black wire to the - of the coil, and you are done.
 
Here is how it looked.

The coil had 2 wires running to it. 1 12v+ Purple wire from ignition switch and a grey -12v wire running to the tach, nothing else.

There was another purple wire running to the points connector in the front of the distrib, that i traced back to the helm somewhere. It went purple wire then to the plug connector it changed to a grey/red striped wire.
 
If you look at the operator's manual for your engine

http://vppneuapps.volvo.com/ww/PIE/...T403&d=OwnersPublication&s=5289896&lang=en-GB

you will see in pages 19 & 20 the wiring diagram that there is only one purple wire (again, two if you have a brushless alternator) going to the + of the coil and two wires to the -: one goes to the points (could be also purple) and one grey to the tachometer. Once you locate them, just follow the instructions I posted on my previous message.
 
I see the wiring diagram and i can say that is not how it is hooked up lol.

the wire that would run from the points to the coil runs to the helm somewhere. Cause there is only 1 wire running to the - on the coil and it goes to the tach. So what i am going to do is run the pertronix wires direct to the coil like it shoulda been in the first place. I have the negative hooked up to the coil just not the positive cause the wire that was origianlly running to the points read +12v
 
Well i reconnected the pertronx kit. I ran the black wire to the - of the coil and the red wire to the + of the coil, i now get ~11. volts to the coil. to the pertronix kit. Still no fire.

The battery was around 70 percent on the charger guage, and it started raining. Plus i had to sop water out of the intake, after the surprise rain and leaky cover

Also totally forgot to mention the distributer was removed, the screw that holds the condensor on was blocked. Good thing it was removed that o-ring seen better days. It was put back in the same direction and the kit was installed right verifyed by a mechanic friend who took it out. Also gave me the oppertunity to grease the advance weights.
 
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jcampbell, you may first want to determine if there is spark coming from the coil when cranking the engine. If yes, then probably the distributor needs to be repositioned. You may also want to verify that the ignition leads go to the correct spark plugs.

Make sure that you have introduced the Pertronix sleeve in the correct position in the distributor shaft, and that the gap between the sleeve and the module is correct.
 
Well after some fiddling rehooking up. It turned over i got spark coming out the sparkplugs by holding the plug on the valve cover it sparked. Unfortunatly i couldnt find my spark tester.

Then after rotating the distributer some i got it to kinda fire but couldnt stay running like it was starving for fuel. So i hooked the timing light up to the engine and cranked it and i think it was at 20deg which is way off. So i set the distrib by rotating not removing back to where it was when i initially put it back and now the timing light wont fire, hopefully i didnt burn the bulb out, or i pulled a wire on my pertronix kit.

With the magnet i put it on and twisted it untill it felt like it hit in a groove is that correct? and also when i went to gap it with the peice of plastic they give you it was at the end of its room it has to adjust the gap.
 
Some updates:

Longest i got the engine to run was 3 seconds and it back fired out the carb well actually it didnt back fire, more caught on fire. That was after taking the carb off and cleaning it. IT acts like it wants to start, and floods out real easy i had to sop out the intake a couple times. Gonna give it another go before i take it into the shop and have it re indexed and timed properly.
 
It was still popping through the carb was able to get a hadn on checking the timing, timing read ~15 deg where it was origianlly set when i first took it out. I twisted the distributer counter clock wise and it now reads between 5-10deg hard to see with a timing light that flashes the same color light as the timing mark. My guess is between 5-8deg, doesnt seem 10 doesnt seem 5. Unfortunatly my float bowl emptied and i ran out of fuel in the jerry can, with the new setting it didnt seem like it wanted to back fire even with no fuel it would still pop out a puff of air, it didnt do that this time. So lets hope it starts.

Then i got to get a fuel pump and pump the gas tank out god knows how old that gas is. When i end a season i dont empty it out like i should so gas carrys over from season to season. :rolleyes: I know bad on me.
 
jcampbell said:
It was still popping through the carb was able to get a hadn on checking the timing, timing read ~15 deg where it was origianlly set when i first took it out. I twisted the distributer counter clock wise and it now reads between 5-10deg hard to see with a timing light that flashes the same color light as the timing mark. My guess is between 5-8deg, doesnt seem 10 doesnt seem 5. Unfortunatly my float bowl emptied and i ran out of fuel in the jerry can, with the new setting it didnt seem like it wanted to back fire even with no fuel it would still pop out a puff of air, it didnt do that this time. So lets hope it starts.

Then i got to get a fuel pump and pump the gas tank out god knows how old that gas is. When i end a season i dont empty it out like i should so gas carrys over from season to season. :rolleyes: I know bad on me.
Click to expand...

Well, I don't empty the fuel tank at the end of the season either, and never had a problem to date. You see, emptying 60 gallons is A LOT of fuel :eek:. Adding fuel stabilizer reportedly does help, but in my case I don't bother. I normally stop boating in November until about April-May, and in my experience 6 months is not enough time to spoil the gasoline (at least in the area where I live).
 
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Well lets hope she starts today. From what i can see with the gun she reads in between 5-10deg mark and the distributer is maxed out counter clockwise. When i had it put in where it was originally taken out, (you can tell by the washer mark on the clamp) it read between 10-15, so a matter of an inch rotation brought the timing down.

Thankfully my boat only has i think a 28 gallon tank, last trip out it was hovering right around empty. Does Canada have the ethonal blended fuels yet?
 
YAY, couple pumps of the throttle, crank key engine fires right up. This thing runs smoooth, a lot better with the pertronix kit on it. Before i had to keep the idle up now i can have it down to 750 and purrs like a kitten, even the exhaust is quiter. I ran it up to 180 degress on the temp guage and i can keep my hand on the exhaust manifold as long as i want. Either that or all the water was going into the engine lol. Which i doubt it or it woulda hydro locked. :D
 
Well, looks like we have another happy Pertronix believer.:D

You can now try your timing light and you will see that the timing is steady instead of fluctuating like it did with the points.

Regarding the dreaded ethanol, I'm afraid it's coming to my neck of the woods as well. :eek: So maybe this coming winter I will have to change my approach.
 
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